Writer
Gregory Clark
Gregory Clark was the first postwar Australian diplomat trained in Chinese, with postings to Hong Kong, Moscow and the UN before retiring in protest against the Vietnam War. After PhD studies at the ANU he became Japan correspondent for The Australian. A spell in Canberra’s Prime Ministers department led to professorships at Tokyo’s Sophia University and emeritus president of Tama University, Tokyo, before becoming co-founder of the very successful English language Akita Kokusai Daigaku. He has now retired to Latin America (Peru) and Kiwi fruit growing in Boso peninsular south of Tokyo. His works include ‘In Fear of China’ (1969) and several books in Japan on education and foreign policy. He used to speak Chinese and Russian with fluency. He now speaks Japanese and Spanish.
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How to protest against the atrocities in Gaza
Remember the Vietnam War? The barbarism there cannot be compared with what we see almost daily in Gaza. But just looking on impotently will not solve the problem. Continue reading »
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Time to take China and Latin America more seriously
The invitation said: ‘Global Multinational Corporations Summit.’ Main Topic: ‘An opening China and the World.’ Continue reading »
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Russia’s reasons for attacking Ukraine
Vladimir Putin rarely uses English in his speeches. So if in his speech to the recent BRICS meeting in Kazan he insisted the reason for Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine was that he was duped (he pronounced it ‘dooped’) by Germany and France in the 2014-5 Minsk Accords then he probably meant it. Continue reading »
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Breaking the deadlock in Japan-North Korean relations
To break the deadlock in Japan-North Korea relations, Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, has proposed liaison offices in the capitals of both countries to resolve the poisonous abductees issue – the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the seventies and eighties. Continue reading »
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Who really owns the South China Sea?
We are told the AUKUS ‘security partnership’ requires Australia additionally to acquire a fleet of nuclear -powered submarines (SSNs) to accompany AUKUSThey will operate mainly in the South China Sea, allegedly to deter China’s expansionist goals Continue reading »
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Japan’s surprising new prime minister
Japan’s new prime minister, Ishiba Shigeru, has called for an
Asian NATO. But salivating hawks should restrain the glee. Continue reading » -
A solution in Ukraine?
There must be a negotiated end to the Ukraine War. The alternative is nuclear armageddon. Continue reading »
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Japan – Hiroshima and Project Hula
What a difference a day (or a week) makes. What a difference the mere translation of a word makes. Continue reading »
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Panic as Japan stocks take biggest dive since Black Monday, 1987
If it was panic last Friday, the Asahi Shimbun declared when the stock market fell more than 2,200 points, or 5.8 percent. It was double panic by this afternoon (Monday) when the market fell even more, by 3,800 points to the 31,000 mark. Continue reading »
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Putin’s mistake in Ukraine: Moscow forced to move to Novosibirsk?
In 2004, Russia’s President Putin said the collapse of the Soviet Union “was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” This was picked up by our hawks as a Moscow wish for more Cold War. Continue reading »
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NYT confirms war-ending Russian-Ukraine peace agreement sabotaged by West
With much less drama than its famous 1971 Pentagon Papers, the New York Times has disclosed three documents confirming that Russia and Ukraine were close to war-ending agreements in the first half of 2022, shortly after Moscow began its so-called ‘special operation’ attack on Ukraine, February 24, 2022. Continue reading »
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BBC reporting on Ukraine
The BBC has a loose bolt somewhere. It has now begun a strange campaign saying it is dedicated to non-spin reporting. Continue reading »
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The Kremlin needs a new PR agent
Moscow would have us believe it is fighting a life and death struggle in the muddy trenches of Donbas. But what do we get to see on the inauguration of its president? Glittering gold chambers and goose-stepping soldiers. Continue reading »
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Marking 10 years of the Russo-Ukraine War
On February 28, 2022, four days after Russia had attacked into Ukraine, Moscow and Kiev began peace talks. Continue reading »
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“Seamless integration”: Japan to become sub-contractor for US aggression towards China
‘New era for alliance’ headlined the right wing Japan Times after the Japan-US summit talks in Washington this week between President Biden and Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida.. But not everyone was so enthused. Continue reading »
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Japan’s abductions myths have kept a nation in poverty for decades
How can it happen that person who probably does not exist can keep an entire nation, North Korea, in poverty for more than twenty years, and the rest of us under prolonged nuclear threat. Continue reading »
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Western hawks continue to see North Korea as a target for attack
With Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, assassinated, Japan’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has been saying he wants direct talks with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un -a reversal of Abe’s position. Continue reading »
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Lunacy: Australia pays the US billions to “keep those Chinese at bay”
When Canberra told us we had to join the US in its cruel attempt to prevent a Vietnamese peasant army from overthrowing a US-armed Saigon government, some of us thought the politicians were plain stupid. Continue reading »
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The failure of Western on-the-ground war reporting
On the ground reporting by Western media of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been weak. Continue reading »
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Hiding in plain sight – Malaysian Airlines flight 370
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the 2014 disappearance of flight 370, Malaysian Airlines, we are getting the usual barrage of media speculation about the alleged mystery and its possible causes. Continue reading »
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Can war on the Korean Peninsula be averted?
The US seems to have decided it cannot tolerate China as a threat to its global hegemony. Continue reading »
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Cautious, middle of the road wisdom won’t solve Asia’s problems
The recent Statement from former Australian Foreign Ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr calling for Australia to play a role in seeking detente between the US and China in Asia is worthy. But is it realistic? It tells us that the Australia-Japan initiated International Commission on Nuclear Non- Proliferation and Disarmament of 2009, is a Continue reading »
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Slovakia, Hungary criticise western values, halt support for Ukraine
Slovakia is the poor relation created when the former Czechoslovakia divided in 1993 into the Czech and Slovak Republics. The Czech Republic has hewn closely to EU and NATO policies over Ukraine. But despite NATO membership the Slovak Republic has decided to halt military aid to Ukraine. And its prime minister, Robert Fico, has now Continue reading »
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Gut instincts and North Korean relations
Between years 2000 and 2018 the North Korea and South Korea governments issued three joint declarations all promising South Korean economic aid to North Korea and North Korean moves to denuclearisation. Continue reading »
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Two grievous Australian policy mistakes-Israel and China
Where fear of China is involved there is no conscience for the mistakes of the past. Nor can we expect any sensibility in the plans for the future. Continue reading »
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A fatal blow for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
The latest Japanese political scandal involving at least four top government ministers and numerous junior officials is widely seen as a fatal blow to the prime minister Fumio Kishida already dogged by a weak image and record low popularity polls. Continue reading »
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The unflinching cruelty of Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger’s death has brought a flow of predictable judgements: ‘He created some evils – 1973 Chile, for example. But overall he helped end the Cold War.’ And as a beneficiary – the 1971 opening to China, for example – Australians should be grateful. Continue reading »
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Impressions of China: political stagnation and an economy transformed
After a one week China tour organised by some Chinese entrepreneurs to mark the anniversary of the 1971 pingpong diplomacy which opened China to the outside world, two firm impressions remain. One is the extraordinary pace and dynamism of the economic, and social, progress. The other is the political stagnation, with our guides still clinging Continue reading »
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A Western disease of cause-and-effect amnesia
The savage Israeli reaction to the suggestion by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, that some Hamas actions may be a response to 56 years of Israeli repression was extraordinary. We have long known about Israeli sensitivity to criticism. But this brings things to a new level. Cannot Israel accept even some of its own responsibility for Continue reading »
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Biden in Hanoi: The ‘Domino theory’ rises again
By chance, US president Biden’s goodwill visit to Vietnam’s communist government in Hanoi came just 50 years after the notorious 1972 Christmas bombings. Continue reading »
