Iran’s Protests Offer Little Solace in a Flawed System
Three years ago this month, I had the opportunity to do something most Americans will never do: I visited the Islamic Republic of Iran. I was one member of a peace delegation organized by…
Jon Letman
Jon Letman is a Hawaii-based independent journalist covering people, politics, and the environment in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way
For something very few people will ever see with their own eyes, nuclear weapons are remarkably ever-present in our lives. Currently, nine countries possess around 12,700 nuclear weapons…
Of Deities and Demons
No one expected Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe to be killed with a homemade double-barreled weapon outside a train station in Nara, a city better known for its enormous 8th…
Face To Face With Fat Man
Stepping out of the infernal desert heat, I’m welcomed into the reception area by a Fat Man, one of America’s first atomic weapons. The US nuclear legacy is on display inside the…
Our Man in Rasht
In its 2022 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked the Islamic Republic of Iran at 178 out of 180. Iranian journalists face some of the most oppressive conditions…
Life Like an Accordion
The worst of the fighting has left the capital for now, but the city remains tense. Giant steel anti-tank barriers called “hedgehogs” stand in rows scattered every 500 meters like…
Putin’s War Seen from Russia’s Far East
One month into a senseless, savage war that has overwhelmingly brutalized, displaced, and killed Ukrainian citizens and destroyed civilian infrastructure, Russia has become an international…
400 Minutemen to Midnight
It’s early in the new year, but the hour is late. This week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the hands of the symbolic Doomsday Clock would remain set at 100 seconds…
Sentinel Landscapes
A sprawling residential development pushes up against an expanse of dense, green forest. We hear a voice speaking over the lush images: “Our nation is only getting more crowded. There’s…
Covering the Bomb
In her 2020 book “Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World,” journalist and historian Lesley M.M. Blume tells the story of how John Hersey, a…