Why Baucus Is the Wrong Man as China’s Ambassador
There are several reasons President Obama just named Max Baucus, the long-serving senator from Montana, as his next ambassador to China. There are also several reasons to judge Baucus the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time…
China Grows Impatient with the Barbarian of North Korea
North Korea’s leader has a baby face and a weird haircut and exhibits the whims of an unsupervised kid at Disneyland. He’s thrown tantrums before, threatening to fire nuclear missiles at the United States, executing a female musical group, and…
Obama’s Dithering, Dickering, Dire Foreign Policy
Last week was a stinging passage for President Obama as he tried and mostly failed to find support, at home and abroad, for his plan to bomb Syrian military facilities. Things will not improve for the beleaguered administration in days to…
Syrian Crisis Exposes Obama’s Failed Mideast Policy
The U.S. response to the escalating Syria crisis requires more thought than emotion, and it has to reach across the board—to Egypt, to Iran, to the friendly, repressive Saudis and the friendly, repressive emirates, to the antagonizing Russians. In a word,…
Why It’s Time to Talk to Our New ‘Iranian Friends’
It is exactly a month since Iranians went to the polls in very high numbers and elected Hassan Rouhani their new president, and already most of the pundits and scribblers are wrong.Those elections were not supposed to make any difference. One…
As Europe Turns Left, a Call to “Show Me the Money”
We will die of fiscal consolidation alone,” Enrico Letta, Italy’s new prime minister, said in his maiden speech to parliament a few days ago. “Growth policies cannot wait any longer.” The anti-austerity argument in Europe has quickly achieved respectability. Letta…
Europe’s New Path: Austerity with a Human Face
It did not take long for those flying the flag of fiscal austerity in Europe to turn tail. A week ago in this space I asserted that it was the beginning of the end for the “austerians.” I was too…
Japan’s Huge Stimulus Plan: A Bold Roll of the Dice
Young Japanese of 23 has never known anything but a wheezy, punked-out, slump-shouldered Japan—a country that has been in and out of recession and deflation since its famous bubble burst in 1990. Now this is supposed to change—big time. Analysts…
Is North Korea Done With Its March Madness?
Another wacky, worrisome week passes on the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong–un, North Korea’s intensely unpredictable leader, has threatened to attack the “U.S. mainland” with nuclear-tipped missiles. He has declared a state of “all-out war” with South Korea. On Saturday, Pyongyang…
The Cold War Heats Up Between the U.S. and N. Korea
When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced last Friday he would deploy14 new missile interceptors on the West Coast to thwart a potential nuclear attack from North Korea, the U.S. was squarely placed back in the Cold War. Hagel was responding…
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