The US

  • The End of Gunboat Taiwan Policy

    Watching the U.S. Navy hesitate to push into the Strait of Hormuz during the current Iran conflict, one begins to wonder whether the old scenario—U.S. carrier strike groups rushing to the rescue in a “Taiwan contingency”—has already lost much of its credibility. That does not mean Taiwan is defenseless. Quite the contrary. Taiwan could potentially destroy a Chinese amphibious invasion…

  • Does the Iran War Herald the Advent of the “Euro Renminbi”

    Akio Kawato Since the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID shock of 2020, the United States has continuously expanded the supply of dollars. Federal debt has now exceeded the size of annual GDP. Policymakers fear that, at some point, this could erode confidence in U.S. Treasuries, trigger a surge in interest rates, and destabilize public finances. . Could the current…

  • After America: What Middle Powers Can Still Build

    Iran ceasefire talks are now beginning. Had the war continued, Iran’s retaliation might well have threatened the very survival of Gulf civilization itself, while also exposing the limits of U.S. military power and potentially bringing an end to America’s unipolar dominance. The ceasefire has, at least for now, bought everyone some breathing room. . Even so, this latest attack on…

  • Russia, cursing the dollar, cannot forego it

    Russia never misses a chance to square off against the United States. The dollar has long been one of its favorite targets. The message has been simple enough: why keep using the dollar, that tool of American imperialism? Why not settle trade in rubles or Chinese yuan instead, and show the Yankees that the world can move on without them?…

  • The AI Rush; But Does It Have To Be So Expensive?

    These days, whenever AI comes up—NVIDIA, xAI, all that world—people casually throw around figures in the tens of billions of dollars. It sounds almost surreal. Then again, maybe this is exactly how early 19th-century Britain must have felt when iron, railways, and chemicals suddenly replaced cotton as the engines of growth. Compared with spinning mills, the money required must have…

  • Living in the Age of the Bully

    I finally managed to revive my blog, yet somehow I cannot quite summon the energy. In times like these, no matter what one writes about the world, Trump the realtor arrives like a bulldozer, flattening every counterargument and dissenting voice in his path. Even when he himself seems to hesitate, pressure from America’s evangelicals and MAGA forces (though those circles…

  • Israel’s Gamble, America’s Limit–The War on Iran

    War is always shrouded in a haze of rumor and information control. In this latest conflict with Iran , one could not help but be impressed—at least initially—by Israeli intelligence capabilities and American military prowess, especially with the reported killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Yet the response that followed has been strangely muted, as if something were being held…

  • Should Japan go nuclear or can it?

    (Currently Japan’s prime minister TAKAICHI Sanae is in Washington D.C., an official visit long planned. During the meeting with President Trump, discussions are likely to cover not only the current situation regarding Iran but also the future direction of the Japan-U.S. alliance in the Asia-Pacific region. For reference, I have posted below my own article on Japan’s nuclear armament. While…

  • How to Survive Trump’s Armageddon

    For some time now, analysts have been pointing to the possible end of the U.S.-led postwar order. With the Strait of Hormuz now facing the risk of closure, global stock markets, oil prices, and other indicators are swinging wildly. The atmosphere feels almost apocalyptic. ・ History shows many moments when an existing system of security and economic stability suddenly collapsed.…

  • Trump Lectures Europe on Freedom and Democracy

    Since the birth of the Trump administration, a strange argument has continued between Washington and the European Union. It often feels like the pot calling the kettle black. At the Munich Security Conference in February 2025, Vice President J.D. Vance made a speech, the essence of which can be summarized as folllows: “ The greatest threat to democracy is not…