Germany and Japan ' once firm pillars of the US-led post Cold War world order ' are both developing regional initiatives that bypass US interests
There's no doubt about it, Junichiro Koizumi is back from the political dead, and suddenly looks like something more than the snake-oil salesman many took him to be when he came to office last year. The Japanese prime minister has claimed a leading role in easing tensions on the Korean peninsula and has set a new cabinet to work on economic and banking problems. Koizumi's newly assertive stance is even more interesting when you put him next to Gerhard Schröder and a Europe that is finding its feet. The German chancellor has his back to the wall on the economy, just as Koizumi does, but...
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