The Real Pirates of Somalia

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, May 2009.

Sending the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers Sazanami and Samidare 12,000 kilometres from Japanese shores to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia clearly marks a further dimunition of Japan’s postwar pacifism. While it has been suggested that China’s decision to send some of its fleet to the region was the catalyst for Tokyo to join the international naval operation, the predominant motive is more likely to have been Japan’s eagerness to flex its substantial but as yet unused military muscle on the world stage.

A Call for Solidarity

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, March 2009.

As last year drew to a close, while Kansai dwellers were indulging in the typical debauchery of the seasonal bonenkai (forget the year gathering), the people of Gaza had little cause for celebration and even more reason to forget 2008.

No Change for the Palestinians

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Beo! December 2008.

“Change we can believe in” – whatever is meant by “change” – was the marketing slogan of Barack Obama’s successful presidential election campaign. The next president of the United States quickly let it be known, however, that there would be no change in American policy toward Israel, with his first appointment as White House Chief of Staff – Rahm Emanuel.

He’s No Saint: The Dalai Lama’s Shadow Side

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Beo! May 2008.

When the Chinese government alleged that the Dalai Lama was behind the recent unrest in Tibet, the international media were incredulous. Since Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is widely seen in the West as the personification of saintliness, the idea that he was fomenting the violence in his native land seemed preposterous. But might there be any basis to the Chinese claims?