In China, there have been a range of reactions to the crises in Japan: smug satisfaction, heartfelt sympathy and, also, soul-searching. “Faced with that type of danger, I doubt I’d be able to behave so well,” said one blogger quoted by the Wall Street Journal. “The casualties from an 8.9 event in China would be hundreds of times higher …
Global Briefing, Mar. 18, 2011: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
This Means War? — On Swampland, TIME’s Mark Thompson explains the U.N. resolution on Libya and mulls the possibility of war.
Heading South — In a dispatch from Niigata, Hannah Beech tells the stories of those fleeing Japan’s devastated northeast by train. Full coverage, here.
Mighty Pricey — The United States is spending …
Could The UN Resolution On Libya Signal Sarkozy’s Political Rebound?
Though it took painfully long for the international community to mount its 11th hour intervention into what looked like a looming massacre in the Libya, it’s clear Thursday’s vote by the UN Security Council approving military action to halt fighting and protect civilians won’t signal the beginning to a swift end of the conflict …
U.N. Intervention Vote Saves Libya’s Revolution From Defeat
As Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces closed in on the rebel capital of Benghazi, Thursday, the Obama Administration not only came around to the idea of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, but sought — and won — U.N. Security Council authorization for ground attacks on regime forces threatening to storm the rebel “capital” of Benghazi. …
After Japan: Could India Also Face a Nuclear Crisis?
Who’s worried about nuclear power?
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that China has no plans to alter its nuclear program in the wake of Japan’s catastrophe:
“There is a higher standard in China than the world’s average” for building nuclear power plants, Xu Mi, an official at China National Nuclear Corp., said.”
Not to …
Did Gaddafi Really Finance Sarkozy’s Presidential Victory? (Probably Not.)
Stop the presses–or, better yet, don’t.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi—the no-longer-as-credible-as-once-hoped son of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi—is claiming his family financed the victorious 2007 campaign of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and now wants that money back. And if the Frenchman doesn’t pay up, the younger Gaddafi …
Gaddafi Warns Benghazi Rebels: We Are Coming, And There’ll Be No Mercy
In a recently concluded address broadcast on Libyan state radio, Muammar Gaddafi offered a grim warning to residents of Benghazi, the center of the rebellion seeking to topple the Gaddafi regime: “We are coming tonight, and there will be no mercy.”
The past week has seen troops loyal to Gaddafi march closer to Benghazi, Libya’s second …
Global Briefing, Mar. 17, 2011: Broken Promises and Bad Analogies
Broken Promises — TIME’s Krista Mahr meets evacuees in Yonezawa, a city of 90,000 about 60 miles west of the Fukushima plant. There, as elsewhere in Japan, anger is brewing about the handling of the nuclear crisis.
Solidarity — A group of 130 artists plan to boycott the $800 million Guggenheim museum being built in Abu Dhabi, …
In Shadow of Nuclear Disaster, Elderly Worry About the Future
This morning, Japan is transfixed by the high stakes operation taking place at the Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture. Japanese police are dumping seawater from the air on Thursday morning in an attempt to cool down the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima power plant, and soon will bring in high power water cannons to shoot into a …
Not Coming to Theaters Near You: The China Menace
To be clear, I’d be the last person to endorse anything that whips up fear of the proverbial “Other.” But MGM’s recent about-face on a remake of Red Dawn, a 1984 film pitting the agents of a Soviet takeover against a gang of plucky American teens (led by Patrick Swayze and a 19-year-old Charlie Sheen), smacks of cowardice. As my …
Will Japan’s Nuclear Emergency Really Sour Europe To the Energy Source?
Given the enormity of human suffering and risk of an atomic catastrophe in Japan, it seems almost indecent to be offering up commentary out of safe, comfy Europe. But despite the understandably shocked and fearful reaction to a possible reactor melt down at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power station, it’s probably worth questioning even …
As Crisis Intensifies, Nuclear Refugees Go West
Shigeko Tadano is worried about her daughter’s shoes. They are white leather Converse, about a size 5, and apparently, they are slightly radioactive. Yukie stretches her leg while a doctor in a lab coat and face mask takes a second reading with a Geiger counter. Though her feet are registering 1000 units, the doctor assures her …
A Marriage of Interests: Why Bahrain’s King Should Give Britain’s Royal Wedding a Miss
Westminster Abbey is a “Royal Peculiar.” The term applies to churches that fall under the direct jurisdiction of the British monarch rather than a bishop, but seemed especially apt during a Commonwealth Day celebration held there on March 15. The service blended the pomp and tradition associated with Britain’s state occasions with vivid …