Mediation is needed before India and Pakistan cross the nuclear line
Farhan Bokhari is an Islamabad-based foreign correspondent who writes on Pakistan and the surrounding region.
India and Pakistan's unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes on Wednesday marked their most serious escalation since their 1998 nuclear tests, and they raise fears of a broader threat to global security well beyond their shared border.
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The Mainichi
2 days ago
- The Mainichi
90% of Japan LGBTQ youth faced school issues in past year, 6 in 10 cite teachers: survey
TOKYO -- About 90% of LGBTQ and other sexual minority students in junior high and high schools in Japan faced harassment or other difficulties at school in the past year, with more than 60% attributing the problems to teachers and staff, a nonprofit organization's survey has found. The results also showed that there are errors and discriminatory statements in what is taught about sexual diversity in schools. Laws "to promote understanding of LGBT people" that went into effect in 2023 obligate efforts to be made regarding education and consultation systems for sexual minorities. However, the current curricula do not mention sexual diversity, and it is believed that there are differences in class content and quality. Over half of LGBTQ teens have thought of suicide in past year The online survey conducted by Tokyo-based nonprofit ReBit between February and March analyzed responses from 4,733 LGBTQ people aged 12 to 34 nationwide. ReBit promotes understanding and support for LGBTQ people in schools and the government, and carried out the survey for the second time following its first poll in 2022. Among respondents, 53.9% of those aged between 10 and 19 said they had considered suicide in the past year, along with 40.5% in their 20s and 30.3% in their 30s. Over 40% of those aged 10 to 19 reported engaging in self-harm, while just under 20% said they had attempted suicide. Harassment by teachers In questions about school life, 89.5% of the 1,077 junior and senior high school respondents reported experiencing some form of difficulty or harassment at school in the past year. When asked for specifics, 63.7% said other students did or said something under assumptions that they or others were not LGBTQ, while 43.9% said LGBTQ topics were used as jokes or ridicule. Furthermore, 63.8% of students who experienced difficulties and harassment said that teachers and staff had contributed, including through unnecessary gender separations (46.2%) or assuming that students are not LGBTQ (30.1%). An overwhelming 94.6% of junior and senior high school students said they could not securely consult with their homeroom teacher about their sexuality. Bullying or violence was reported by 40.1% of junior high students and 24.0% of senior high school students. Among junior high students, 8.0% said they experienced sexual violence such as unwanted touching, clothing being removed or sexual comments from other students, while 2.4% reported such acts from teachers or staff. Problems continue despite increased coverage in textbooks A revision to the government's student guidance manual in 2022 called for appropriate support systems for sexual minority students in schools. The LGBT understanding promotion law that went into effect the following year obligated schools to make efforts to improve the educational environment and provide opportunities for sexual minority students to consult with staff. Private textbook publishers have also increased content related to sexual minorities. Starting the 2024 academic year, all such publishers for health and physical education classes for elementary students in the middle grades have included information on LGBTQ issues and sexual diversity. From academic 2025, all publishers for junior high school moral education and health and P.E. textbooks are doing the same. Among these trends, 59.2% of students said they were taught about LGBTQ topics in class in the past year -- a 19 percentage point increase compared to the 2022 survey. However, 30.1% said they had heard discriminatory or factually incorrect statements from teachers in the same time period, while merely 30% of junior high respondents reported learning about sexual diversity in elementary school. Debate continues for inclusion in curriculum guidelines During the previous revision of public curriculum guidelines in 2017, groups representing sexual minorities called on education authorities to revise the health and physical education textbook descriptions that assumed "interest in the opposite sex" develops during adolescence, but the education ministry, citing the need to consider parental and public understanding, did not make the change. As experts review the official teaching curriculum, revised once every 10 years, for the first time since the implementation of the LGBT understanding promotion law, debate is ongoing. ReBit's Executive Director Mika Yakushi said, "Data shows that having someone you can discuss your sexuality with safely decreases suicidal ideation. I'd like a system to be established for every school to provide proper education and support regarding LGBTQ issues."
The Mainichi
3 days ago
- The Mainichi
Bill Emmott: China shifting from 'wolf warrior' diplomacy in style swap with US
By Bill Emmott, independent writer, lecturer and international affairs consultant A few years ago, the talk was about China's "wolf warrior" diplomacy, a term used to describe the aggressive, often coercive style being used by Chinese ambassadors all over the world but especially in the Indo-Pacific. It felt as if the Chinese government simply didn't care about whether other governments liked China or not. This year, however, the Chinese style seems to have changed. To some extent, in fact, that wolf-warrior style has been taken over by the United States. This swapping of styles was displayed clearly at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue of Indo-Pacific defence and security ministers that was hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank of which I have the honour of being chairman, in Singapore from May 30 to June 1. Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, did not use the term "wolf" but in his powerful speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue he talked frequently about reintroducing "the warrior ethos" into the American military and to America's deterrence posture in the region. Unusually for a U.S. Secretary of Defense, he referred specifically to the threats being posed by China in the region and named that country not just as China but as "Communist China," an ideological style rarely heard since the end of the Cold War 35 years ago. This message was perfectly welcome from the point of view of the Indo-Pacific countries, especially traditional security allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, and other partners in South-East Asia. For decades, the region has been happy to have American warriors helping to keep the peace. But now that American peacekeeping has "wolf" elements attached, albeit chiefly in an area of policy that is outside Secretary Hegseth's remit, trade and other things are feeling less comfortable. Under President Joe Biden's administration, countries often complained that America was not paying sufficient attention to trade and foreign investment, even while it was strengthening its security commitments. Since January, under Donald Trump's administration the complaints have reversed: The huge import tariffs he imposed on countries in the region on his so-called "Liberation Day" of April 2 represent far more attention than the region wanted. In fact, they represent a severe economic blow. Questioned about this at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Secretary Hegseth simply avoided answering by saying that trade was his boss's responsibility, not that of the Department of Defense. He also, however, stated that Trump's foreign policy approach was that America should not be telling other countries what they should be doing -- yet his trade policy appears to many in the region to be doing exactly that. The interesting thing is that instead of attending the Singapore event and exposing that contradiction, China chose to stay away and keep its head down. Unlike in recent years, China chose not to send its minister of national defense, nor even any senior military officers from the People's Liberation Army, and gave no explanation for its seemingly last-minute decision. Each time a Chinese official asked a question, however, it was one about tariffs or about America's treatment of the 10 (soon to be 11 with Timor-Leste joining) members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The intention seemed to be to exploit the contradiction in America's approach, but to do so quietly and gently rather than in the wolf-warrior style. This lower-key, more genuinely diplomatic policy was also shown by the fact that one day before the Shangri-La Dialogue China unveiled a new multilateral institution of its own, to be based in Hong Kong: the International Organization for Mediation. A convention to establish the new organization was signed by 30 countries, notably including Indonesia. The likely work of the new organization remains unclear, except that the convention says that it will aim to help resolve international disputes through mediation rather than through existing legal bodies such as the International Court of Justice. It is also not yet clear what sort of disputes might benefit from this mediation, but it is reasonable to suppose that one potential candidate might be the frontier dispute between two ASEAN members, Cambodia and Thailand, a recurrent dispute which led to an exchange of gunfire on May 28 and the death of a Cambodian soldier. Policy contradictions are not unique to the United States. China says that this new organization will aim to reinforce the principles of the United Nations Charter of 1945. Yet the most flagrant breach of those principles in recent years has been the invasion and seizure of Ukraine's sovereign territory by Russia, which is China's strategic partner "without limits," according to the Joint Statement issued by China and Russia three weeks before the attempted military takeover of Ukraine in February 2022. Furthermore, there are no signs of a condemnation by China of Russia's breach of the U.N. Charter nor of China proposing the use of its new mediation organization to try to bring an end to that deadly war. According to Kaja Kallas, the European Union's chief representative for foreign and security policy, China is the source of 80% of Russia's imports of dual-use goods that it needs for its war. Nor has China commented publicly on Russia's use of North Korean troops to fight alongside its own army in this war on the European continent. The other contradiction in China's position is that in the South China Sea, its own navy and coastguards are the most frequent cause of disputes over territorial waters and the reefs beneath them. China is confronting military and civilian ships from the Philippines on a daily basis, and it has ignored a 2016 ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague over those waters and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. If China chooses during the coming months or years to try to test the "warrior ethos" Secretary Hegseth talked about at the Shangri-La Dialogue, it is likely to do so over its dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea, to see what Trump's America is willing to do under the terms of its Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 with the Philippines. Such a test would risk raising the U.S.-China confrontation to a new and dangerous level. Until and unless such a test happens, what we are seeing looks like a new stage in Chinese diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific: to be quiet, to sound cooperative and to provide a market for regional exports that is easier to access than the United States. The "wolf warrior" has, for the time being, been superseded by the friendly, quite reasonable-sounding neighbourhood mediator. Let's see how long this phase lasts.
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Deadly Russian Bombardment of Ukraine Further Dampens Hopes for Peace
The Associated Press An explosion is seen after a Russian air strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, June 6, 2025. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia struck Ukraine with a thunderous aerial bombardment overnight, further dampening hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. The barrage was one of the fiercest of the three-year war, lasting several hours, striking six Ukrainian territories, and killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, Ukrainian officials said Friday. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. The attack came after U.S. President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack Sunday on Russian military airfields. It was also hours after Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts. Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. 'Russia doesn`t change its stripes,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The war has continued unabated even as a U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. 'The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia's repeated refusal to offer any concessions,' the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Thursday. Further peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are expected in coming weeks, as is another exchange of prisoners of war. Homes are struck The attack involved 407 Russian drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones. The Kyiv emergency workers were killed while responding to the strikes. 'They were working under fire to help people,' the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Russia's Defense Ministry said it aimed at Ukrainian military targets with 'long-range precision weapons' and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets. But fitting a pattern for Russian attacks throughout the war, Friday's bombardment also struck apartment buildings and other non-military targets, Associated Press reporters observed. In Kyiv, explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter. Vitalina Vasylchenko, a 14-year-old Kyiv resident, sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges. 'I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand,' she said. 'Then there was a very loud explosion. My whole life flashed before my eyes — I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack. … I'm shocked that I'm alive.' In Kyiv's Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story apartment building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the burning unit. The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv's eastern bank were without power, city officials said. Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies. Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, the northern Chernihiv region, and the central Poltava region, where at least three people were injured. Russia also reports drone attacks In Russia, air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. As a precaution, flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended overnight Thursday into Friday and then again late Friday afternoon. Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said. Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea. Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said. Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network.
