Russia

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 16 Individualism

    . (Individualism is often viewed as a concept unique to white Westerners. However, the desire to independently shape one’s own destiny without relying on the group is, in fact, widely found among the Chinese as well. On the other hand, even in the West, waves of fascism that suppress individual rights have repeatedly emerged.Modern individualism emerged in tandem with economic…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 14 The Formation of the Modern Nation-State 6 The “Elite” Class

    （To run a “nation,” a certain number of people with knowledge and skills in politics and administration are necessary. While it is important for every citizen to express their opinions, without people to synthesize those views into laws and policies and implement them, society will fall apart, and uncontrollable power struggles will ensue.Those responsible for the governance of society were…

  • America Turns Away From Trumpism

    A Victory for Common Sense The Democrats won the midterms. The larger story is that many Americans rejected the rough-and-tumble America that Donald Trump embodies. Trump tries to get his way with bizarre policies that defy reason, with sophistry, invective, and violence. It is true that America has had men like him in every era. But they have stood outside…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 13 The Formation of the Modern Nation-State 5 Patriotism as a Tool of the Modern Nation-State

    （“Patriotism” is a concept that was formed quite artificially in the nation-states of modern Western Europe. While love for one’s family or hometown is natural, love for the abstract entity known as the “nation-state” is sometimes deliberately imposed by those in power. It is an ideology designed to conscript people and levy taxes on them. The nation-state as an institution…

  • Time to Rethink Our Assumptions About North Korea

    What It Means That Pyongyang No Longer Seeks Korean Reunification . Mention North Korea, and certain associations spring to mind: “dangerous,” “poised to invade South Korea,” or “eager for a meeting with Trump.” Yet the underlying paradigm seems to have changed considerably since around 2024. . At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in…

  • German Chancellor Merz’s Visit to Japan Shall Promote the Cooperation of Middle-Power States

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to visit Japan on October 28. He will then travel to South Korea and Singapore. Since his itinerary appears to deliberately bypass China, some in Japan may see this as an opportunity to draw Germany into a coalition aimed at containing China. . However, Chancellor Merz already visited China in February, a country with…

  • Much Ado About U.S. Imports of Russian Diesel

    On October 9, Trump spoke with Putin by phone. The call was supposed to mark Putin’s birthday on October 7, but the time difference and Putin’s overseas travel pushed it back to the ninth. Trump probably expected that they could agree on—and announce—a date for resuming trilateral talks among Ukraine, Russia, and the United States on a ceasefire in Ukraine.…

  • AI Says: Ukraine Is Becoming a Modern Hundred Years’ War

    Akio KAWATO The war in Ukraine has now lasted four and a half years since Russian forces invaded in February 2022. That alone makes it longer than World War I, which lasted a little over four years and three months. But the conflict actually began when Russian troops seized Crimea in March 2014, so it has already been going on…

  • U.S.-China Rapprochement Is Good for Japan

    Akio KAWATO Former Japanese diplomat . Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to the United States on September 23–25. In Japan, there was considerable commotion over President Trump greeting him at the airport and emphasizing in his welcoming remarks that the United States and China had been allies during World War II. Some people even rushed to conclude…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 9

    （This is a continuation of Part 8 “What Was the Modern Nation-State?“. Here, we will examine the process by which the modern nation-state—with its defining characteristics such as national borders, a single ethnic group, and a single language (though these are, to a large extent, artificial constructs)—took shape in Britain from the 17th century onward. At the same time, we…