Those who sincerely believe the conspiracy theory about a U.S.-funded color revolution in Russia may have felt relieved when the Foreign Ministry kicked out USAID, a major donor of the country’s nongovernmental organizations, on Oct. 1. But now, according to “Anatomy of a Protest 2,” aired last Friday on government-controlled NTV television, there is still reason to be concerned. The pseudo-documentary warns darkly that the revolution against the Kremlin […]
The great paradox of British politics is that the left moan about inequality, but it’s the right who will remedy it. Ed Miliband is proposing the restoration of the old order, where the poor get the worst schools and the rich get the best (and the opportunities that flow from it). Labour plans to tax […]
China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-biggest economies, indicated support forEurope’s new rescue fund as they pushed for quick implementation of measures to solve the region’s crisis. China will “cooperate” with the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent 500 billion-euro ($648 billion) fund that started this week, People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Yi Gang said […]
Populist economics is on the rise in Southeast Asia. Politicians have been actively adopting policies that aim to impress upon the poor that governments are doing something, however trivial, to improve their conditions. It is generally a positive development but is it sustainable? Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as Prime Minister in 2006 but has remained popular […]
Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union Friday, former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, the hapless award committee chairman, said: “We want to focus on what has been achieved in Europe in terms of peace and reconciliation.… It is a message to Europe to secure what they have achieved … and not let the continent […]
Just 40 years ago, as my family and I were completing a very pleasant and productive academic year in Japan, we had our first opportunity to visit China. We had been waiting to do so for more than a decade. For me, the highlight of the visit was a four-hour dinner conversation with Prime Minister […]
In its annual appraisal of the Chinese military published last week, the U.S. Department of Defense seems to be describing an object it finds both familiar and mysterious. The report certainly answers many of the important issues concerning China‘s military, including its attempts to develop an anti-ship ballistic missile and its continuing fixation on Taiwan. Read […]
It’s a rare afternoon in the Chinese capital when smog hasn’t blocked the skies, and one of China‘s most famous economists is in a sanguine mood. The economy is in trouble as the Communist Party heads for a once-in-a-decade transfer of power while prosecuting its former golden boy, Bo Xilai, on criminal charges. Worried investors […]
Premier Yingluck Shinawatra has repeated the phrase often enough – to the point that she might finally be convinced of the statement herself: “I am the prime minister and I am in charge.” Even die-hard sceptics will have to admit that the premier has recently demonstrated a higher degree of confidence in her work – […]
It’s not every day that Barack Obama and Ban Ki-moon agree with the head of the Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami or an America-bashing Pakistani politician. But Tuesday’s Taliban attack on 14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan’s Swat Valley attracted universal condemnation cutting across countries and cultures. Read Here – WSJ Opinion
