[Daniel Pipes] Worry about IS threat, not about burkini 　

France has been seized by a silly hysteria over the burkini, prompting me to wonder when Europeans will get serious about their Islamist challenge.For starters, what is a burkini? The word (sometimes spelled burqini) combines the names of two opposite articles of female clothing: the burqa (an Islamic tent-like, full-body covering) and the bikini. Also known as a halal swimsuit, it modestly covers all but the face, hands and feet, consisting of a top and a bottom. It resembles a wetsuit with a h

Aug. 24, 2016

[Cass R. Sunstein] Campaign against immigrants echoes Red Scare

In the summer of 1954, during hearings prompted by his investigation of Communism in the U.S. Army, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy hit his professional nadir. Speaking to Joseph Welch, chief counsel for the Army, McCarthy accused a young lawyer who worked in Welch’s law firm of having been “a member of an organization which is named, oh, years and years ago, as the legal bulwark of the Communist Party.”Welch was stunned. “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or yo

Aug. 24, 2016

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Changes that are needed to make the euro work

NEW YORK -- To say that the eurozone has not been performing well since the 2008 crisis is an understatement. Its member countries have done more poorly than the European Union countries outside the eurozone, and much more poorly than the United States, which was the epicenter of the crisis.The worst-performing eurozone countries are mired in depression or deep recession; their condition -- think of Greece -- is worse in many ways than what economies suffered during the Great Depression of the 1

Aug. 24, 2016

[Eric K. Fanning] The foundations of Pacific stability

WASHINGTON, DC -- This month, I completed a two-week, six-stop tour of the Pacific, beginning with a visit to the United States Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. It was a fitting way to start the trip, a reminder that the US Army is critical to forming the foundation for security in the Pacific.The 25th Infantry Division, which in its early years earned the nickname “Tropic Lightning,” marks its 75th anniversary this autumn. The men and women stationed there -- and, indeed, all US soldier

Aug. 24, 2016

The story of Aleppo in a child‘s face

More than broken buildings and twisted rebar, more than images of Su-34 bombers and pickup trucks toting soldiers armed with AK-47s, the face of Omran Daqneesh, 5, tells the story of Aleppo, Syria.In a photo taken after an airstrike hit his apartment building Wednesday, the dust-covered boy sits in an ambulance, staring blankly. The left side of his face is caked in blood. His left eye is nearly shut, his right eye appears encircled by a large bruise. His floppy hair is filled with dust, blood s

Aug. 24, 2016

[Justin Fox] What exactly is it that we‘re all so polarized over?

The political history of the US from the late 1830s through the 1850s is one long tragedy. President after president struggled to hold together an increasingly polarized nation. None served more than one term, two died in office -- and by 1860 the country was falling apart.We hear a lot these days that we’re in a new age of polarization, with measures of partisanship showing a divide greater than at any time since the Civil War. But there’s a striking difference: It’s pretty clear what the polar

Aug. 23, 2016

[Noah Smith] Why ideologues so rarely admit that they‘re wrong

“Communism would have worked, if the Soviet Union had only tried it for real.” I must have heard this argument a dozen times from die-hard leftist friends. Marxist economists such as Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick even wrote a book making exactly this claim. No doubt, true believers will be just as unwavering in the face of Venezuela’s collapse. That country, which embarked on a misguided “Bolivarian revolution” under Hugo Chavez and his successors, has imploded almost as spectacularly as the

Aug. 23, 2016

[Pankaj Mishra] Myanmar‘s second experiment in self-rule

Yangon is suddenly a city of phablets. Nowhere in Asia, let alone Europe, have I seen so many supersized smartphones in public spaces, and with such egalitarian appeal: Pavement vendors selling early 20th century British guides to English grammar seem as transfixed by them as Yangon’s smart set playing Pokemon Go.For many in an isolated country, a 4G smartphone is their first taste of modern consumer luxury. Its proliferation, in a country where a SIM card once cost more than $2,000, seems an ex

Aug. 23, 2016

[Justin Fox] What exactly is it that we‘re all so polarized over?

The political history of the US from the late 1830s through the 1850s is one long tragedy. President after president struggled to hold together an increasingly polarized nation. None served more than one term, two died in office -- and by 1860 the country was falling apart.We hear a lot these days that we’re in a new age of polarization, with measures of partisanship showing a divide greater than at any time since the Civil War. But there’s a striking difference: It’s pretty clear what the polar

Aug. 22, 2016

[Howard Davies] Nervous times for London‘s financiers

LONDON -- In the wake of the 1953 workers’ uprising in East Germany, the playwright Bertolt Brecht mordantly suggested that “if the people had forfeited the confidence of the government,” the government might find it easier to “dissolve the people and elect another.” It is a sentiment that resonates with many in the United Kingdom today, in the aftermath of June’s Brexit referendum.In the heat of the referendum campaign, Michael Gove, then the justice secretary and a leading member of the “Leave

Aug. 22, 2016

[Jeffrey Frankel] Trump’s fiscal follies on vague plans　

CAMBRIDGE -- This year’s presidential election campaign in the United States is certainly unique. Donald Trump has shaken up the way a campaign is run, how a nominee communicates with voters, and the Republican Party’s platform, with many of his positions deviating from GOP tradition. But, on tax policy, Trump has toed the party line -- and that’s not a good thing.Of course, any assessment of Trump’s declared positions risks being rendered meaningless within a few hours. He changes his positions

Aug. 22, 2016

When Rio’s revelry ends and reality kicks in

With the Summer Olympics closing ceremony around the corner, are Brazilians raising their national cocktail caipirinhas or crying in them? There is reason for Rio to revel -- the Zika scare has not turned into a Zika crisis. The polluted waters of Guanabara Bay, Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon and along Fort Copacabana have not induced outbreaks of retching among swimmers, rowers and sailors. Rafaela Silva, a young female judo athlete from Rio’s infamous City of God favela, gave Brazil its first gold

Aug. 22, 2016

[Park Ji-hyun] Surviving human trafficking in China

China’s human-rights abuses against its own people are no secret. But its abuse of North Korean women who flee to China to escape human-rights violations at home has remained largely hidden. I, however, know the truth, because I am one of those women.Since North Korea’s great famine in the 1990s, human trafficking of North Koreans, especially women, into China has become big business. Women who had watched family members starve to death began to cross the border through brokers, in order to earn

Aug. 21, 2016

[Antonio Garza] Don’t let this presidential election rip us apart 　

Every four-years we have an election that stretches our country thin along the political spectrum. As the left and right poles tug at our beliefs, the social fabric tightens and tensions rise across the country. But after each November, our political divisions slowly fade and the social fabric waves freely once again. This time, however, I’m worried that we may not get that far, I’m worried that we are watching it rip.　　Take a look at the anger foaming over at rallies. The slurs hurled at those

Aug. 21, 2016