[Adam Minter] Chinese learn the value of privacy

China’s Communist government has never shown much concern for the privacy of Chinese citizens. If you have something to hide, the thinking goes, we probably need to know it. In one form or another, surveillance and monitoring have evolved into a well-honed form of social control. And as a result, neither companies nor consumers have traditionally had very high expectations for individual privacy.　That might’ve been fine before more than 700 million Chinese went online, and before the government

March 22, 2017

[Fabiola Santiago] Appetite for travel tempered by Cuba repression

At the height of the Cuba travel frenzy, unleashed by the restoration of diplomatic relations and relaxed US travel rules, not a day went by without an onslaught of photos on social media of Americanos cruising Havana in antique convertibles and puffing on cigars. The island was pronounced awesome, unique — a must-see. The US-born could buy an instant visa at the airline counter and hop on a plane to Havana for the weekend as if it were the Bahamas.The rush had airlines and cruise lines salivati

March 22, 2017

[Francis Wilkinson] Steve Bannon’s preposterous ‘Rosebud’ moment

White House strategist Steve Bannon understands how narrative works. In Hollywood films, at least the assembly-line models, plot points are inserted to send the hero off on a quest and, later, to send the action veering in an unexpected (well, sort of) new direction. They explain the hero to himself and others, give him a goal and erect obstacles (drama) in the path of achieving it.Bannon, who made documentary films before becoming chairman of the propaganda website Breitbart, has offered report

March 22, 2017

[Albert R. Hunt] Ready or not, here come Trump and North Korea

President Donald Trump is a reckless bully with authoritarian leanings and a craving for attention. Kim Jong-un is a reckless bully with dictatorial powers and a craving for attention. Oh yes, and both have fingers on nuclear triggers. That’s why so many national security experts of both political parties struggle to think of a scarier pair.　It’s not just that Kim’s outlaw North Korean regime has accelerated its nuclear weapons capacity and delivery capability, or that Kim sees nuclear weapons a

March 21, 2017

[Ted Gover] What’s next after Tillerson’s statement on North Korea?

During his first Asia visit as US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson made clear the Trump Administration’s intentions of abandoning prior American approaches to North Korea and adopting a hard line against the rogue state. Secretary Tillerson’s public and firm remarks were crafted for one purpose: to exact from Beijing necessary measures to reign in North Korea’s nuclear program.　Tillerson’s March 17 statement in Seoul -- that all options are on the table and pre-emptive US military action agains

March 21, 2017

[Christine Flowers] Travel ban is a Muslim ban, any way you slice it

Religion is very important to me. I’m not unusual. According to a recent Pew report, three-quarters of Americans said that religion was at least “somewhat important” in their lives, and well over half said that it was “very important.” Only 11 percent said that it was “not important.”　We in the US are privileged to live in a country where our respective faiths are generally protected and respected. Of course, there are the random acts of bigotry, like overturned gravestones, the heckling of men

March 21, 2017

[Tobin Harshaw] Hey soldier, you might want to cut that caffeine

As if the threats of terrorist ambushes, booby traps and truck bombs weren’t enough, one military expert thinks US troops abroad are facing another potent risk -- one that comes in 237-millimeter cans. In a post published by the Army War Institute at West Point, Sgt. Eddie Jackson warned that energy drinks such as Rip It, which has become ubiquitous at US military sites in the Middle East and Afghanistan, “have caused more physiological damage to soldiers than actual combat.”　As anybody who has

March 20, 2017

[Abhijith Ravinutala] Compassion should have no religious litmus test

At 7:50 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, Azzedine Soufiane was gathered with his family and community for evening prayers. By 8 p.m., he and five other men, all fathers, were murdered by a Canadian right-wing extremist.　Less than 10 minutes separated a peaceful routine from the shock of death, in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decried as a terrorist attack in a Quebec City mosque. And like most terrorist attacks on innocent civilians in the West, the next day’s news should’ve been filled with storie

March 20, 2017

[Andrew Malcolm] Trump doing what Obama didn’t: Reaching out

Elements of Donald Trump’s presidential style are already emerging and they must be discouraging to his critics.It’s easy to miss things that do not happen. But perhaps you too have noticed a decline in the number of trivial Trump tweets starting spats and news cycles many mornings.　Last week -- are you sitting down? -- Trump canceled a couple of media availabilities. A month ago, he turned down ESPN’s invitation to provide his own NCAA tournament brackets, a free public relations ride on basket

March 20, 2017

[Otherview] Party of ‘No’ struggles for ‘Yes’

There’s a disconnect between the Republican Party leadership, President Trump, conservatives in the House, practical dealmakers in the Senate and those hard-core working-class voters who supported Trump’s election chiefly based on their hatred for President Obama.　　In fact, there are so many disconnections that Republicans’ plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act are starting to be reminiscent of a shade-tree mechanic who boasts as he takes apart a motor -- and then has no idea how to put it

March 19, 2017

[Eryn Sepp] A day without? That is every day

Last week’s “A Day Without a Woman” truly bothered me, as did last month’s “A Day Without Immigrants,” but I could not place why.　But as I pondered my new role as “The Grinch Who Stole ‘A Day Without’” on the train, a realization was knocked loose from the back of my mind: I really take issue with just one word: “without.”　　For so many of our boardrooms and operating rooms, battalions and bylines, every day is a day without women. And immigrants. And people of color. And so many other groups who

March 19, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] What the Yahoo hack says about Russian spies

Former Russian domestic intelligence officer Dmitry Dokuchaev won’t appear in a US court to face charges related to the mass 2014 hacking of the Yahoo user database. That’s because he already sits in a Moscow jail, accused of treason. Dokuchaev’s rare achievement in being wanted by both the US and Russian authorities sheds light on what is widely said in the West to be “state-sponsored Russian hacking,” but would more accurately be described as a combination of freelance theft and a concept know

March 19, 2017

[Jay Ambrose] Right vs. left in Trump’s economic plans

President Donald Trump is a populist, a mix of conservative and liberal, and while the conservative side of him is already making the economy sparkle, the liberal side threatens its future. How things play out is anyone’s guess, but right now we can all celebrate a great February jobs report on top of high consumer confidence and zooming stocks.　　The heartening jobs data -- 235,000 new ways for Americans to earn a living -- was accompanied by a slight fall in unemployment rates and a slight budg

March 19, 2017