NEW YORK ― U.S. President Barack Obama’s nomination of Jim Yong Kim for the presidency of the World Bank has been well received ― and rightly so, especially given some of the other names that were bandied about. In Kim, a public-health professor who is now president of Dartmouth University and previously led the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department, the United States has put forward a good candidate. But the candidate’s nationality, and the nominating country ― whether small and poor

How can Japan secure and develop human resources who will work in the nuclear power field? This task needs to be jointly tackled by the government and the private sector.The number of students wishing to study nuclear power has declined since the crisis started last year at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. In addition, many young people have become reluctant to take jobs in nuclear-related industries.The seriousness of the Fukushima accident certainly

The 20th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, just ended with both good and bad news. On the positive side, recent developments in Myanmar clearly gave ASEAN something of which it can be proud. In the past, especially during the convening of an ASEAN summit, the grouping was always presented with a major embarrassment when questions were raised by the international community regarding the lack of tangible progress in ASEAN’s attempt to encour

LAHORE ― Pakistan is undergoing three transitions simultaneously. How they unfold matters not only for Pakistan, but also for much of the Muslim world, particularly as the Arab Spring forces change upon governments across the wider Middle East.Most Muslim countries were governed for decades by autocrats who had either emerged directly from the armed forces, or had strong “khaki” support. That was the case in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and, of course, Pakistan.The Arab Spring drained away whatev

As Samsung Electronics revealed its record high quarterly operating profit last week, Nokia reported the reduction of its plants in Finland after closing its operations in Germany, Hungary and Romania. Top executives of Research In Motion are leaving the company one after the other as the BlackBerry maker faces a possible hostile takeover.Nokia was the pride of Finland and RIM was the biggest tech success story of Canada. Since Nokia edged Motorola to become the world’s largest cell phone produc

Anyone writing for English-language newspapers will from now on have to take extra care in differentiating the two schools of medicine in this country, the traditional and Western disciplines. A newly-coined English term for traditional medicine has become the subject of yet another dispute between the two divisions in the healing profession in an extension of their endless turf war.What started the new round of contention was the decision by the association of doctors practicing the traditional

Pakistan is undergoing three transitions simultaneously. How they unfold matters not only for Pakistan, but also for much of the Muslim world, particularly as the Arab Spring forces change upon governments across the wider Middle East.Most Muslim countries were governed for decades by autocrats who had either emerged directly from the armed forces, or had strong “khaki” support. That was the case in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and, of course, Pakistan.The Arab Spring drained away whatever spurio

U.S. President Barack Obama’s nomination of Jim Yong Kim for the presidency of the World Bank has been well received -- and rightly so, especially given some of the other names that were bandied about. In Kim, a public-health professor who is now president of Dartmouth University and previously led the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department, the United States has put forward a good candidate. But the candidate’s nationality, and the nominating country -- whether small and poor or large

Oil prices and oil supply unambiguously tie China and the United States together, as both nations are heavy importers of oil. The United States imports about 65 percent of its oil and oil products, while China imports about 56 percent of its needs, which will undoubtedly increase over the next few years.The rising trend in oil prices over the past three years has by no means been a classic recession response and the climbing price of crude oil may undo the U.S.‘ fragile economic recovery and wil

The controversy surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin has officially entered the political football phase. Right-wingers have taken to disseminating a photograph of Martin meant to depict him less as a young, innocent boy and more as an original gangsta. That the photograph is a fake has only proved to be a minor obstacle. Meanwhile, others have taken to disseminating the personal information of Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, online. There are many problems with this tactic, ethical and

In fall 2013, when the eager Yale freshmen converge on New Haven, Connecticut, they will be joined by classmates thousands of miles away on the school’s satellite campus in Singapore. A joint venture with the National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS promises to “draw on the best elements of the American liberal arts tradition, but reshape and reimagine the curriculum and collegiate experience for Asia.” What this reshaping and reimagining actually means has been a source of concern for many at

Lately there has been increasing debate about the status of the English language in Thai society.Many arguments are made for and against the relevance of English and its usefulness. Arguments made by Thai politicians take us back and forth about the role of English and distract us from the realities of this new century. This nationalistic faction believes that imposing the English language on Thai people is against their culture, heritage and unique identity. The same group also argues that Thai

If the Supreme Court decides the so-called “individual mandate” requiring everyone to buy health insurance is an unconstitutional extension of federal authority, the law starts unraveling. But with a bit of political jujitsu, President Obama could turn that defeat into a victory for a single-payer health care system ― Medicare for all.Here’s how.The dilemma at the heart of the new law is that it continues to depend on private health insurers, who have to make a profit or at least pay all their c

Half of all Afghans are utterly terrified, understandably so.At least 33,000 American troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan this year. And after all the justified fury over the burning of those Korans and the shooting deaths of those 17 women and children, talk is rife in Washington right now about accelerating the withdrawal.That leaves Afghan women scared to death. A nationwide survey of 1,000 of them by ActionAid, a nongovernmental organization, concludes: “A massive 86 percent are worrie

NEWPORT BEACH ― The international community risks settling for second best on two key issues to be discussed this month at global meetings in Washington, D.C.: the lingering (if currently somewhat dormant) European debt crisis, and the selection of the World Bank’s next president. It is not too late to change course, but doing so will require the United States and governments in Europe to resist harmful habits, and emerging countries to follow up effectively on recent initiatives.In the last few

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized, during his investigative tour on April 3 of enterprises in Fujian province facing financing problems, that the central authorities have “unified their thoughts” on the necessity of breaking the monopoly of state-owned banks and opening up the financial sector so that private capital can feed cash-starved smaller enterprises.Wen’s comments come hard on the heels of the announcement that Wenzhou will be the pilot for financial reforms that will allow local re

“China in the Next 30 Years” is a new collection of 17 essays published in October 2011 on the future of China, of which eight authors are foreigners. This is one of the few books published simultaneously in Chinese and English. Reading the book in both the original and the translation gave me sometimes a complete different reading of the authors’ sentiments, and I had to go back often to the original to find out what the author was really trying to get at. This is a valuable book, precisely bec

STOCKHOLM ― On a recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan, I could not fail to notice the increasingly frequent international calls for an “endgame” in Afghanistan. But an endgame for that country is a dangerous illusion: the game will not end, and neither will history. The only thing that could come to an end is the world’s attention and engagement in Afghanistan, which could well lead to catastrophic consequences.Much international focus is now on the year 2014, the target date for completion

NEW YORK ― Last week, I submitted an affidavit to support an important lawsuit brought by reporter Chris Hedges and others, including Daniel Ellsberg and Noam Chomsky, against U.S. President Barack Obama and his defense secretary, Leon Panetta.The lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of the horrific new National Defense Authorization Act, also known as the “Homeland Battlefield Bill,” which Obama signed into law in December. As a result, the United States government’s “war on terror” has come ho

In France, an Islamic terrorist has likely hijacked the agenda for the remainder of the French presidential race. That terrorist is 23-year-old Mohammed Merah, a Franco-Algerian from Toulouse who was fatally riddled with bullets by French forces last week after a 30-hour standoff and took the television remotes of an entire nation with him.Because of Merah, an election fought on economic grounds has become dominated almost exclusively by national security. The extreme nationalist National Front