That weapon of human extinction, the atomic bomb, was dropped on the people of Hiroshima sixty-four years ago. Yet the hibakusha's suffering, a hell no words can convey, continues. Radiation absorbed 64 years earlier continues to eat at their bodies, and memories of 64 years ago flash back as if they had happened yesterday.

[The article below, from the June 2009 issue of SEKAI (World), was written before the mid-June visit to Japan by an Australian survivor of forced labor at Aso Mining and the British son of an Aso POW who died after the war. They retraced the trail of the POW experience in Fukuoka and Kobe before meeting in Tokyo with sympathetic lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Prime Minister Aso Taro refused to meet the visitors or apologize to them, but talks were held with officials of Aso Corporation, who insisted they could not confirm the presence of POWs at Aso Mining despite being shown records produced by the family firm in 1946. Seeking apologies and compensation, the visitors walked away with corporate lapel pins instead. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation provided text and video coverage of these recent developments.]

In the waning months of the Bush administration in 2008, certain changes to U.S. legal and regulatory frameworks were made to facilitate improved U.S. bilateral relations with North Korea. These changes were made in return for Pyongyang's progress on disabling its nuclear facilities and in accordance with the Six-Party talks agreements. Among the most notable were the removal of North Korea from the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) and the rescission of North Korea's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST). However, closer examination reveals that these instruments were replaced with new or different legal restrictions which essentially rendered the actions moot.

On the same day that President Bush issued the proclamation terminating the exercise of authority under TWEA with respect to North Korea, he also reauthorized Executive Order 13466. This order characterized North Korea's nuclear activities as an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to U.S. national security, and authorized the continuation of certain restrictions with respect to North Korea and North Korean nationals. Similarly, although the U.S. rescinded North Korea's designation as an SST, the legal restrictions that were applicable under the SST remain in place under the auspices of different laws.

With only symbolic changes to the U.S. legal regime regarding North Korea, the Bush administration left itself vulnerable to charges of duplicity, potentially giving Pyongyang another justification to reject the Six-Party talks. The wide-ranging restrictions placed on North Korea can only mean U.S.-North Korea relations will remain tenuous at best. In order to bring North Korea to negotiations, whether the Six-Party or some other negotiations format, encourage its continued denuclearization, and ultimately put US-North Korean relations on a normal footing, the Obama administration must be willing to make significant changes in the application of U.S. legal sanctions.

Unquestionably, Singapore has economically thrived in the space created by its independent status as an island Republic. The Federation of Malaysia, from which Singapore was expelled in 1965, has also levered itself into the highest ranks of developing countries. Nevertheless, separation has not healed the wounds on either side of the boundary exposed by the failed merger (1963-1965). To be sure, atavisms from the past continue to feed Singapore's siege mentality, just as Singapore's astute political leadership reads lessons from a history of local radicalism, ethnic chauvinism, and international influences including the pull of global Islam and its influence upon local Muslim minorities. No less, in the official narrative, a sense of China-centeredness on the part of the majority population has survived the birth of the Republic and presents the contours of an enduring challenge around identity formation.

Concerned about the sustainability of its oil and gas reserves, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been taking steps to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on natural resource exports. The most eye-catching of these changes has been the rapid development of Dubai as a finance, services and travel hub in the last decade. A further plank in this strategy has recently been revealed: UAE plans to embark upon a nuclear power programme. Emphasising transparency and close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it hopes to have the first of its reactors on line by 2017.