President Barack Obama is headed for political turbulence. That prediction isn’t based on any private polling data or inside information. It’s just common sense: National political campaigns are cyclical, and after an especially good cycle, the Democratic president is due for some downtime. On re-election prospects, the Obamaites are confident when they look at the state of the race, especially the Republicans. They’re showing signs of cockiness. Like many politicians, Obama courts trouble when

Viewpoints Feb. 8, 2012

The Fitch Ratings agency has downgraded the credit of another five European countries ― Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain ― citing “the financing risks faced by eurozone sovereign governments in the absence of a credible financial firewall against contagion and self-fulfilling liquidity crises.”In other words, these self-styled fiscal medics plunged headfirst into deadly disease without making sure they had all their shots. Is every European country that tries to find a clean end by wh

Viewpoints Feb. 7, 2012

France can’t seem to decide how quickly it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan after a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire on unarmed French soldiers, killing four and wounding 15.Over the last week, French officials have offered conflicting reports of their intentions. But the truth is, it doesn’t really matter whether they stay or they go. Despite the gung-ho statements we are now hearing from the NATO training program, most Afghan soldiers are simply unfit for duty.In every nation, the arm

Viewpoints Feb. 7, 2012

If the election of Park Won-soon as Seoul’s mayor last October is any indication, the upcoming April parliamentary elections will turn on matters of social welfare, inequality and the degree to which Koreans are willing to accept the vagaries of a market economy which, while it may increase the latter, is necessary in order to finance the former. This debate could scarcely come at a more important time for Korea, as it faces an aging and declining population, a slowing economic growth rate and r

Viewpoints Feb. 7, 2012

The great absurdity of the U.N., the veto power given to the five permanent members of the Security Council, was again exposed when China and Russia used it against a resolution to stop a bloodbath in Syria. The joint action by the two early Cold War allies turned the clock of history back several decades.The draft resolution proposed by the Arab League had been considerably toned down to elicit support from the two countries. It called for the formation of a coalition government in Damascus, a

Editorial Feb. 6, 2012

The demand for seats in colleges and universities continues to grow across the globe. Parents and their offspring see tertiary education as the path to greater economic, personal and social opportunities that follow receipt of a degree. With the exception of institutions topping the league tables, the many of colleges and universities earnestly struggle to provide seats to meet this increasing demand. More students are served and not incidentally more revenue is earned. Tertiary education has a

Viewpoints Feb. 6, 2012

The OECD has just issued a scathing report on Japan’s efforts to fight bribery and corruption. This is striking in many respects ― most notably the stark contrast with the recent glowing report for Korea.The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention is perhaps the OECD’s crowning achievement. It establishes legally binding standards to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions and provides for a host of related measures that make this effective. It is the first an

Viewpoints Feb. 6, 2012

On most economic issues ― notably the source of his personal fortune ― Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seems to believe in the most extreme form of let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may capitalism. An exception is China. Last week, accepting the endorsement of Sinophobe Donald Trump, Romney declared that “on my first day in office,” he will slap tariffs on any Chinese goods that arrive on American shores through “unfair trade practices” that “have cost American jobs.” He openly threate

Viewpoints Feb. 6, 2012

President Obama is right to put more pressure on colleges and universities as well as the states to make a college education more affordable.A nation that keeps telling its children they need more than a high school diploma to succeed in this increasingly high-tech world shouldn’t make it so hard for them to pay for college.Obama wants to boost the Perkins federal loan program from $1 billion to $8 billion and change the formula for how the money is distributed. Colleges that fail to reduce cost

Viewpoints Feb. 6, 2012

There is no substitute for victory in elections. Party strategists and anyone who wants to have their name published in the media make sweet promises that they think will help attract votes. The series of election pledges churned out by parties these days have one thing in common ― be they a fivefold increase of soldiers’ salaries and the release of allowances to unemployed college graduates. It is a lack of convincing explanation on how to fund them.Parties put up no collateral to vouch for the

Editorial Feb. 6, 2012

Drug problem adding to challenge in AfghanistanBy Joel Brinkley France can‘t seem to decide how quickly it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan after a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire on unarmed French soldiers, killing four and wounding 15.Over the last week, French officials have offered conflicting reports of their intentions. But the truth is, it doesn’t really matter whether they stay or they go. Despite the gung-ho statements we are now hearing from the NATO training program, most Af

Viewpoints Feb. 6, 2012

The U.S. oil market could be on the verge of its own fracking revolution, similar to what the natural-gas market is already experiencing. As a result, domestic production is now projected to rise significantly over the coming decades, reducing the relative share of imports in U.S. oil consumption. Advances in horizontal drilling and hydrofracking, in which highly pressurized liquids are injected into underground rock, have been used increasingly over the past few years to extract natural gas. Th

Viewpoints Feb. 5, 2012