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June 14, 2026
 

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Brahma Chellaney

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Brahma Chellaney
Brahma Chellaney, a longstanding contributor to The Japan Times, is a geostrategist and the author of "Asian Juggernaut" (Harper, 2010) and "Water: Asia¡¯s New Battlefield" (Georgetown University Press, 2011), which won the 2012 Bernard Schwartz Award. He is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar attend a joint news conference after their meeting in New Delhi on May 24.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2026
The U.S. and India have become regional rivals
The U.S. has even begun taking a more conciliatory approach toward China, though the strategic competition between the two superpowers remains intense.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping greets U.S. President Donald Trump outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during their two-day summit on May 14.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2026
How will Japan react to Trump¡¯s China pivot?
For Tokyo, the critical issue is whether the U.S. is fundamentally rethinking its approach toward China ¡ª and whether that shift could leave Japan dangerously exposed.
Jared Kushner (left) and Steve Witkoff, special peace envoys, take part in a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran on April 12 in Islamabad.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2026
The high cost of Donald Trump¡¯s crony diplomacy
Together, Kushner and Witkoff have spearheaded negotiations on Ukraine, Gaza and Iran.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets members of the Indian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa in July 2017. The country¡¯s military modernization may be undermined by politically selected generals.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2026
Is Modi ¡®coup-proofing¡¯ India¡¯s military?
India¡¯s effort to modernize and integrate its military through the chief of defense staff position is increasingly being undermined by politically controlled appointments.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. sails in the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war on March 18.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2026
Blockade as war: The perilous logic of strangulation
Under Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (1949), starving civilians as a method of warfare or inflicting disproportionate suffering on a population is explicitly prohibited.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
Trump, the demolition man of global order
The postwar idea of collective defense is giving way to something closer to protection racketeering.
Demonstrators take part in the youth-led protests in Kathmandu that toppled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2026
Nepal after the fires: Can a landslide deliver democratic stability?
Balen¡¯s rise must be understood against this combustible backdrop. His party¡¯s victory is less a conventional mandate than a rejection of the old order.
A Taiwan Coast Guard ship patrols near Dadan Island, Taiwan, as the Chinese city of Xiamen is visible in the background in October.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2026
Trump is showing Beijing how to seize Taiwan
Great powers study each other closely, observing the strategies used, the resistance met, and the outcomes realized.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet in the Oval Office in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025. Trump¡¯s transactional trade policies have eroded U.S.-India trust, leaving a once-strategic partnership vulnerable despite a temporary tariff deal.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2026
Trump¡¯s trade truce won¡¯t restore the U.S.-India relationship
With the interim trade deal between the U.S. and India, hopes are high that the bruising confrontation initiated by Trump last year is coming to an end.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted with an honor guard during a ceremonial reception in New Delhi on Dec 5. India is looking to Russia because it wants to protect its own interests and maintain strategic autonomy in the face of punitive U.S. policies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2025
America will pay for pushing India away
Given that India remains crucial to balance China¡¯s aggressive rise, such an outcome would carry high costs for the U.S.
If China can punish Japan ¡ª economically powerful, diplomatically influential and protected by a U.S. defense treaty ¡ª then no other country should imagine itself beyond Beijing's reach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 21, 2025
If China can bully Japan, it can bully anyone
Its willingness to target Japan ¡ª a historic great power and today the world¡¯s third-largest economy ¡ª telegraphs how Beijing intends to deal with the rest of Asia.
From surveilling and repressing Chinese citizens to firing and prosecuting potential rivals, Chinese leader Xi Jinping seems able to rule only through fear.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2025
Continued purges by Xi reveal his insecurity
Xi Jinping¡¯s recent purge of top-ranking generals, like those before it, shows that he still sees enemies everywhere.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (center) leaves after attending a news conference at the Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi on Oct. 12. The reopening of India's embassy in Kabul followed Muttaqi¡¯s recent visit to India's capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2025
India¡¯s Kabul return may recast global Taliban policy
The reopening followed Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi¡¯s recent visit to India, enabled by a special United Nations sanctions exemption.
Bangladeshis celebrate in Dhaka on Aug. 5, the first anniversary of student-led protests that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2025
What Western media call insurrection at home, they call revolution abroad
Western media have perfected a seductive but dangerous narrative: the romanticized tale of youth-led ¡°revolutions¡± toppling supposedly repressive, graft-ridden governments abroad.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday. His claim that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for ending multiple wars is contradicted by the fact that many of these conflicts persist.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2025
Donald Trump¡¯s self-aggrandizing peacemaker hype
Trump¡¯s claim to have ended seven ¡°unendable¡± wars is best understood as a case study in self-delusion.
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country¡¯s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the ¡°iron lady.¡± Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2025
Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb
Many had hoped that Hasina¡¯s ouster would open the way for Bangladesh to transition to democracy following an authoritarian lurch under the ¡°iron lady.¡±
The Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, flows near the southern part of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. China¡¯s new megadam project could become a geopolitical and ecological time bomb.?Getty Images
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2025
The global perils of China¡¯s new ¡®superdam¡¯ project
One might have expected the revelation of China¡¯s huge dam project to set off alarm bells worldwide. Instead, the reaction has been muted.
This satellite image taken on June 19 shows damage at the Iranian nuclear facility at Arak in central Iran after an Israeli strike.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2025
An Iranian nuclear weapon just became more likely
The U.S. and Israel are likely to learn this the hard way when Iran abandons all doubts about pursuing nuclear breakout.
A hydroelectric dam near Shannan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in March 2025
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2025
Catastrophe on the roof of the world
As the source of 10 major rivers that sustain nearly 20% of the world¡¯s population, the Plateau¡¯s degradation threatens regional water security, food systems and biodiversity.
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2025
Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China¡¯s arms overrated?
The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
Emperor Naruhito seeks public backing for an imperial family plan
Emperor Naruhito speaks at a news conference about his upcoming visit to the Netherlands and Belgium, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Asics will spin off trendy shoe brand Onitsuka Tiger
Widely popularized by ¡°Kill Bill,¡± Onitsuka Tiger started as a sport shoe brand and later became a fashion trend under parent Asics.
The challenge of being neurodivergent in Japan¡¯s culture of conformity
Social camouflaging can help neurodivergent people navigate social situations, but researchers say the effort often comes with significant emotional and mental strain.
SMBC-backed Yes Bank sees Indians tip-toeing back to deposits
SMBC, part of Japan¡¯s second-largest banking group, became the top shareholder of India's Yes Bank with a 24.9% stake last year.
The $66 billion train seen fixing Australia¡¯s housing crisis
A train crosses Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia. Many people don't believe the bullet train vision, which has a history of false starts, will materialize.
¡®All of a Sudden¡¯: A tender triumph from Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Virginie Efira (left) and Tao Okamoto play two women in crisis drawn together by happenstance in Ryusuke Hamaguchi¡¯s ¡°All of a Sudden.¡±
In Japan, Nepalese students navigate a growing study-to-work pathway
Dipu Tamang from Nepal is among more than 400,000 international students in Japan.
Could Hoshoryu be the last Mongolian yokozuna?
Hoshoryu attends a Japan Sumo Association event in Tokyo in September 2025.
How Tokyo aims to turn retired military equipment into lasting strategic returns
A security guard takes a selfie beside the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Amagiri, an Asagiri-class destroyer, upon its arrival for a goodwill visit in Metro Manila in February 2018.
What was left unsaid may be biggest takeaway from Xi-Kim summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watch a welcome performance at Pyongyang Gymnasium on Monday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Social camouflaging can help neurodivergent people navigate social situations, but researchers say the effort often comes with significant emotional and mental strain.
The challenge of being neurodivergent in Japan¡¯s culture of conformity
By Tomoko Otake

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