What does Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig have in common with Egyptian generalissimo Abdel-fatah al-Sissi? Nothing ― except for the inclination to declare a state of exception and throw the rule book out the window. Reports that Selig might summarily suspend the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez by invoking his “right to take action against a player to preserve the integrity of the game” are important to no one except baseball fans, of course. The general’s decision to oust elected P

Viewpoints July 31, 2013

Last year a military jury convicted Air Force Lt. Col. James Wilkerson of aggravated sexual assault against a civilian woman who worked at his air base in Aviano, Italy. He was sentenced to spend a year in confinement and be expelled from the military. But then his commander decided to toss out the verdict and keep Wilkerson.The trial was irrelevant. A convicted rapist was back in the good graces of the U.S. Air Force. And the victim? “I was assaulted. I reported it. I endured the public humilia

Viewpoints July 31, 2013

How about a cheat sheet that you can carry around during the summer cookout season to help you strike up conversations with friends about some topics worth worrying about? While people have been contemplating the possibility of New York City being run by mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, whose underwear seems to be engaged in an ongoing quick-draw contest with his cell phone camera, there are far more formidable threats worth your concern:1) The Taliban is back, baby ― and it’s like they never l

Viewpoints July 31, 2013

“This is a great time to be a white-collar criminal.”An assistant U.S. attorney I know startled me with this remark in 2002. The bulk of her FBI investigators, she explained, had been pulled off to work on terrorism, which left traditional crime investigations sorely understaffed.Little has changed since then. For more than a decade, the U.S. government has been focused on one type of threat above all others: terrorism. This obsession has not only been used to justify an erosion of Americans’ pr

Viewpoints July 30, 2013

Auditors seeking to head off a Chinese crash are rushing to scrutinize the debt-swollen books of the country’s local governments. Economists are poring over statistics, bond spreads, electricity gauges and stock valuations. They might all have more luck if they got their noses out of the books and looked up. On July 20, the Broad Group broke ground on Sky City on the outskirts of the south-central city of Changsha. The skyscraper will rise 838 meters (2,749 feet) into the heavens to become the w

Viewpoints July 30, 2013

On the face of it, Prince William’s decision to take two weeks of job-protected, paid statutory paternity leave is absurd. The heir to the British throne can live without the approximately $206 a week in taxpayer funds that men in the U.K. are entitled to receive if they take time off to welcome a baby. But as a symbolic gesture, the prince’s choice is, as the Brits would say, brilliant. For in William’s subtle, necessarily apolitical, good-guy way, he has issued the boldest possible statement o

Viewpoints July 30, 2013

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing for an 8.5 trillion-won project to make urban railway available within 10 minutes of any place in the city. The plan calls for building 10 new subterranean light rail lines in the city’s northeastern, northwestern and southwestern districts, where it takes more than 10 minutes to get to the nearest metro station.City officials say the project is intended to transform Seoul’s mass transit system. Currently, the metro accounts for 36 percent of transit

Editorial July 29, 2013

The government is rushing to formulate its strategy for the Arctic as the nation now has a say on the future of the northern polar region as a permanent observer of the Arctic Council.Korea won observer status to the council in May. Led by the eight Arctic countries including Russia, Canada and Norway, the council is an international forum that lays down the main policies for the polar region.Last week, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries outlined the three goals of its Arctic policy ― building

Editorial July 29, 2013

In the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea, SGR-1 robots are on patrol, equipped with cameras and radar to detect intruders as well as speakers to warn them off. If that fails, they also carry machine guns and grenade launchers. In the U.S., the Home Exploring Robotic Butler can retrieve a book from a shelf, a meal from a microwave or a drink from the kitchen. It can even separate an Oreo cookie. In Japan, a seal-like robot called Paro provides companionship for seniors ― and seems

Viewpoints July 29, 2013

Washington being Washington, the hottest relationship in town doesn’t revolve around sex or even the next presidential election: it’s the political courtship of old antagonists, Barack Obama and John McCain. Political relationships, especially those involving the president, are the sustenance of the American capital. Sometimes they are poisonous: President Lyndon Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy, as captured in the latest volume of Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ. At other times, they are lopsided,

Viewpoints July 29, 2013