Can someone take this young man aside and tell him to stop, please?
POINT OF VIEW/ Leif-Eric Easley: Foreign policy gains can propel new leaders
Asahi Shimbun
(...)
Fukuda should also continue trust-building efforts with Beijing and Seoul, while avoiding gaffes on historical matters. Free from Abe's hard-line on the abduction issue, the Fukuda Cabinet can more closely coordinate with partners in the six-party talks to demand North Korea's denuclearization.
South Korea will elect a new president on Dec. 19 who will come to office without President Roh Moo-hyun's spotty record on foreign affairs and the economy. The next South Korean president can use his or her clean slate to re-anchor security policy with a strong U.S.-South Korea alliance and closer relations with Japan.
The next president should demand greater respect and reciprocity from North Korea, engaging Pyongyang out of strength rather than political desperation. Essential for South Korea's economic relations, the next president can show unwavering commitment to implementing free-trade agreements.
Taiwan will hold its presidential election on March 22, 2008. President Chen Shui-bian has earned a reputation of making trouble for cross-Strait stability, even though it is China that militarily threatens democratic Taiwan. Free from Chen's political baggage, the next Taiwan president should forge a compromise with the legislature to better fund Taiwan's defense. He could also look to project "soft power" by highlighting Taiwan's responsible international contributions rather than politicizing an ill-fated bid to join the United Nations.
Finally, the next Taiwan president should credibly engage China on economic links and security guarantees, putting the political ball in Beijing's court ahead of the 2008 Olympics.
The United States will hold its presidential election on Nov. 4, 2008.
The outgoing Bush administration has the reputation (in some ways deservedly, in others unfairly) of being hawkish and unilateralist. The new U.S. president can shed this image, or at least avoid it long enough to make progress on a multilateral agenda.
Rather than inaugurating his or her term promoting the war on terror, the next U.S. president might speak more about trade, development and transnational issues such as the environment. This is not to say that the next U.S. administration should de-emphasize security policy, but it could productively focus the honeymoon period on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Rather than inaugurating his or her term promoting the war on terror, the next U.S. president might speak more about trade, development and transnational issues such as the environment. This is not to say that the next U.S. administration should de-emphasize security policy, but it could productively focus the honeymoon period on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Such early multilateral achievements can garner greater international contributions for counterterrorism and help dispel misperceptions of U.S. disengagement.
I love the word "should". It gives one such authority and power. One can look down from the heights at the Lilliputians at one's feet...and wish them all the best.
Of course, the best will only come to them if they listen to your advice.
"Can" is pretty good too. It so much more open-minded than "could". So positive in every way:
"Yes, you can!"
Amaterasu...I remember being under 30. A whole goddamn continent's there and it just will not listen to you.
Frustrating as hell.
P.S. No, I would not stoop so low as to direct you to this young gentleman's home page nor to his jiko shōkai page. I am above highlighting such over-the-top self-promotion.
P.P.S. Professor Jeff Kingston gets what seems to be 10 months' worth of frustration off his chest in a Japan Times op-ed on the fall of Abe Shinzō.
Funny thing about the jeremiad is...it is printed as a part of The Japan Times' "Timeout" series.
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