Public attitudes toward US foreign policy are a mess of ambiguities and seeming contradictions. Americans don’t particularly like Donald Trump’s policies, but they share some of his ambivalence about the country’s vast global role. They are not retreating into isolationism, but neither are they persuaded by the traditional justifications for America’s efforts to shape the world.These are the principal takeaways from a recent opinion survey conducted by the progressive-leaning Center for American

The dream of evidence-based policy is that as data and analysis get better and better, policymakers will be able to make informed decisions in real time. Instead of relying on judgment or on long-cherished theories when an economic crisis arises, they’ll have the facts at their fingertips. In reality, however, this dream may always remain just out of reach.Sometimes, the barrier to evidence-based policymaking is that the evidence just isn’t all that solid. When the financial crisis struck in 200

The Bloomberg report of persistent vulnerabilities found in Huawei telecommunications equipment by major telecom operator Vodafone highlights the Chinese vendor’s current problem: While its competitors are given the benefit of the doubt when their products are found vulnerable, Huawei is held to impossible standards for political reasons.This is a problem that probably can’t be solved on a technical level. Huawei will have to drop any legacy resistance to stringent tests by clients and regulator

Even as he awaits official confirmation of his election to a second term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo appears to be thinking about his legacy. He’s proposing a $33 billion plan to relocate the capital far away from clogged Jakarta. The idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’ll work. Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known, is right to question Jakarta’s long-term viability as a capital city. The population has swollen to 30 million and, while a new subway system offers som

China’s growing technological prowess in areas such as artificial intelligence is making Washington very nervous. US efforts to fight back, though, could make the problem worse.In US policy circles, suspicion of China is starting to resemble a new Red Scare. Universities are heightening scrutiny of research proposals from China and, in some cases, restricting collaboration. Chinese scientists’ visas are being delayed for conferences and exchanges. Visas for Chinese graduate students studying top

WeWork, the world’s biggest co-working company, is planning to go public, joining a wave of highly valued technology startups moving to the U.S. markets.The New York-based company said Monday it filed paperwork confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold an initial public offering. WeWork, which rents office space to companies and freelancers, would likely be the year’s biggest U.S. IPO after Uber Technologies, which expects to start trading next week

President Donald Trump wants to strangle the Iranian economy and keep gas prices low for American drivers. The discovery that Russia has been exporting contaminated crude oil means any hopes that he could do both have all but evaporated.Trump decided this month not to renew waivers that let countries buy Iranian oil without violating his sanctions, affecting eight nations that have exemptions expiring on May 2. This drove crude prices higher at a time when gasoline prices were already rising. Ga

It was only a few months ago that the US Federal Reserve was intent on continuing to increase interest rates. But now, some policymakers are even hinting that the next move may be a rate cut, and they may even pursue other forms of policy easing despite equities reaching record highs again. If that is the message Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will provide at his press conference Wednesday following a two-day meeting with policymakers, it would spur equities to even greater heights and drive yields

It has been a decade since the Federal Reserve and other central banks began cutting interest rates to zero -- or even below -- and injecting unprecedented amounts of cash into the global financial system via quantitative easing. And while global stocks are at or near record highs, central banks around the world are increasingly abandoning their hopes of normalizing policy with economic growth slowing. On top of that, public and private debt levels are higher than ever.Some central banks are pre

African industrialization has to be among the most important things happening in the world right now. The vast continent, with more than 1.2 billion people, is home to an increasing fraction of the human beings who are still mired in extreme poverty.By 2030, the World Bank projects that almost all the people in extreme poverty will live in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason is twofold. First, Africa’s population is growing rapidly.Second, Africa has lagged in the industrialization necessary to gener

There are a lot of people in the world who can plausibly claim ignorance of China’s foul campaign against its Muslim minority, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not among them. Six months ago, the UN’s own committee on the elimination of racial discrimination released a devastating report on how China arbitrarily and systematically detains Uighurs in the western part of the country. Just last month, the UN high commissioner for human rights pressed the Chinese for access to the Uighur

In Sri Lanka, memories of war and terrorism are very much alive. The decadeslong civil war between the Sinhala-dominated government in Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was brutal by any standards, and it ended a decade ago with a climactic battle near the Indian Ocean that took thousands of civilian lives. But Sri Lanka, beautiful and multicultural, has never had just the one fault line. On Easter morning, when hundreds of Christians and hotel guests were killed by suicide bomber

Even as the US and China seem headed toward a truce on trade, their rivalry is heating up in other areas.The threat of espionage taking place under the cover of routine activities appears to be a particular concern. As many as 30 Chinese academics and policy experts have had their US visas canceled or reviewed in the past year, the New York Times reported recently. The relatively open approach adopted toward Chinese businesspeople and academics may now be ending.That’s a mistake -- not because C

In coming to terms with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, we should adopt a principle of neutrality and put entirely to one side our enthusiasm, or our lack of it, for President Donald Trump. It is also essential to emphasize that the report, running to two volumes and some 448 pages, will take some time to absorb.Even so, the most puzzling thing about it is unquestionably a single sentence, repeated several times: “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime,

China is the world’s largest oil importer and Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. For these two reasons alone, the economic relationship between the nations will inevitably grow. In fact, we hope for even more. There are many areas besides oil in which they can mutually benefit from trade and cooperation in the future.For that relationship to blossom, however, Venezuela has to change and abandon its model of governance that’s ruined it economically. The country is sufferi

On the face of things, Narendra Modi has failed variously and spectacularly as India’s prime minister. After pledging to create millions of jobs, he has -- according to a leaked government report -- presided over a dramatic rise in unemployment among young Indians. Vowing to vanquish terrorism, he took most currency notes out of circulation and cracked down hard in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir has since witnessed a sharp spike in militancy and its biggest terrorist attack in years.Swe

There is a strange sound of relief coming out of the International Monetary Fund.The IMF has slashed its global growth forecasts to the lowest level since the financial crisis, but it also believes policymakers may have stepped in just in time to avoid a turn for the worse.Central bankers deserve credit for pausing on their long road back to a more normal monetary policy. This has helped to bring some calm to financial markets and may help to lift growth in the second half of this year. But it’s

China and the US last week signaled substantial progress in their trade negotiations, as President Xi Jinping welcomed a “new consensus.” One question remains, however: Why has the US opted to deal bilaterally with China rather than lead a coalition of Western nations that share the same concerns about some of the Asian giant’s trade practices?The answer to this question will be one of the leading issues in assessing whether a China-US agreement is a decisive resolution to a conflict that has ha

It’s not Bollywood yet, but Indonesia could be germinating Asia’s next big film scene. After years of stifled growth and censorship, new cinemas are opening across the vast Southeast Asian archipelago at a rapid clip thanks to large cash investments. Meanwhile, international filmmakers are setting up operations. With local production houses and cinema owners taking their companies public, investors might want to pay attention.While movies have been produced in Indonesia since the 1920s, early ef

Since 2004, China has been the world’s largest generator of waste, including plastics. And, since 2010 at least, China has been the largest source of waste plastic flowing into the world’s oceans. To its credit, the Chinese government has tried to shrink the problem. In recent years, it’s forced retailers to charge for single-use plastic bags that aren’t biodegradable -- with questionable success; Jilin province has banned such bags and food-service items outright. The tropical island of Hainan