[Lee Jae-kyung] Our children are watching: Beware Faustian deal with North Korea

While nuclear missile threats and military tensions have been nothing new on the Korea Peninsula, I could not help experiencing deja vu of the hide-and-seek games due to repeated failed attempts for denuclearization over the past decade or so. When North Korea recently blew up its age-old nuclear bomb test site without allowing for experts’ verification, it reminded me of their past show of a nuclear plant cooling tower demolition. The North Korea regime has cheated all the time as far as nukes

June 10, 2018

[David Ignatius] Democrats need to find their voice on tariffs

Is President Trump’s pitch to disgruntled manufacturing workers a leading political indicator, portending future trends, or a lagging one, appealing to a small and declining segment of the public? We may be about to find out, thanks to Trump’s controversial tariff plan. Trump’s decision last week to levy duties on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Canada and Mexico seems, oddly enough, to have become the choke point for many Republicans who had stomached far more outrageous Trump proposals

June 8, 2018

[Costas Georgiades, Luca Bucken] The inhumanity of Europe’s refugee policy

For the asylum seekers in the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, the word “almost” has become a source of devastation. They almost made it. They are almost at the end of their brutal journey. As Aarash, a 27-year-old father of a young daughter and an MBA graduate from Kabul, Afghanistan, put it, “When all is said and done, we are only almost human.” And Europe only almost welcomes them."Almost" causes unbearable despair to the asylum-seekers trapped on Lesbos and Samos. According to a report

June 7, 2018

[Conor Sen] Companies really can ‘do more with less’

With the unemployment rate at generational lows, companies are increasingly trying to squeeze more economic growth out of their current workforces, rather than hiring. That may prove counterproductive, as shown in labor trends in fields where performance is closely monitored. While more difficult culturally, a better change would be to have more workers laboring for fewer hours each.　 "Do more with less" is the typical corporate response whenever labor is scarce or revenue is pinched. If an empl

June 7, 2018

[Cathy Young] Why feminists must read Jordan Peterson

One of the most controversial public intellectuals today is an eccentric, primly dressed professor who writes about esoteric mythology, dispenses old-fashioned wisdom such as “clean your room” and champions embattled ideals of manhood.　Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto professor, psychologist, bestselling author and YouTube star, has been hailed by some as a messenger of hope for young men perplexed by cultural upheaval, and denounced by others as a charlatan preaching patriarchy and fascis

June 7, 2018

[Jonathan Bernstein] Trump’s presidency isn’t for everyone. Just listen to him.

Many Republicans felt that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton made no attempt to be president of the whole nation -- and many Democrats believed the same about George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. They were wrong. Those partisans were projecting their own antipathy towards one or another president onto those presidents.　It’s true that all presidents do sometimes talk directly to only part of the nation, and when they do that they are most likely to speak to their supporters. It’s also true that all pres

June 6, 2018

[Bloomberg] A B.A. isn’t the only way for students to succeed

Every year millions of Americans receive an asset that, based on past performance, promises to nearly double their lifetime incomes: a bachelor’s degree. Earning one is an achievement to be proud of. For the vast majority of young adults, however, this prize is increasingly out of reach. One answer is to make college more affordable -- by lowering tuition, increasing financial aid for poor students, and reducing the time needed to graduate. Such reforms deserve support. But a different answer is

June 6, 2018

[Anne Stevenson-Yang] If you want to cut the China trade gap, invest in America

One reason the US and China can’t figure out how to negotiate on trade may be that the Americans are making two sets of demands that are antithetical to each other, without even realizing it.　 On one side are threatened sanctions targeting the Made in China 2025 program of technology development and those against ZTE. The headline tariffs, sometimes $50 billion, sometimes $150 billion, are aimed at the 2025 plan but more broadly attack a range of Chinese industrial practices, as described in an

June 6, 2018

[Albert R. Hunt] Trump’s presidency is built upon double standards

US President Donald Trump and his always enabling press secretary Sarah Sanders charged there was a “double standard” when a television network apologized for a racist comment made about a top aide to former President Barack Obama but didn’t apologize to the current president for its critical remarks about him.　This was sheer narcissism. There was no cause for an apology to Trump. But a double standard does exist in the political dialogue and media coverage. Sometimes it works against Trump. But

June 5, 2018

[Ml Cavanaugh] Can science fiction help us prepare for 21st-century warfare?

The novelist Margaret Atwood recently caused a stir when, during an interview with Variety, she said that the 9/11 hijackers “got the idea” to fly planes into buildings from watching “Star Wars.”　Atwood, the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and other dystopian classics, did not have the facts right. The 19 hijackers were not inspired by “Star Wars.” Al-Qaida wasn’t re-enacting the destruction of the Death Star.　But the premise of Atwood’s comment was not at all far-fetched. Literature and film ha

June 5, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] US should move forces in Germany to Poland

Poland is willing to spend $1.5 billion to $2 billion to entice the US to build a permanent military base there, according to a Defense Ministry proposal. The plan offers a strong incentive for the US to consider moving at least some of its forces from Germany, especially since the current deployment makes little military sense.　Placing US bases in Germany after World War II was a response to the need to deter a Soviet attack and prevent Germany from becoming a military threat again. The second

June 5, 2018

[Angel Gurria] Multilateralism is the only way forward

International cooperation is under strain. The voices of protectionism and nationalism are gaining strength, and governments are increasingly pursuing policy goals through unilateral or ad hoc measures, rather than by working together.Even against this backdrop, it remains abundantly clear that effective international cooperation improves economic outcomes and everyday lives. The automatic exchange of financial information based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Comm

June 4, 2018