A dead Osama ― and what matters to whom

The security relationship between the United States and Pakistan is at risk of breaking down over the Osama bin Laden case. The U.S. would be disadvantaged in its Afghanistan withdrawal timetable and federal budget pruning if a rupture happened. Pakistan could as penance be made to take a cut in the $3 billion annual military aid it receives, but it will probably manage. Just how bad the relations

May 12, 2011

Spending on luxury brands soaring in China

Our country has become a shining beacon of hope for luxury brands as Chinese consumers are driving the growth in many luxury sectors.As the luster of luxury fades in Japan, luxury brands are expanding their presence and retail locations in China.McKinsey & Co. estimates that the country’s luxury spending will more than double by 2015. If so, we will surpass Japan to become the world’s largest mark

May 12, 2011

Make drug use pay its own way

In a far-off land called I’m Right, You’re Wrong, a fierce drug-legalization debate is raging. Half the people, libertarians, say drug use should be legal. The other half, moral purists, insist it shouldn’t.They disagree even on what to call it when those who buy or sell drugs are led off to jail. The libertarians call this a form of taxation ― specifically, a tax on the time of the buyer and sell

May 12, 2011

[Zuraidah Ibrahim] A handful of issues for Singapore’s ruling party

The People’s Action Party’s (PAP) standard line that it starts preparing for the next general election the day after the last one ends has probably never been truer. Traditionally, a committee is formed to study voting patterns. This year, it will have its hands full divining why various precincts cast their ballots the way they did.On the one hand, there is bound to be a secular decline in suppor

May 12, 2011

[William K. Black] Why CEOs avoided getting busted in meltdown

The defining characteristic of crony capitalism is the ability of favored elites to loot with impunity and the failure of regulators to do their jobs.We have seen this in the financial crisis that started in 2008 and in an earlier era, when the savings-and-loan industry collapsed.In the Texas “Rent-a-Bank” scandal of the 1970s, for example, two ringleaders created a fraud network of 50 lenders tha

May 12, 2011

[Pervez Hoodbhoy] Pakistan in the balance

The killing of Osama bin Laden could be a transformational moment for Pakistan and its military. The country has an opportunity now to decide whether it wants to decisively confront Islamist violence or face the consequences of the military’s current policy of giving support to jihadis with one hand even as it slaps them with the other. If Pakistan chooses this second path, it will be increasingly

May 11, 2011

[Ruben Martinez] Mexico’s drug war crossing the border

Last year I visited a friend of mine, journalist Raul Silva, in a working-class neighborhood of Cuernavaca. A popular destination for tourists and students of Spanish, the city, about 60 miles south of the Mexican capital, was on edge. Only a few weeks before, a drug gang had audaciously displayed its power, issuing a curfew one Friday night, warning that anyone out after 8 p.m. might be “mistaken

May 11, 2011

[Amity Shlaes] Obama needs Navy SEALs to target budget

Obama pulls another Osama. He signs the orders. The operation succeeds. This time the target is another great enemy: the federal debt.Or so, at least, runs the national daydream.That Americans indulge themselves in such quirky fantasies reflects a desperation about reality. The reality is that in domestic affairs, President Barack Obama moves not like a leader who nailed Osama bin Laden, but like

May 11, 2011

Rethink policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, India

President Obama should take full advantage of the opportunity provided by the death of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to reshape dramatically U.S. policy related to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.For a decade, this country has expended an inordinate amount of its resources, not to mention the more than 1,500 soldiers killed, to fight a war in Afghanistan that never promised to yield compara

May 10, 2011

[William Pesek] Gold traders are only winners amid 18% inflation

Nguyen Van Giau sighs audibly and shifts in his chair when I ask him the dreaded question: Is Vietnam losing its inflation battle?It’s one the country’s central bank governor can barely go an hour without fielding these days. Such is life in a nation where consumer prices climbed almost 18 percent in April from a year earlier.Giau’s assurances that he’s committed to taming inflation aren’t resonat

May 10, 2011

[Thitinan Pongsudhirak] The battle of the temples

BANGKOK ― The military skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia that have claimed more than two dozen lives, caused scores of injuries, and displaced tens of thousands of people since February are primarily attributable to domestic politics in both countries. Rooted in ancient enmities and the legacy of the colonial era, the fighting is damaging the entire region. So virulent is the dispute that e

May 10, 2011

[Trudy Rubin] Pakistan: A failed state or rogue state?

There is something surreal about Pakistani officials’ reaction to the killing of Osama bin Laden.Their focus has been wholly on the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by the U.S. raid, rather than the fact that bin Laden was living well in their country. The army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, warned he would not tolerate any repeat of such covert action; the country’s foreign secretary, Salma

May 10, 2011

It’s time to reduce U.S. role in Afghanistan

The American mission in Afghanistan changed with two quick shots from a Navy SEAL last Sunday.The calls for reflection on the nature of the war on terror with the death of Osama bin Laden have merit. Al-Qaida and its leader were the reasons behind 100,000 U.S. troops facing daily dangers.In a world without bin Laden, the terror war could be as legitimately staged in Somalia, Yemen or Iran.Even bef

May 9, 2011

Federal employees are not part of the problem

Even though the threat of a government shutdown is over for now, the federal services that Americans depend on are still at risk of disappearing.House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to reduce the deficit by gutting $375 billion from the federal government in the next 10 years would severely threaten the important work of the nation’s federal workforce.As would the recommendations put forth b

May 9, 2011