[Shawn Hubler] Competence isn’t sexy, but it’s needed in the White House

In 2003, the year Californians swept Arnold Schwarzenegger into the governor’s office, a Democratic friend shared a theory on why poor Gov. Gray Davis had been recalled.　“Some years, people want a plumber,” he shrugged, “and some years, they want glamour. Some years, it’s not enough merely to have competence in the job.”　Ouch. Poor Davis, who, in retrospect, was surely more than a Roto-Rooter among public servants. Certainly it wasn’t as if the capitol became Cannes after Schwarzenegger slept he

Aug. 7, 2016

[Jongsoo Lee] Managing Brexit and its global repercussions

Brexit may go down in history as the most significant event in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Its repercussions may be far-reaching and global. Policymakers everywhere must beware and cooperate so as to prevent its negative consequences.First, a brief note on the striking parallels between Brexit and the fall of the wall. The first is that just as the wall’s sudden collapse came as a surprise defying conventional wisdom, so did the outcome of the Brexit referendum. Both of these water

Aug. 5, 2016

[Gareth Evans] Australia’s puerile politics on the global stage

For students of incomprehensible behavior by otherwise apparently intelligent leaders, Australian politics is the gift that keeps on giving. The latest example is the decision by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government, just re-elected by a razor-thin margin, to deny former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd the formal nomination he needed to join the race to be the next U.N. secretary-general.The decision defies not only the merits of the case and well-established precedent, bu

Aug. 5, 2016

[Carl P. Leubsdorf] Trump frighteningly naive about Russia, Putin

Donald Trump outdid himself by attacking the American Muslim parents of a decorated soldier killed in Iraq who challenged his persistent racism in one of the Democratic convention’s most compelling moments.But that revealing insight into his character may not have been the worst thing Trump did in a week that revealed his true self far more than the Republican convention. He also showed he is dangerously naive -- or worse -- about Russia and its autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin.Trump’s main wee

Aug. 4, 2016

[Nichola Gutgold] Historic significance of coming U.S. election　

As an educator, I want the significance of this election year and the privilege of what it means to be an American to get the attention they deserve.This is not the first time a woman has run for president, but it is the first time a major party has nominated a woman for the office. Before Hillary Clinton, there were Margaret Chase Smith, Shirley Chisholm and Patricia Schroeder. Most people will say, “Wait, what? They ran for president? When?”Recently, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow showed footage of

Aug. 3, 2016

The virus, the cheats and the moral high ground 　

When future historians ponder the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, they’ll probably puzzle over the decisions made on two topics and the media attention devoted to them.They might wonder how concerns over a Zika virus outbreak in Brazil — about which health care authorities have issued dire warnings — could be so easily dismissed in the interest of keeping the Games on track.The historians will likely also be baffled at the International Olympic Committee’s ruling allowing Russia to send athlete

Aug. 1, 2016

[Cass R. Sunstein] Why it pays to tell Americans who they are

When President Barack Obama is trying to persuade Americans not to do something, he has a go-to line: “That’s not who we are.” Whether the issue involves discrimination, immigration, torture, criminal violence or health care, he invokes the nation’s very identity. And he likes to follow it by adding, “We are better than that.”　In this way, throughout his political career, Obama has embraced the American tradition of rugged individualism, while arguing that it has always been bound by “an endurin

July 31, 2016

[Shlomo Avineri] The strange death of Turkish secularism

The aftermath of Turkey’s failed military coup raises a fundamental question: Will President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continue to pursue his authoritarian path, perhaps with a vengeance, or will he reach out to his opponents and attempt to bridge the deep fissures in Turkish society?The jury is still out, but judging from previous historical examples, serious challenges to authoritarian or semi-authoritarian leaders usually lead to a hardening of the regime, not greater moderation. And Erdogan’s mov

July 31, 2016

[J. Bradford DeLong] History gives lessons in inequality

The Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen recently gave a talk in Lisbon about inequality that demonstrated one of the virtues of being a scholar of economic history. Eichengreen, like me, glories in the complexities of every situation, avoiding oversimplification in the pursuit of conceptual clarity. This disposition stays the impulse to try to explain more about the world than we can possibly know with one simple model.　For his part, with respect to inequality, Eichengreen has identified six fi

July 29, 2016

[David Ignatius] Is Venezuela the Fidelistas’ last stand?

WASHINGTON -- In a bizarre turn of fate, the diehard supporters of Fidel Castro’s left-wing ideology seem to be fighting their last battle in Venezuela, as the frustrated, hungry population there pushes for democracy and change.The political stalemate in Venezuela continued this week as the National Election Council, under pressure from the leftist government, failed to meet a Tuesday deadline to act on an opposition demand for a recall referendum this year that could replace President Nicolas M

July 28, 2016

[Faith Bautista & Jeff Nino Lim] Bloodless victory possible in South China Sea

Since Spain conquered the Philippines 495 years ago, this country’s destiny has too often been determined by great foreign powers.  However, former President Benigno Aquino III’s suit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013 concerning the South China Sea has set the stage for President Rodrigo Duterte to develop a long-term peaceful solution to the claims of not just the Philippines and China but also of others.Many in the United States, recognizing China’s precarious legal po

July 28, 2016