Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be glad summer is winding down. It’s been a rough few months as federal auditors have issued two reports that found problems with administration of the nation’s bloated farm bill.Agencies erroneously awarded millions of dollars, and because of poor documentation, many recipients will never be found. Both the department and Congress have roles to play in reducing future incidents.The first audit came in June. The Government Accountability Offic

Viewpoints Sept. 10, 2013

If ever an election was lost not won, it was the weekend’s vote in Australia. Exhausted by the Labor Party’s feuding, the country ditched Kevin Rudd’s government and elected the Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott. The new prime minister, once seen as gaffe-prone and unelectable, has said he’ll grow into the role. He’d better, or it won’t be long before Australia regrets its choice.To call the coalition’s platform weak would be generous. Mostly, it was empty ― and its few specific idea

Viewpoints Sept. 10, 2013

In November 2001, George W. Bush issued a warning to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and other rogue nations: “If they develop weapons of mass destruction that will be used to terrorize nations, they will be held accountable. And as for Saddam Hussein, he needs to let inspectors back in his country, to show us that he is not developing weapons of mass destruction.”Political folklore holds that Bush rushed the nation into the Iraq war. But this warning came nearly 17 months before the U.S. invasion

Viewpoints Sept. 10, 2013

As the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to start winding down its massive stimulus program soon, Korean policymakers need to step up market monitoring and take steps to minimize its negative impact.The Fed is holding a policy meeting Sept. 17-18 with two-thirds of Wall Street analysts betting that what will emerge from the meeting is a decision to begin tapering the bond-buying scheme starting this month. Since May, when the Fed first suggested that it might start to scale back its money printing

Editorial Sept. 9, 2013

The Ministry of Justice has launched a task force to see if it can take to the Constitutional Court a case that seeks to disband the leftist, minor opposition United Progressive Party.The ministry’s move is a response to the petitions filed in May by conservative civic groups, which asked it to invoke its constitutional right to pursue dissolution of a political party that threatens the democratic order.The nation’s Constitution stipulates that the government can bring action against a political

Editorial Sept. 9, 2013

For a war-weary nation still feeling the tragic effects of two hard-fought foreign conflicts, the very thought of intervening militarily in another nation’s chaos should give us pause.And that is exactly what is happening as Americans of all walks of life ― from those meeting on Capitol Hill to the ones gathered around kitchen tables and water coolers ― debate whether the United States should strike at the Syrian regime in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on its own people.The president

Viewpoints Sept. 9, 2013

Throughout the Federal Reserve’s 100-year history, the Senate has generally deferred to the president’s choice of leader for the central bank. If Larry Summers is picked for the job, however, the debate around his nomination would be unlike any that has come before.For reasons that make a great deal of political sense, some Republicans and more Democrats will resist the nomination. Such a roll of the dice by the Barack Obama administration could have short-term unsettling consequences for financ

Viewpoints Sept. 9, 2013

When Russian President Vladimir Putin came out to welcome world leaders to last week’s G20 summit at the Constantine Palace in Strelna, a St. Petersburg suburb, many wondered how it would go between him and U.S. President Barack Obama.The latter had, after all, likened Putin to a bored, slouching kid at the back of the class. The Russian ex-KGB officer, eight years Obama’s senior, took offense. In an interview the day before the summit, he resorted to the royal “we” when commenting on Obama’s re

Viewpoints Sept. 9, 2013

Hard as it may be to believe, the Iraqi government wants the United States to come back ― and right away.“We need you as a partner in a flaming region,” Lukman Faily, Iraqi ambassador to the United States, told me over breakfast a few days ago. “And I think you need us.”Yes, the Middle East is “aflame,” as Faily put it. And Iraq is in deep trouble, like most of the region. Almost daily, 20, 30, 50 or more people die in terrorist attacks that generally involve Sunnis killing Shiites, or vice vers

Viewpoints Sept. 8, 2013