The Middle East

  • Is a So-Called “National Strategy” Necessary for Humanity?

    Yesterday, while listening to a discussion at a seminar, a thought occurred to me. People often complain that “Japan has no national strategy.” But the nation-state itself is something of a mirage. . Once a society begins producing a surplus—in other words, once it accumulates wealth—people emerge who take it upon themselves to use that wealth. They have no practical…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 7 　　　　　Did Alexander the Great Conquer the East, or Was He Conquered?

    （After Greece, the history of the Mediterranean shifts to Rome. However, in between, we have the conquest of Alexander the Great. Often, this event is portrayed as an advanced European civilization sweeping in to civilize a backward East, but let’s examine what the situation was really like. IIncidentally, it must be noted that his power was largely sustained by the…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 6 　　　　　Greece—a Mutant of Mediterranean Civilization

    （This chapter deals with ancient Greece.It is not known where the people of ancient Greece came from. As can be seen from the statues that have survived to the present day, they differed from the people of the Orient. While Athens is considered Ionian and Sparta Dorian in origin, their cultures share commonalities. Furthermore, the reverence for “freedom” and the…

  • A Proposal for an Alternative Version of The Odyssey

    Yesterday, I went to see Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated film The Odyssey. It was superb. . That said, one line spoken by Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, caught my attention: “I hear that bands of marauders known as the ‘Sea Peoples’ have been attacking city-states everywhere. They would finish the civilization.” . In ancient times, the “Sea Peoples” attacked cities along the Mediterranean…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism ５ Before Athens　

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . （This installment points out that little is known about how politics and the economy in the Mediterranean region unfolded during the 1,000…

  • Secure the Strait of Hormuz by Charging Tolls

    Navigation is becoming dangerous not only through the Strait of Hormuz, but also through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. This is intolerable for both oil-producing nations and trading nations. Nor does the United States military appear to retain the ability to secure these waterways by force. . If military force cannot solve the problem,…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　4　

    The Mediterranean Civilizational Sphere: An Extension of the Orient (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . （This installment serves as an introduction to the upcoming section on ancient Greek…

  • The Postwar World and the Shifting Currents Beneath It

    (This is a slightly revised version of my article to be published in Newsweek Japan on September 8.) . The Post-Cold War Era and the Expansion of American Power . The international situation today can broadly be described as the “post-Cold War” era. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which divided the world for decades…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　3

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . This installment highlights what the author considers to be the most important aspects of Mesopotamia. While ancient Greek civilization drew many of…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　２

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . This installment of the series challenges the long-held belief that “the world’s civilizations emerged almost simultaneously in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River…