One (Faint) Cheer for Rupert Murdoch
It’s hard to have pity for Rupert Murdoch, who decided that retreat is the best—and probably only—course of action and withdrew his bid for the 60.9% of BskyB that he doesn’t already control. General Murdoch’s decision to withdraw and regroup…
Greek Debt: How Much for the Acropolis?
Greece is for sale. But is a sell-off of public assets a wise and politically viable solution to an Olympian debt crisis– especially since a dramatic divide is emerging between the government and the citizens it governs? As the daily…
America’s Dangerously Out-of-Date View of China
America’s sluggish insistence that China remains a security threat as opposed to a powerful economic reality is leading to lost opportunities. Not quite four decades after Nixon visited Mao, the U.S. is still reluctant to see an emergent China for…
Maybe We’re Not So Dependent on China
Central bankers are always secretive about what they do with their reserves, and China’s are no different. They’ve been hinting for years that they were tired of the risks associated with having too much of their hard-earned cash sitting in…
Kissinger’s Skilled Eye on China, Then and Now
Nearing age 90 now, Henry Kissinger has set down in a new book his extraordinary challenge four decades ago, when he brought together Mao Tse-tung, the giant of the peasant revolution, with the dedicated anti-Communist,Richard M. Nixon. On China (Penguin…
The Greek Tragedy Is All about Politics Now
Greeks in the streets, as they have been in the tens of thousands almost daily, have brought Europe’s debt crisis to a new and highly volatile stage. Austerity plans are political now, and there’s no stepping back from this truth….
The ‘Arab Spring’ Can Help Cut Defense Spending
If we want to bring our unconscionably wasteful defense spending under control, the place to start is with a fundamentally re-imagined foreign policy that does not require a trillion-dollar military. President Obama’s recent pledge of $2 billion in response to…
Here Comes the Chinese Spring
Social unrest is erupting in China—again. Simmering protests that began in two industrial cities several weeks ago have spread and intensified over the past few days, prompting yet more vigorous displays of force on the part of local governments and…
Merkel’s Bold Rejection of Nuclear Power
The continuing fallout from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has taken us well beyond disrupted supply chains. Case in point: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s just-announced decision to turn Germany into a nuclear-free economy within a decade. The move by Merkel, who is meeting…
Jobs Crisis: Forget Ideology. Get People Working
Friday’s calamitous jobs report, prefigured by private-sector numbers earlier in the week, brings the Obama administration and Congress to a truth-or-consequences moment. The president has been groping for many months, in perfectly evident frustration, for credible job-creation policies. The Republican-controlled Congress…
Recent Comments