On a sweltering afternoon in June, the rice fields outside the small town of Omagari in Japan’s northern Akita prefecture are eerily deserted. Only the voice of Kimiko Kyono belting out from the speakers atop her orange Nissan breaks the silence. “Konnichiwa!” she exclaims to the open fields. “This is Kimiko Kyono of the Democratic Party of Japan!” Finally she spots a farmer: “Over there!” A campaign aide drives the car through the field in hot pursuit of the lone voter.
Posted July 3, 2009

The U.S. Navy shadowing a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying weapons bound for Burma is the stuff of potboiler thrillers. Yet for two of the world’s most reclusive and repressive states, the only unique feature of these events is the fact that anyone is taking notice. For several years, Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and Kim Jong Il’s government in North Korea have been slowly strengthening their diplomatic and military ties, largely beneath the international radar.
Posted July 3, 2009

Your upcoming visit to Myanmar is a historic opportunity to underscore to Senior General Than Shwe the utmost seriousness with which the United Nations regards Myanmar’s failure to address violations of international humanitarian law. You should make clear that ending impunity is necessary to ensure the maintenance of peace and security. Under the direction of Gen. Than Shwe, the regime’s use of the judiciary to eliminate political opponents constitutes a crime against humanity. The arrest and imprisonment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners must be addressed in this context in order to ensure that the cycle of crime is not perpetuated.
Posted July 1, 2009

San Francisco – One benefit of being a poet–as opposed to, say, a politician or talk-show host–is that you can be the most celebrated person in your field, a virtual rock star among those who study, read and write poetry, and still remain anonymous in just about any public setting. The thought occurs to me as I stand outside one of this city's finer Japanese-fusion restaurants (a fancy joint called Yoshi's) chain smoking and awaiting the arrival of Robert Hass, a poetry rock star if ever there was one.
Posted June 30, 2009

From the beginning of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak, the WHO’s decisions and pronouncements have been far from reassuring. Most flu and public health experts consider the WHO to have been overly alarmist, and that their decision during the week of April 27 to raise the pandemic flu threat to the penultimate level, Phase 5, “Pandemic Imminent,” far outpaced the data that had accumulated and was unwarranted.
Posted June 29, 2008