China gears up: As plenary session opens, internal issues rule

As the US political campaign encourages simplistic views of foreign affairs, with candidates assuming falsely that voters cannot handle the complexities, the view of China making the rounds tends to be left out a lot.In fact, that nation of 1.3 billion, with an enormous, growing economy, governed through an archaic, at least in principle highly ideological structure, tends to be so preoccupied with its own internal problems as to be virtually incapable of presenting any real threat to the United

Oct. 27, 2016

[Narciso Reyes Jr] Embracing the dragon

With stinging words in Beijing against our top ally, America, President Rodrigo Duterte is taking the Philippines on a foreign policy adventure that carries with it immense socio-economic import and potentially dangerous geopolitical repercussions.If he goes beyond catchy rhetoric and actually sets in motion policies and events that cuts the Philippines’ deep and complex ties with America -- a paradigm shift that will place it firmly in the political-military orbit of such countries as the hermi

Oct. 27, 2016

The US can stay friends with the Philippines

For a moment last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte seemed to have orchestrated one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in Asia since the end of the Cold War -- abandoning the US, his country’s longtime ally, for rival China. Characteristically, he did so with zero subtlety. In responding, the US should avoid making the same mistake.That’s not to say Duterte’s anti-US comments in Beijing last week should be dismissed as the ravings of a hot-tempered diplomatic lightweight. He remai

Oct. 26, 2016

[Michael Hiltzik] AT&T-Time Warner merger raises host of doubts for consumers

Apparently we’re supposed to sympathize with giant conglomerates AT&T and Time Warner. They’re so beleaguered by changes in their core businesses that their only path to survival, so they say, is a merger valued at $84.5 billion that will keep their fleeing customers corralled.　Consumer advocates aren’t buying this. Politicians across the spectrum aren’t buying this — who would expect to find Donald Trump, the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democrats in the US Congress, who all are expressing doub

Oct. 26, 2016

[Ana Palacio] The Brexit Paradox

The French mathematician Blaise Pascal famously said, “It is not certain that everything is uncertain.” Had he been around for Brexit, he might not be so sure. While a moderate outcome remains likely, uncertainty and animosity have been on the rise in recent weeks. This is the Brexit paradox: The longer it takes for pragmatism to re-enter the debate, the higher the chance that the chilling effect of the unknown will cause permanent damage to both the United Kingdom and the European Union.This wa

Oct. 26, 2016

Beijing’s gas development in East China Sea violates trust with Japan

A promise between Japanese and Chinese leaders appears to have been one-sidedly discarded similar to a mere scrap of wastepaper, and this should not be overlooked.China has started operating two gas fields near the Japan-China median line in the East China Sea. In early October, the Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed gas flares at the production sites and photographed them.This means 12 of the 16 offshore facilities that China has constructed are now in operation.Demarcation between Japan and

Oct. 26, 2016

[Edward Niedermeyer] The only thing on autopilot at Tesla is the hype machine

Just over a year ago, Tesla sent out a software update to its cars that made its “Autopilot” features available to customers, in what the company called a “public beta test.” In the intervening 12 months, at least one customer died while the Tesla was in autopilot mode. Cars have crashed, regulators have cracked down, and the headlines proclaiming that “Self-Driving Cars Are Here” were replaced with Tesla’s assurances that autopilot was nothing but a particularly advanced driver-assist system.Gi

Oct. 25, 2016

[Bill Emmott] The creeping public pension debacle

If developed countries acted rationally, and in the interest of electorates that understood how their tax money is spent, they would set their public-pension retirement age at or above 70. But most developed countries have retirement ages below this mark, and, despite some progress, it will be decades before they catch up. In the meantime, Western welfare states will remain financially unviable, economically sickly, and politically strained.Demographic aging is the social and economic equivalent

Oct. 25, 2016

[Lara Weber] Ugly campaign has forced us to talk about uncomfortable truths

In less than three weeks, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected president of the United States -- and if it feels like we’ve already heard enough about sexism and misogyny, get ready: The next four years are going to be filled with bitches, bimbos and nasty women.And that may be the best thing for women since the 19th Amendment.This ugly campaign has pushed our country, once again, to talk -- with uncomfortable words -- about how men treat women. But unlike other moments that ha

Oct. 25, 2016

Tobacco taxes work, but only if they’re high

When smoking costs more, more people quit. That’s why higher cigarette taxes are almost always good policy, for smokers and the public health, too.There’s a catch, though -- and it’s one that voters in four states should keep in mind as they consider ballot initiatives next month to raise cigarette taxes: Sin taxes work only if they’re high enough.Voters in California, Colorado and North Dakota are being asked to raise state taxes to well over $2 a pack. Then there’s Missouri, where voters will

Oct. 25, 2016

[Yohuru Williams] Educating students on civic engagement

Remembering the late Muhammad Ali, New York Times reporter Robert Lipsyte described how the boxer stood for civil rights and social justice as a brash young champion and was gradually morphed by the media and his admirers into “something of a secular saint, a legend in soft focus” by the time of his death.It’s also an apt description of what the scholar Cornel West has described as the “Santa Clausification” of another “legend in soft focus,” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Reduced to a collecti

Oct. 24, 2016

[Rachel Marsden] France’s self-employed pay undue immigration costs　

As the conflict in Syria rages on, refugee migration into Europe continues. Most of the debate around the immigration crisis focuses on security. But there’s another related issue receiving far less attention: Who’s actually paying for the migrant wave?　No one seems to want to talk about the spiraling cost of mass migration here in Europe. The number of asylum-seekers doubled to 1.2 million last year, according to Eurostat figures. Last year, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper es

Oct. 24, 2016

[Francis Wilkinson] Trump is a lesson in dignity, democracy

Democracy requires dignity to sustain itself.This shouldn’t surprise. The ruling system that democracy replaced had been divinely chosen; the royals had God-given dignity, with all the trappings. For democrats to compete, they had to prove first that the electoral rabble could govern its passions and temper its prejudices, and next that their leaders would be chosen from the highest common denominator, not the lowest.Democratic dignity is mutual dignity. That requires mutual respect and somethin

Oct. 24, 2016

[Andres Oppenheimer] UNESCO passes absurd resolution on Jerusalem

UNESCO, the United Nations organization supposedly in charge of education, science and culture, has passed many insane resolutions in the past. But its latest vote to essentially deny Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem has reached new heights of political madness.Fortunately, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNESCO’s own director Irina Bokova and other top UN officials have distanced themselves from the Oct. 13 Palestinian-backed resolution, which effectively denies Judaism and Christianity

Oct. 24, 2016