[Kelly Born] Solving the disinformation puzzle

Ever since the November 2016 US presidential election highlighted the vulnerability of digital channels to purveyors of “fake news,” the debate over how to counter disinformation has not gone away. We have come a long way in the eight months since Facebook, Google, and Twitter executives appeared before Congress to answer questions about how Russian sources exploited their platforms to influence the election. But if there is one thing that the search for solutions has made clear, it is that ther

July 12, 2018

[Meghan O’Sullivan] Chinese tariffs on US energy would signal a new attitude

In placing retaliatory tariffs on certain goods and products, America’s trade partners have signaled how well they understand American politics. By targeting products from areas supportive of President Donald Trump, they clearly hope to generate pressure to lift US tariffs or even create broader political problems for the president. But China is sending much more interesting — and complex — messages with its indication that it may place retaliatory tariffs on US energy exports.　Since the 1990s,

July 12, 2018

[James Stavridis] NATO has two big problems: Putin and Trump

The NATO alliance is in a state of high tension heading into the Brussels summit this week.　In some ways, of course, we have been here before. When I served as NATO’s supreme allied commander from 2009 to 2013, we had controversy and disagreements aplenty over Afghanistan and Libya, for example, and endless arguments over equitable burden-sharing between the US and the other allies. Indeed, reports on the decline of NATO have been constant over the decades, especially immediately after the colla

July 11, 2018

[Daniel Moss] Trade war muddles China’s battle to curb debt

The start of trade hostilities between the US and China accentuates an important underlying theme in China’s own economy and the way it affects the world.　A big tussle is taking place within China that the leveling of tariffs by Washington and Beijing can only aggravate. That struggle is the effort by China to slow credit significantly: Enough to squeeze the shadow banking industry and rein in debt at state-run firms, but not so much that it causes a slump in overall growth.　Getting the balance

July 11, 2018

[Susan Shirk] How to shield Silicon Valley

President Donald Trump thankfully appears to have backed off his threat to block all Chinese investment in critical US technologies, looking instead to the US Congress to develop a more robust investment screening system. But the risk of this technological cold war spinning out of control, to the detriment of both countries, remains. Lawmakers must strike a balance between preserving economic openness and protecting national security, which means thinking both smaller and bigger than they seem t

July 11, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Look to Austria for Europe’s next leader

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has often been called the European Union’s real leader, though she’s never wanted that role and her moves in Europe have always been dictated by German domestic politics. A different chancellor seems positioned for leadership now: Austria’s Sebastian Kurz.　Few people care much about the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, which Austria assumed on July 1. It’s usually just a public relations opportunity for member states that otherwise get lit

July 10, 2018

[Shuli Ren] Unicorns are China’s innovative cavalry in trade war

A trade war can be fought on many fronts. As China breeds unicorns, they are being asked to stay at home rather than gallop overseas to enrich US investors.　The US pipeline of Chinese initial public offerings has been light since President Donald Trump started making noises about tariffs in early March. The only billion-dollar offering is the pending sale by e-commerce site Pinduoduo, for which an American listing makes sense because it competes directly with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com

July 10, 2018

[Christopher Balding] Chinese savers won’t save China

Chinese are, in the popular imagination as well as some economic statistics, inveterate savers. According to the International Monetary Fund, the Chinese savings rate stood at an astonishing 46 percent in 2016, compared to a global average around 25 percent. Chinese planners have long sought to bring that ratio down in order to promote consumption and ease the economy’s overreliance on investment. If only Chinese would shop more, the thinking goes, China wouldn’t need to rely on smokestack facto

July 10, 2018

[Heidi Crebo-Rediker] Chinese money should play by the rules

Global worries over trade wars, central bank rate hikes and geopolitical instability have hammered emerging-market debt in recent months. The fact is, over the past decade, many developing and low-income countries have simply borrowed too much. They borrowed from the markets, from banks and from other countries. In particular, they borrowed from China, which has averaged more than $100 billion in annual financing commitments since 2010. 　Those bills are now coming due. As one of the largest prov

July 9, 2018

[Pankaj Mishra] The kids have their say

The landslide victory of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico’s presidential elections comes two months after the startling return to power in Malaysia of Mahathir Mohamad and, on a smaller scale, a week after the wholly unexpected triumph in a New York Democratic primary of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old novice politician.　What’s strikingly common to the rise of Obrador, Mohamad, Ocasio-Cortez and many other disparate figures is their fervent support among young voters. Many youth tod

July 9, 2018

[Noah Smith] Robots are poised to make life grim for the working class

Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the World Wide Web, once declared: The spread of computers and the internet will put jobs in two categories. People who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do. Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration, and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously. As machine-learning technology enjoy

July 9, 2018

[Letter to the Editor] An American in Korea on 4th of July

While friends back home in the US set aside, for a day, their ever-expanding political differences to celebrate Independence Day, I am working in a high-rise above an Incheon business district with a birds’ eye view of Costco and Home Depot. It’s a literal and figurative opportunity to look at the American capitalistic spirit from afar, through the lens of Korean society.　America’s post-war industrial influence is evident here; the 10-lane wide highways are labeled with familiar red, white and b

July 8, 2018

[Jay Ambrose] Asian-Americans, Harvard and the future

Everybody knows how President Donald Trump asked for a Muslim ban in his campaign and at least some of us know his travel ban was no such thing. This country did, however, once have a Chinese ban –– people didn’t want them around for mostly bigoted reasons. Thank heavens the population of Asian-Americans from some 20 countries is now booming despite some lingering inhospitality.　We have to watch the generalities –– Asian-Americans are a diverse group and what counts ultimately is individuals --

July 8, 2018