[Andrew Malcolm] Trump’s outrageous tweets are actually quite profitable

While much of our political discussions these days revolve around personality, something less superficial is going on that will quietly play a far more important role determining election outcomes 51 weeks from now.Fundraising.It’s a familiar topic in US politics, but draws less attention during these national election bye years.Internally, both parties are seriously handicapped by factional feuds revealing profound ideological rifts dividing their bases. This is most apparent among Republicans

Nov. 26, 2017

[Editorial] Risky pardon

The Justice Ministry recently instructed prosecutors’ offices to report on all of those convicted in connection with demonstrations over five specific issues.The ministry said that it would receive the reports to include them in the list of candidates to be pardoned. The government is said to be considering granting a special amnesty on Christmas or the Lunar New Year’s Day.The five issues, which caused fierce protests and political strife, are: the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island; t

Nov. 26, 2017

[Los Angeles Times] Limiting first use of nukes would be a bad idea

Alarmed by President Trump’s bellicose statements and impulsive governing style, two congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would prohibit the president -- any president -- from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress explicitly endorsing such an attack.We too are dismayed by Trump’s rhetoric, including his threat to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea. We shudder to think about the human consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, even in self

Nov. 24, 2017

[Bernard-Henri Levy] Profiles in discouragement

Some specialists in the life sciences say that no one is ever fully cured of any injury or disease, because our cells forever retain traces, memories, of even the slightest attacks on the body’s integrity. So it will be with the United States.One day, the US will turn the page on Donald Trump. But America will never recover completely from the unstanchable wound that his presidency’s baseness, bull-headed stupidity, and puzzling passivity in the face of China’s global ambitions has inflicted on

Nov. 23, 2017

[David Ignatius] A beleaguered Tillerson is still at the table

A funny thing happened to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the way to the exit door: He didn’t leave. He may be “Dead Man Walking,” as many Washington analysts assume. Yet he’s still pursuing the same list of quiet but mostly correct diplomatic goals as when he took the job 10 months ago.　Tillerson has had a catastrophically bad encounter with official Washington. The White House disdains him; the State Department resents him; the press corps mostly scorns him. Tillerson presses on as if he d

Nov. 23, 2017

[Adam Minter] China isn’t winning the race for space

By the middle of the century, nuclear-powered Chinese shuttles will regularly ply interplanetary space, carrying workers between mining colonies on distant planets and asteroids. If that, like much else published on the front page of the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, sounds like propaganda, remember that China has in barely two decades built up what’s arguably the world’s second-most-advanced space program, after America’s. US strategists warn that Chinese progre

Nov. 23, 2017

[Dan K. Thomasson] Times have changed, for politicians and press

Back in the 1970s I was attending an annual editor’s meeting when I was asked in a confidential session what I was working on. At the time I was a managing editor for investigations for Scripps Howard Newspapers.I replied that I didn’t feel comfortable with providing many details at that point but could only report that it was an important piece that dealt with a startling affair John F. Kennedy had.There was immediate concern expressed about relevance considering the length of time that had exp

Nov. 22, 2017

[Christopher Balding] China’s top economic risk? Education.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently laid out a bold vision for transforming his country into a fully developed economy by 2050, with a particular emphasis on spurring innovation and technology. Given China’s current level of human capital -- and some looming changes in the world economy -- that may be harder than he expects.A widely held view in the West is that China’s schools are brimming with math and science whizzes, just the kind of students that companies of the future will need. But thi

Nov. 22, 2017

[Noah Smith] China looks to dumb money for its financial industry

China is opening its financial firms to more foreign ownership. The opportunity might seem tempting. But developed-world buyers should beware -- it’s possible that it’s a trap.　On Nov. 10, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao announced changes in the rules limiting foreign ownership of Chinese financial companies. Foreign investors will now be allowed to take controlling interests in Chinese securities firms, insurance companies, asset managers and futures traders. Banks may soon follow.　That soun

Nov. 21, 2017

[John Ioannidis] Economics isn’t unreliable, we are

The financial crises of the last two decades, and our failure to predict them, have wreaked havoc on more than just the global economy. The bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, the Enron scandal and the global financial crisis of 2008 have led to a loss of faith in economics itself.But these crises and scandals do not mean that the science of economics is inherently unreliable. Most of them occurred because we ignored what we knew.Perhaps most obviously, we deputized -- and continue to deputi

Nov. 21, 2017

[Trudy Rubin] 40 years ago, Sadat trip to Jerusalem changed the Mideast

On Nov. 19, 1977, I stood on wooden risers at Ben Gurion Airport waiting to see if the circling plane carrying Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was really going to land.Israelis were in a state of shock and disbelief that the head of the largest Arab country had made a historic decision to visit Jerusalem. He was the first Arab leader to do so since the establishment of the Jewish state.Next to me, an Israeli Foreign Ministry staffer was sobbing. Another asked me if I thought the Egyptian plane mi

Nov. 21, 2017