There’s a lot in a name. Just ask the so-called pinkos from the 1950s, or any ethnic group denigrated with a nasty epithet. In our Medicare debate, the role of invective has been foisted upon the word “voucher.” If we want to get our government’s finances under control, it’s time we rehabilitated it. The use of the V-word screams “far right wing.” Its public utterance has become so dangerous th...

The number of high school graduates dropped 15 percent from 2000 to 2005, making it impossible for some universities and junior colleges to fill their freshman quotas. A fall in admissions meant a drop in tuition fees ― the main source of revenues for the ill-fated ones. The situation will worsen if no action is taken because the number is projected to fall 40 percent from 670,000 to 410,000 in ...

A borrower is up to no good if he is much indebted. This has been proven to be true in all ages and countries, no matter which the borrower may be ― a corporation, a state or an individual. Kim Choong-soo, governor of the Bank of Korea, made remarks to that effect when he was commenting on Tuesday’s news report that Greece took a super-low rating from the Standard & Poor’s. If so, why is he accu...

For all the excitement about the twilight of the dictators, only two ― Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia ― have been officially knocked over since the start of the so-called Arab Spring six months ago. It isn’t even clear whether that count will reach three. Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh is in neighboring Saudi Arabia for medical treatment after a bomb in his ow...

To ensure its control over the government, the Pakistan army has always exaggerated the threats from India, often referred to as the No. 1 enemy. It has been able to secure billions of dollars from the U.S. ostensibly in the fight against terror. The Pakistani government has followed the policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hound. Although an ally of the U.S. in its fight against...

In meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Singapore on June 3, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told him that Japan would allow the United States to export to other countries an anti-missile missile being jointly developed by Japan and the U.S. if certain conditions are met. Japan is expected to confirm this position in a meeting of Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers t...

Was this the best the Democratic Party of Japan could do to put its foot down? The ruling party on Monday decided on punishments for 15 of its House of Representatives lawmakers who did not attend or abstained from voting on a recent no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa and seven other lawmakers had their party membership suspended for three m...

A recent survey on the trends of corruption in the Korean public sector has found that 2010 was the worst year since 2000 in terms of businessmen’s perception of corruption among high-ranking government officials. According to the Korea Institute of Public Administration, 86.5 percent of the respondents said corruption was serious among senior public officials last year, the highest level since ...

A parliamentary bid for judicial reform appears to have foundered in the face of stiff opposition from prosecutors, judges and the presidential office. The special parliamentary committee that has grappled with the tough task of reforming the judicial system since February last year has decided to stop work this month, leaving most of the main issues on its agenda unresolved. The committee reach...

Just when we thought we’d seen everything from Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister has managed to clone himself. The genetic copy in question is Thaksin’s younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who is running for his old job. If you think this sounds like the political version of a cheesy horror film, imagine how Thailand’s 68 million people feel. They’ve seen this one before and it...

“As a sensitive day known to all fell in this week, many brothers and sisters began to be restricted at home,” report the leaders of the Shouwang congregation, one of the largest unauthorized “house churches” in Beijing. “Some were told to report at their respective local police stations or neighborhood committees” that answer to the communist government. The “sensitive day” is June 4, the anniv...