Arms ban treaty talks are unrealistic

Japan announced its decision to abstain from talks on a convention banning nuclear weapons on the opening day of the talks at UN headquarters.　While emphasizing Japan’s fundamental position of pursuing nuclear disarmament, disarmament ambassador Nobushige Takamizawa said Japan had to say that it would be difficult to participate in the talks in a constructive manner and in good faith.　If the treaty is formulated through talks from which nuclear powers -- the United States, Britain, France, China

April 3, 2017

[David Ignatius] Listen to the doctors for health care reform

Here’s a radical idea for reframing the health care debate on the ruins of the GOP’s half-baked plan: Let’s listen to doctors, rather than politicians. And let’s begin with a simple formula offered last week by the National Academy of Medicine: “Better health at lower cost.” 　Better and cheaper. It’s hard to argue with that prescription. Because the real health care crisis in America is about delivery of care, more than the insurance schemes that pay the bills. Costs are continuing to rise, even

April 3, 2017

[Solomon Jones] Our pollution masks will be greater than ones Chinese wear

When President Trump signed a new executive order seeking to curb the enforcement of regulations on climate change, he said it was in an effort to save American jobs in the coal industry.　In reality, an executive order is not nearly enough to curb the losses coal has faced. For coal jobs to truly make a comeback, the corporate interests that are automating miners out of their jobs would have to stop doing so. The abundant natural gas that resulted from more domestic exploration under the Obama a

April 2, 2017

[Joshua J. Whitfield] The danger of post-Christian America

“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot,” said Alexis de Tocqueville, the great political philosopher and observer of our young democracy.　Impressed by religion in early American life as lived both in public and private, he observed religion “takes no direct part in the government of society,” even though it remained “foremost of the political institutions of that country.” So combined were the “notions of Christianity” and liberty in American democracy, he thought it impossible

April 2, 2017

[Other View] Stuck in Syria: US forces are in middle of Turk-Kurd tension

There are still many questions pending — including the one of why the United States is involved — in the long, drawn-out campaign by various forces to take Raqqa, considered the Islamic State group capital, in the interior of Syria.　Hundreds of US Special Forces are engaged in the campaign, training Kurdish forces in Syria. But at least part of the time, they are keeping Turkish and Turkish-backed forces from attacking the Kurds.　The Trump administration is either letting the Obama policy in Syr

April 2, 2017

[Silvio Laccetti] America needs champions of sci-tech

With March Madness nearing its end, the nation will soon be able to switch its focus to scores of a different type — those resulting from various state-level and national high school achievement tests. 　But instead of seeing a champion crowned, we’ll be besieged by a wild array of test score interpretations, encouragements and warnings, particularly in regards to the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 　Effective STEM education is seen as crucial to maintaining Ameri

April 2, 2017

[Other view] Trump brawl was politics at its worst

It is a sad indictment on the decline of discourse in this country when a rally in support of the president of the United States devolves into a brawl. But that is what happened in Huntington Beach, California, over the weekend when folks rallying in support of President Trump clashed with anti-Trump protesters. It seems doubtful this is what President Trump had in mind when he promised to be a “president for all Americans” on election night.　“We were expecting it to be more peaceful,” Jordan Ho

March 31, 2017

[Jesse Walker] Story on Russia ties: Credible or kooky?

How do you tell a plausible charge from a fevered fantasy? As allegations drip, drip about President Donald Trump’s purported ties with Russia, most news consumers will want to keep an open mind about potential wrongdoing. But they won’t want to get lost in some eternal connect-the-dots game that never forms a coherent and believable picture. 　There’s a difference between thinking that Moscow may have hacked the Democratic National Committee and thinking that Moscow actually hacked the election,

March 31, 2017

[Other View] Make Brexit about mending, not destroying

The UK has formally served notice that it’s quitting the European Union. Beyond a doubt, this decision was a grave mistake -- but it’s done, and now Britain and its European partners need to arrange the friendliest possible divorce.The EU’s initial posture has been anything but friendly, which is understandable. Britain is the defaulting party and shouldn’t expect gratitude. Europe’s leaders, watching anti-EU sentiment gain ground in other countries, are rightly concerned that various EU exit mo

March 30, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] The yellow rubber duck is a potent protest symbol

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was in Moscow when protesters carrying images of a yellow rubber duck marched against top-level corruption. What he saw was a global ducky conspiracy.　“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Vucic said, according to the Serbian newspaper Novosti. “If someone tells me that different people have thought of the same symbol in Belgrade, Brazil and Moscow, don’t expect me to believe it.”　Vucic’s skepticism is misplaced. The rubber duck has become an unlikely protest

March 30, 2017

[Judith Matloff] Forget fighter jets, we need mules

President Donald Trump has called our military “a disaster,” and he wants to remake it with a $54 billion increase in defense spending. He imagines the cash infusion will go toward big ships, aircraft carriers and fighter jets.　Most experts believe that the world’s largest expeditionary force is actually in good shape. But if a partial overhaul is inevitable, the new administration would be wise to limit flashy, big-ticket items and consider stocking up on mules and ropes for specially trained m

March 30, 2017

[Christopher Balding] China should learn the golden rule　

China appears to be thriving in the age of Trump. Faced with a protectionist US administration in Washington, Communist Party leaders have improbably recast themselves as champions of globalization, free trade and openness. Recently, they’ve admonished Western policymakers to treat Chinese investors more graciously before expecting China to open its own markets further. Greater liberalization, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan recently warned, will depend on whether Chinese investors “get better

March 30, 2017

[Dick Meyer] Trump defames way to fortune

President Donald Trump’s craven lies that President Barack Obama had his “wires tapped” are viscerally repugnant and maddening for anyone but the most rabid, delusional Obama-haters.　First, it is destabilizing to realize that a sitting president of the United States has the moral capacity to slander his predecessor egregiously, without regret, guilt or apology after his lies are shown to be just that — lies. And let’s remember, such a man has his finger on the button.　Second, Trump is getting aw

March 29, 2017

[The Sacramento Bee] Trumpcare collapses under the weight of its own lies

Determined to destroy Barack Obama’s signature health care achievement, Republicans in the US Congress and President Donald Trump have insisted the Affordable Care Act is a failure. If it were a car, it would be “missing two tires, leak gas and have a busted transmission.” The health care system is in a “death spiral.” Americans yearn to be freed from this “nightmare.”　Yet on Friday, as Trump and House Republicans conceded a humiliating defeat and pulled their repeal-and-replace bill minutes bef

March 29, 2017