[Joseph E. Stiglitz] When shall we overcome?

 In 1967, riots erupted in cities throughout the United States, from Newark, New Jersey, to Detroit and Minneapolis in the Midwest -- all two years after the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles exploded in violence. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed a commission, headed by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner, to investigate the causes and propose measures to address them. Fifty years ago, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (more widely known as the Kerner Commission), issue

March 19, 2018

[Stein Ringen] Who in the world will defend democracy?

In Beijing sits Xi Jinping, the Red Emperor. His project is to make totalitarianism work. Already in complete control at home, his global influence increases by the day. Other nations are falling over each other to pay tribute to the People’s Republic.　Beijing does not impose its political model on others, but demands something else: silence. If you want to collaborate with China, you are not allowed to say anything unfriendly. Crossing the regime risks retribution or expulsion.　After the Nobel

March 19, 2018

[Phyllis Papadavid] Greece quietly backsliding on reform

Greece’s planned August exit from its third European Stability Mechanism bailout has triggered investor optimism. Its July 2017 bond issuance, the first in three years, was oversubscribed, as were subsequent issuances in February of this year. And yet financial investors should curb their optimism. Greece’s return to the markets, and its economic recovery, are likely to be a bumpy and slow -- especially if it continues to delay key reforms.　Greece’s growth appears to have stabilized at a low rat

March 19, 2018

[Bloomberg] Xi’s ambition is a gamble and a challenge to the West

Opaque though China’s system of government may be to outsiders, there’s wide agreement that the initiatives announced in recent days are no ordinary course correction. President Xi Jinping has brought more levers of power under his control and is moving methodically to erase the distinction between the Communist Party and the state.　It’s a bold new direction, as Xi himself declares. His ambitions are far-reaching. What does his project mean for China’s prospects, and for the world?　Xi’s strategy

March 18, 2018

[Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, Jeffrey Wasserstrom] What animal memes can tell us about Chinese politics

When the Chinese political situation gets tense, new animal memes proliferate on the Chinese internet. A decade ago, river crabs were in vogue. Last month, it was bunny rabbit emojis alongside rice bowls. In each case, zoological zaniness has signaled the start of a new round of moves and countermoves between government employees trying to sweep the web clean of unwanted discussions and digitally savvy citizens looking for ways to circumvent the censors. Tracking Chinese politics means keeping y

March 18, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] The EU digital tax is back and as wrong as ever

The idea of a European “digital tax” on tech revenues just won’t go away. Next week, the European Commission will formally propose the levy, and though it faces stiff opposition from low-tax countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg, the proposal isn’t necessarily doomed.　Last fall, the European Union’s largest continental economies -- Germany, France, Spain and Italy -- came out in favor of the turnover levy they dubbed an “equalization tax.” According to EU data, the effective corporate tax bur

March 18, 2018

[Adam Minter] Hawking taught us how to be wrong

In 2002, the future Nobel Prize-winner Peter Higgs joined several fellow physicists at a dinner in Edinburgh. Drinks flowed and the professional invective followed. According to a report published in the Scotsman the following morning, the gathered physicists were frustrated by, and perhaps a little jealous of Stephen Hawking. “It is very difficult to engage him (Hawking) in discussion, and so he has got away with pronouncements in a way that other people would not,” Higgs is quoted as saying. “

March 16, 2018

[Los Angeles Times] Mission impossible: Running stable foreign policy for unstable president

Rex Tillerson was the wrong person to run the US State Department, and he has done deep damage to the organization -- most notably by proposing a controversial restructuring plan that would have shrunk the department, triggering the resignations of more than half the senior career diplomats and failing to fill top vacancies. But given Tillerson’s role as one of the few sane heads in the upper echelon of the Trump administration, it doesn’t bode well for the country that the president canned him

March 15, 2018

[Eli Lake] Tillerson’s exit hurts Iran deal, but not Korea talks

As far as firings under President Donald Trump go, Rex Tillerson’s is not the most humiliating. That dishonor would have to go to former chief of staff, Reince Priebus. He learned he was fired through three Trump tweets and soon after was decoupled from the president’s motorcade.But Tillerson’s departure is nonetheless a slap in the face to a former CEO who advised and quarreled with a man who used to play one on TV. As Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Steve Goldstein said in a state

March 15, 2018

[Jay Ambrose] North Korean talks could save the world

President Donald Trump is going to sit down with Kim Jong-un and try to devise a way for North Korea to get rid of all of its nuclear firepower. This might not work, but, if it does, it could save the world, making up for the despicable laxity of preceding presidents. It’s diplomacy of the kind so many wanted, happens to be even more important than Trump’s rumored affair with adult video star Stormy Daniels -- and what’s the response?　Hand-wringing, that’s what, at least from too many news stori

March 15, 2018

[Adam Minter] China gives batteries a second life

China is hoping to become the Detroit of the battery-powered electric vehicle industry. Sales of electric vehicles are expected to reach 1 million this year alone, and the government has big plans for expansion. But this welcome trend comes with a perplexing side effect: China is now using up more lithium-ion batteries than anywhere else in the world. What to do with them?Throwing those batteries away could be environmentally hazardous. Recycling them, meanwhile, turns out not to be very profita

March 14, 2018

[Ramesh Thakur] Could Kim-Trump summit succeed?

Last year, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump were hurling kindergarten insults at each other -- “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission,” said Trump of Kim; “mentally deranged US dotard,” Kim retorted -- while threatening to reduce East Asia to a post-atomic wasteland. Now, in a stunning and dramatic development, the two are to meet by May. Kim reportedly is willing to denuclearize and eager to talk directly to Trump, who has agreed.But optimism about this turn of events must b

March 14, 2018

[David Ignatius] Trump will have a kindred spirit in Pompeo -- for better or worse

The Great Disrupter and the Boy Scout were never comfortable partners. So there was a sense of inevitability to President Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he was dumping Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and installing Mike Pompeo, the man he wanted in that job back in November.The gregarious, risk-taking Pompeo has an easy rapport with Trump that the more cautious, reticent Tillerson never achieved. A successful secretary of state needs to be able to speak for the president -- something Till

March 14, 2018