[David Ignatius] Apple fights wrong encryption case

　Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook is such a respected figure that it’s easy to overlook the basic problem with his argument about encryption: Cook is asserting that a private company and the interests of its customers should prevail over the public‘s interest as expressed by our courts.　The San Bernardino encryption case was the wrong one to fight. Apple doubled-down Thursday by asking a federal court to vacate its order that the company create a tool to unlock the iPhone of shooter Syed Rizwan

Feb. 26, 2016

[David Ignatius] A next-generation battlefield

Little noticed amid the daily news bulletins about the Islamic State group and Syria, the Pentagon has begun a push for exotic new weapons that can deter Russia and China. 　Pentagon officials have started talking openly about using the latest tools of artificial intelligence and machine learning to create robot weapons, “human-machine teams” and enhanced, super-powered soldiers. It may sound like science fiction, but Pentagon officials say they have concluded that such high-tech systems are the

Feb. 25, 2016

[Howard Davies] Why is U.K. reluctant to join EU banking union? 　

When I became the head of banking supervision in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s, my friends did not see it as a glamorous or exciting career move. Banking regulation was an obscure task, like cleaning sewers: essential, perhaps, but hardly front-page news. Expressions of curiosity about how I spent my working hours were typically a sign of friendly politeness rather than genuine interest.　Twenty years later, the structure of banking regulation in Europe has risen to the top of the political

Feb. 24, 2016

[Kim Hoo-ran] Stop fighting time; embrace it

“If you could go back 10 years in time, be 10 years younger, how much of your wealth would you be willing to give up for that?” asked a friend at a recent gathering. 　Some were willing to give up as much as 90 percent of what they had. “If I had those 10 years, I could make up that 90 percent and then more,” said a middle-aged businessman. He was willing to give up a lot to have 10 years of his younger self so that he could once again feel the energy and youthful spirit of his younger days.　Ther

Feb. 24, 2016

[Elizabeth Drew] The agony of Hillary Clinton

WASHINGTON – Being Hillary Clinton, one of the most celebrated women in the world, holder of some of the highest offices in American politics, and possibly the next president of the United States, has had more than its share of agony. Widely regarded a year ago as a shoo-in for the Democratic Party’s nomination, she has faced a far more difficult slog than anyone, including her, ever contemplated.　Yet most of the problems Clinton is encountering were predictable and foreshadowed in 2008, when sh

Feb. 23, 2016

[Kim Seong-kon] In memory of novelists Lee, Eco 　

Two literary stars left us last week. Harper Lee and Umberto Eco sadly passed away at 90 and 84, respectively, leaving two everlasting masterpieces behind: “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Name of the Rose.” 　I still vividly remember the day when I first watched the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel in 1964, when I was a vulnerable high school student. I was enchanted by the splendid acting of Gregory Peck, who superbly portrayed the widowed father,

Feb. 23, 2016

[Stephen L. Carter] An American hero for all seasons

Some years ago, I added “To Kill a Mockingbird” to the syllabus of my course on Ethics in Literature. I teach in a law school, and the students in the seminar were as hard-bitten and hypercritical as one would expect. Most of the works we read they trashed from one end to the other, often with the easygoing savage hauteur of the young intellectual. But not “Mockingbird.” They treated the classic with a respect bordering on awe. Prompting them to criticize it was as successful as prompting an Eva

Feb. 22, 2016

[Cass R. Sunstein] Calorie counts fight obesity

Until recently, the sophisticated view about calorie labels in restaurants was one of despair: A series of studies suggested that the practice, required by Obamacare and modeled on what has been done in New York and other cities, just doesn’t succeed in promoting healthy food choices and reducing obesity.　But comprehensive new research offers a dramatically different picture. It finds that if we divide Americans into subgroups -- the normal, the overweight, and the obese -- we’ll find that calor

Feb. 22, 2016

[Park Sang-seek] Greatest internal threats to Korean society

The greatest external threat to South Korea is North Korea. In dealing with this threat, citizens of the South should unite, but they are not quite united. 　In a democratic state diverse views and opinions are inevitable and can make positive contributions to deal with threats to national security. But if the people are divided to the extent that they undermine the very foundation of the state, the North Korean threat can’t be countered. 　The state is founded on three pillars: political, economi

Feb. 21, 2016

[Gareth Evans] The Anglosphere illusion

One of the most bizarre arguments made by the people who support Britain’s exit from the European Union is the notion that a self-exiled U.K. will find a new global relevance, and indeed leadership role, as the center of the “Anglosphere.”　The idea is that there are a group of countries -- with the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing community of the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand at its core -- who share so much of a common heritage in language, history, law, democratic institutions

Feb. 21, 2016

[David Ignatius] A pivotal moment in a tangled war

Blaming President Obama for his past mistakes in Syria may be satisfying, and is largely deserved, but it’s not a policy. This is the most complicated battlefield the world has seen in decades, and the next moves by the U.S. and its allies have to be deliberate, and carefully considered. 　The U.S. should move forward with the cease-fire process begun by Secretary of State John Kerry a week ago in Munich. Yes, it’s a long shot, and woefully dependent on Russian “goodwill.” But it offers a chance

Feb. 19, 2016