In this paper, I will analyse the news over the caricature of Muhammad

drawn on the cover of the special edition of Charlie Hebdo in 2015, and consider

whether the Japanese newspapers played a role as leaders of ‘freedom of

expression’.

　　In Japan, three of the seven main newspapers did not publish the caricature

and one of the four that published it was protested by Islamic groups and

published an apology article.

　　When I analysed the articles of the seven newspapers by using a text-mining

approach, I found three problems. Primarily, the contents and attitude of

the newspapers did not necessarily emphasize ‘freedom of expression’. Secondly,

the evaluation process for the caricature and the criteria for publication or nonpublication

of the caricature were not shown. Thirdly, the newspaper that apologized

for publishing the image did not clarify the reason for the apology, and

the other newspapers did not report the news that instigated a discussion over

the rightness or wrongness of the publication. For these reasons, it is hard to

say that Japanese newspapers played the role.

　　In addition, it can be pointed out that the three newspapers which did not

publish the caricature either do not have a certain criterion or did not apply the

criterion. Finally, with respect to the newspaper that published the apology

article，the phenomenon known as atrophy of the news was seen.

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The Korean War and the Gulf War were the two largest wars in scale after World War II, except for the Vietnam War and the Middle East Wars. The United Nations Security Council responded efficiently each time. Because of the different background of the situation, the Security Council's responses also differed in some points and had similarities in others.
At the outset of the Korean War, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling on the North Korean authority to withdraw its forces immediately. In the case of the Gulf War, the Security Council adopted a similar resolution at the start of the Gulf Crisis, also demanding that Iraq withdraw its troops with a stronger expression in the text. This tough language was the result of the end of the Cold War and the weakening position of the Soviet Union, i. e. the comparative strengthening of the United States' position in international relations.
At the beginning of the Korean War, the United States was keenly concerned about the Soviet Union's participation in the war. Although the powerful Soviet Union had boycotted the Security Council at that time, its influence shadowed the UN meeting and caused some of the neutral countries to revise the resolution text to a softer tone removing harsh words such as “aggression”. The concession made by the United States was a reflection of the critical situation at the Korean front where the South Korean Army was badly defeated by the well-prepared North Korean forces.
On the contrary, when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait on August 1990, U. S. top officials did not have the same worries as they did 40 years ago. The United States had confidence in its own power to deal with Iraq's aggression. And in the end, it did expel Iraqi forces out of Kuwait after a half year's military build up. The ground battle lasted only 4 days compared to the 3 years of the Korean War.
As for the Security Council, the resolution condemning Iraq's invasion was adopted without opposition. Even the Soviet Union agreed to the resolution. At that time, the Soviet Union had to cooperate with the United States because of its internal situation. Yet the Soviet Union opposed use of the word “use of force” in the resolution adopted on 29 November 1990. The word was replaced to “all necessary means” after meetings and conversations between the U. S. and Soviet foreign ministers.
In the Gulf War, the United Nations force was not organized. Because, it is said, the United States wanted to keep a free hand to control the military command. Even if this pattern—the Multinational Froces—is efficient, it is time to consider seriously the future form of UN forces. And in order to prevent a new war, these forces should play the role of “vaccine”.

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Turkmenistan, one of the Central Asian Countries, is very rich in natural resources, especially natural gas. The president of Turkmenistan, Niyazov, has dreamed of his country being the “Central Asian Kuwait” with its natural resources, but so far it seems to be nothing but a dream.
Turkmenistan is landlocked and it has to negotiate with the countries around to build pipelines to export its natural gas. But it locates among the rival natural gas-producing countries and the negotiation would be very tough. When it became independent in 1991, only the pipeline route it had was to regional power of CIS, Russia, via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which meant that Turkmenistan had no option but to sell its gas to Russia, or other countries using Russian pipeline. From this fact, it can be deduced that Turkmenistan would be weak in negotiating the price and the condition of natural gas export with Russia. However, Turkmenistan obtains concessions from Russia on gas talks.
In this essay, natural gas strategy of Turkmenistan is analyzed. It will help understanding the diplomacy of minor states when they are under difficult conditions.

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