Shia Slaughtered in Pakistan: Takfiri Islamist Kills Many in Shia Mosque Attack Noriko Watanabe, Ramzan Khalidov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times According to reports at least 60 Shia Muslims have been slaughtered by a Takfiri Islamist in Pakistan. Once more, the forces of sectarian hatred have butchered innocent Shia Muslims, just like what…
Islamists Kill Many in Egypt while US invites the Muslim Brotherhood to Washington Boutros Hussein and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The government of Egypt faces many internal and external intrigues because the reach of the Muslim Brotherhood is still potent. Indeed, America is still open to listening to the Muslim Brotherhood despite the…
Japanese Folklore and Famous Ghost Story: Botan Doro (The Peony Lantern) Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The time is hundreds of years ago in old Japan when the forces of Buddhism and Shintoism were strong. Therefore, the supernatural and the real world were often connected and in the dead of night, where shadows went…
Iranian Intervention in Iraq against the Islamic State: Strategy, Tactics and Impact Publication: Terrorism Monitor By: Nima Adelkhah The Jamestown Foundation A deliberately gory June 2014 report on the Shi’a Ahl al-Bayt website, no doubt intended to arouse emotions, shows a photo of the bloodied face of Alireza Moshajari. It describes him as the first…
Isoda Koryusai and Art of Japan: Rare Upbringing within Japanese Woodblock Prints Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Isoda Koryusai is a man of mystery even today because much remains up in the air about important aspects of his life. Koryusai was born in 1735 and died in 1790. He became active during the 1760s…
Greece, Syriza and Strings of the EU: Radical Change or Pragmatism? Nuray Lydia Oglu and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Alexis Tsipras was elected the new leader of Greece after the far-left political party Syriza emerged to be the new power broker. Syriza and the much smaller Greek Independents have formed a coalition based…
Destabilization of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Libya, Iraq and Syria: Terrorist Networks and Tripartite of Forces Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times In the 1980s and early 1990s the mantra was holy warriors in Afghanistan against the evil Soviet Union. Of course, not much was holy about these Takfiri Islamist sectarian warriors because soon…
DRC Protests: The Government’s Election Law Must be Revised – or Withdrawn International Crisis Group The adoption on 17 January 2015 by the Congolese National Assembly of a law, proposed by the government of President Joseph Kabila, that could lead to the extension of Kabila’s term in office has triggered violent protests in the capital…
Utamaro Kitagawa and Art of Japan: The Beauty of Women Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The exact date of the birth of Utamaro Kitagawa and strong details about his parents remain shrouded in mystery. It is known that this striking ukiyo-e artist was born in the middle of the eighteenth century and that he…
Amid US Retreat From Region, Mongolia Seeks Closer Ties to China and Russia Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor By: Alicia J. Campi The Jamestown Foundation The United States’ muted profile in mineral-rich, landlocked Mongolia receded even more in 2014. Indeed, the US has largely stood by while Mongolia deliberately integrated its faltering economy closer with its…
Shia Houthi Forces in Yemen Seek Greater Representation Salma Zribi, Boutros Hussein and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Gulf powers continue to play their geopolitical games in the Levant, Iraq, North Africa, and increasingly in parts of Central Africa. Despite this, it currently appears that Shia Houthi forces are increasing their hold on the…
Syria: Japan Should Focus on Turkey and Qatar in Self-Induced Hostage Crisis Hiroshi Saito and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rightly condemned the threat by ISIS to kill two Japanese nationals. However, the two nationals involved have created their own downfall based on acting naively at best, or in the…
Art of Japan: Sorrow of the Final Years of Yumeji Takehisa Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Yumeji Takehisa was born in 1884 and this amazing artist died in 1934 at the age of 49. The last decade of his life was often traumatic because he had many moments of bleakness. This reality applies…
South Sudan: Jonglei – “We Have Always Been at War” International Crisis Group EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Jonglei state’s combustible mix of armed political opposition, violent ethnic militias and dysfunctional political system were part of the tinder that led to the eruption of the civil war in South Sudan in late December 2013. Despite eleven months of…
Muslims in Niger attack Christian Churches over French Magazine: People Killed Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The massacre in France by Islamist terrorists is clearly ringing hollow in many parts of the mainly Muslim world. After all, deaths have been reported in several nations, including Niger and Pakistan, and like usual…
Fujishima Takeji and Art of Japan: Famous Son from Kagoshima Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Fujishima Takeji was born in (1867-1943) Kagoshima and during his informative years he studied brushwork techniques in 1882 from Togaku Hirayama. However, in 1884 Fujishima Takeji moved to Tokyo and at first he studied traditional Japanese painting under Gyokusho…
Uzbekistan’s Unrealized Potential in Cross-Border Trade Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor By: Umida Hashimova The Jamestown Foundation Uzbekistan is conveniently located at the center of Central Asia and borders on all Central Asian countries as well as Afghanistan; moreover, it lies in relatively close proximity to the various prodigiously developing markets of Asia. Nonetheless, Uzbekistan has…
Political Correct are anti-Pegida: anti-Christian and anti-Shia Massacres Continue Helmet Joachim Schmidt and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The political correct and staunch multi-culturists brigade are berating Pegida in Germany, just like others bemoan the National Front in France, and so forth. Yet it is Takfiri Sunni fanatics from Europe that are going to…
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Japanese animation is rich and varied and Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day) is full of mystery because the storyline…
Konishi Hirosada and Japanese Art: Folklore and Ghost of Koheiji Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The power of the Shinto faith runs deep throughout the fabric of Japanese religion, folklore, culture and other important aspects of society. Buddhism which emanated from outside of Japan would also greatly impact itself within the fabric of society.…
The Rise of ADF-NALU in Central Africa and Its Connections with al-Shabaab Terrorism Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 1 By: Sunguta West The Jamestown Foundation A series of massacres in eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the last three months underline the resurgence of a little known Islamist militant organization, the Alliance…
Japan Art and Kiyochika: Artist Fighting on the Wrong Side of History Tomoko Hara and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) fought on the wrong side of history, if you happen to be a pro-Meiji modernizer during his early years. The alternative view is that he fought on the side that desired…
Charlie Hebdo: Martyrs for the Truth by Abigail R. Esman Special to IPT News Investigative Project on Terrorism With the massacre of Charlie Hebdo magazine’s editors and cartoonists in Paris by Islamic gunmen early Wednesday afternoon, the forces of radical Islam lay the gauntlet down: radical Islam is not just fighting against Western freedom,…
MI5 and MI6 and Death of al-Liby in America: UK, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab and Lee Rigby Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times MI5 and MI6 in the United Kingdom will be deeply relieved by the fortunate death of Anas al-Liby in America. His death will have been met with sighs of relief given…
Libya’s Descent into Chaos: Warring Clans and Its Impact on Regional Stability Publication: Terrorism Monitor By: Dario Cristiani The Jamestown Foundation Since the outbreak of the Libyan revolution in 2011 and the collapse of Mu’ammar Qaddafi’s Jamahiriya (Republic of the Masses), Libya has fallen into a process of constant and ever deeper chaos, which has…
Egypt and President El-Sisi: Strengthening the Nation State in 2015 Boutros Hussein and Salma Zribi Modern Tokyo Times President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt fully understands the difficult road ahead for Egypt. This reality means that 2015 will be a momentous year for this nation state because Egypt badly needs political stability. In turn, once the…
Bunjinga and Japanese Art: Cultural Influence of China and Korea in the Edo Period Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The Bunjinga school of thought ran deep within the literati of Japan during the Edo period. Bunjin (literati) artists trace their artistic roots to the literati of China during the Song Dynasty (960-1267). However, the differences between the Japanese…
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