Among key major powers, relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia are the least developed -- albeit full of potential. Leaders from both sides have repeatedly pledged to bring their relations to a new level. But they remain at best rhetorical. Bluntly speaking, their promises contained in the all-encompassing action plans from 2005-15 were somewhat hollow, judging from the records of implementation. Currently, the 11-member eminent persons group, which has been task

Viewpoints Feb. 25, 2016

　In the locked-iPhone battle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Apple, the feds may have the judiciary on their side, but the tech giant has the better argument.　Last week, the FBI obtained a court order from the Federal District Court for Central California telling Apple to help unlock the iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino on Dec. 2. Specifically, the FBI wants Apple to create a custom operating system update that woul

Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016

　President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia took over Crimea “without a single shot being fired.” There’s even a propaganda movie that presents the operation as the result of brilliant Kremlin planning and seamless execution. A document published on Monday shed new light on why the annexation was bloodless -- and on the limits of Putin’s aggressiveness.　The news site Pravda.com.ua has published the transcript of a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council that took place F

Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016

Now that 2015 has come and gone, the sheep has reluctantly returned to its pasture. As 2016 crests above the horizon, the monkey emerges from its nest, ready to engage in mischief or untaught antics. Naturally, the monkey year is in full swing so the next 12 months will be dominated by the wiles of the red zodiac primate. Monkey is the ninth astrological animal of the Chinese calendar.  　One Chinese Fortuneteller Blog likens the monkey to the first metal of the cycle of elements. This makes the

Viewpoints Feb. 14, 2016

Can professional golf help explain what is now happening with the stock market? I think that it can, because it offers a clue about an important source of this month’s market volatility: human psychology.　The best golfers make par on most holes. They also have plenty of chances to make a welcome birdie (one under par) or to avoid a dreaded bogey (one over par). To do either, they have to sink a putt.　A stroke is a stroke, so you might think that whether a pro makes a putt can’t possibly depend o

Viewpoints Feb. 14, 2016

It’s hard to remember a presidential address with more rhetorical dissonance. In his final State of the Union, President Barack Obama offered a hopeful vision of the future while also expressing little interest in achieving it over the next 12 months.　Obama began the speech by paying lip service to bipartisanship and ended it by lamenting the “rancor and suspicion” that dominates Washington, pleading with the country to “fix our politics.” High notes, both.　But in between, he took a dismissive t

Viewpoints Jan. 15, 2016

In “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the French economist Thomas Piketty highlights the striking contrasts in North America and Europe between the Gilded Age that preceded World War I and the decades following World War II. In the first period, economic growth was sluggish, wealth was predominantly inherited, the rich dominated politics, and economic (as well as race and gender) inequality was extreme.　But after the upheaval of WWII, everything changed. Income growth accelerated, wealth was

Viewpoints Jan. 3, 2016

Germany has rallied Europe in support of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, but has been less diligent in their implementation. German leaders back these ineffectual measures primarily to humor the U.S. and are rightly unwilling to suffer too much for them.　In a recent speech to her CDU party, which ended with a nine-minute standing ovation, Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the sanctions: It was the right reaction, no matter how much we’d like to keep a good relationship with Russia. We m

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2015

I may not be the only finance professor who, when setting essay topics for his or her students, has resorted to a question along the following lines: “In your view, was the global financial crisis caused primarily by too much government intervention in financial markets, or by too little?” When confronted with this either/or question, my most recent class split three ways.　Roughly a third, mesmerized by the meretricious appeal of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, argued that governments were the

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2015