If you want a gauge of an America on the downward slope, you could look at the recent poll commissioned by the newspaper the Hill, in which a startling 69 percent of respondents said they considered the country to be in decline. Or you could just consider the soaring language of this season’s presidential candidates. Mitt Romney, in a recent Republican debate on foreign policy, was typical, insisting that “this century must be an American century” in which “America leads the free world and the f

In August, just months following the tsunami-induced crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the 2011 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs gathered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities destroyed in 1945 by atom bombs, becoming forever linked to the birth of nuclear weapons and the nuclear age. The World Conference was formed in 1995 to work toward a nuclear-weapon ban and foster solidarity and support for A-bomb survivors and victims of nuclear disasters.A few of t

In 1987 the Sixth Republic of Korea was established as a democratic government and Roh Tae-woo was elected as the first president; however, it was not until 1998 that the first peaceful transfer of power between opposing parties under a democratic process occurred when Kim Dae-jung became president. Prior to that event, the Korean people had lived under various forms of authoritarian government since time immemorial. While some of those past regimes, such as the Joseon dynasty, are viewed throug

Western nations are hurriedly collaborating to tighten sanctions on Iran after the United Nations released documents that left little doubt the country is trying to produce nuclear weapons.American diplomats are pushing North Korea to shut down its uranium-enrichment plants so that nuclear-disarmament talks can resume. And as Pakistan grows less stable with every passing week, the U.S. is urgently devising plans to secure that state’s nuclear weapons, should the government lose control.Meantime,

MELBOURNE ― The Western Pacific is currently facing a difficult problem: how to accommodate China’s rising aspirations in a region where the United States has held primacy since the Cold War’s end. Is the U.S. determined to maintain dominance in the Asia/Pacific region? Or is it willing to operate through multilateral forums that allow all involved parties to help set the rules? The way this issue unfolds will determine whether peace will continue to prevail across the Pacific.It is hard to see

During the financial crisis of 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Nicolas Sarkozy for a private lunch in the Paris house of Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni. This gesture of friendship didn’t keep the French president from using a news conference shortly thereafter to harangue Merkel for refusing to supplement a 130 billion euro ($175 billion) spending program proposed by the European Union with an additional German spending program. When asked how their countries were reacting to the crisis,

DURBAN ― Before the Copenhagen climate-change summit two years ago, the two of us sat together in Cape Town to listen to five African farmers from different countries, four of whom were women, tell us how climate change was undermining their livelihoods. Each explained how floods and drought, and the lack of regular seasons to sow and reap, were outside their normal experience. Their fears are shared by subsistence farmers and indigenous people worldwide ― the people bearing the brunt of climate

The Federal Reserve’s efforts to help dollar-starved European banks have pleased global investors, but the central bank’s moves can only temporarily distract attention from a dilemma back home: what to do about the exceedingly weak U.S. recovery. Lately, the patient has shown tentative signs of improvement. Today, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest since March 2009. Nonfarm employers added 120,000 jobs. Pending home sales are up.

KAIST plays a critical role in Korea as a trendsetter for the nation in the sciences. Innovations at KAIST quickly become innovations throughout Korea. It was a tremendous breakthrough when Professor Robert Laughlin of Stanford was appointed president of KAIST, bringing a new international emphasis to the institution. KAIST set a precedent through that appointment of hiring foreign faculty that impacted the entire nation. The decision by President Suh Nam-pyo of KAIST to employ English as the pr

A major financial crisis is brewing, brought on by a toxic combination of failing European sovereign governments and highly leveraged international banks, which could be affected by a breakup of the euro area. In the weeks and months ahead, a major U.S. financial institution may face serious trouble, and government officials will have to decide whether that trouble is just a temporary lack of liquidity ― or a far more serious question of solvency. In the original lender-of-last-resort formulatio

BERKELEY ― Via a circuitous Internet chain ― Paul Krugman of Princeton University quoting Mark Thoma of the University of Oregon reading the Journal of Economic Perspectives ― I got a copy of an article written by Emmanuel Saez, whose office is 50 feet from mine, on the same corridor, and the Nobel laureate economist Peter Diamond. Saez and Diamond argue that the right marginal tax rate for North Atlantic societies to impose on their richest citizens is 70 percent.It is an arresting assertion, g

“Mom, I really want to go to the costume play this weekend, you know I am really, really into it. Until now I hung around just watching the festival but this is my first time ever joining it. I’ve bought everything for that day, a violet wig, pink dress, kill-heels. Mom, can I go? Please...”“No.”Last week when I caught a glimpse of the evening news, I instantly froze on the spot. The anchor told a story about a murder case, which may be something that we are usually immune to, but it hit home in

A recent trip to New Delhi and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) for a meeting of the executive committee of the World Federation of U.N. Associations served as a reminder to me that India is developing at a breathtaking pace economically, politically, and socially, and is becoming one of the most influential powers in the world. Its economy is growing at more than 7 percent annually; it has an advanced IT sector, a long cultural history and democratic strength. That development has been reflected in

Many important bills are gathering dust at the National Assembly as rival parties are still locked in a stand-off following the unilateral passage by the ruling Grand National Party of the Korea-U.S. free trade bill on Nov. 22. The emissions trade bill submitted by the government in April is one of them.The legislation aims to launch a greenhouse gas emissions trading system in 2015 to stimulate corporate efforts for emissions reduction. In 2009, the Korean government voluntarily declared it wou

In his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech, President Lee Myung-bak pledged to achieve a balanced budget during his term, which ends in February 2013. Following Lee’s pledge, officials of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance moved forward the target year for budget balance to 2013 from 2014.In drawing up the 2012 budget bill, they put priority on strengthening fiscal health. The bill proposes 5.5 percent growth in spending, a modest increase compared with the expected 9.5 percent growth in revenue.Und

The latest friendly fire incident in Pakistan has plunged the already strained relationship between the United States and Pakistan to a new low. The feud between the United States and Pakistan over the U.S.-led NATO cross-border air strikes that killed at least 24 Pakistani troops on Sunday, should prompt Washington to reflect upon its relationship with Islamabad and its anti-terror strategy in South Asia. While the U.S. has offered its condolences to Pakistan and the families of those killed, t

What kind of greenhouse gas emissions rules should be made after the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012?The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opened in South Africa on Monday.The Kyoto Protocol is a set of international rules that is riddled with defects, as it obliges only advanced nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Japanese government needs to maintain its stance of opposing extension of the protocol.Emerging na

The health and welfare ministry announced on Nov. 9 that the number of people on welfare receiving livelihood assistance known as seikatsu hogo (literally livelihood protection) reached 2,050,495 nationwide as of July 2011, topping the monthly average record of 2,046,646 marked in fiscal 1951, when Japan was in the midst of postwar social and economic confusion. Behind this is an increase in the number of elderly people and prolonging economic stagnation.Especially worrisome is the fact that the

NEW YORK ― A famous claim in economics is that the cost of services (such as health care and education) tends to increase relative to the cost of goods (such as food, oil, and machinery). This seems right: people around the world can barely afford the rising health-care and school-tuition costs they currently face ― costs that seem to increase each year faster than overall inflation. But a sharp decline in the costs of health care, education, and other services is now possible, thanks to the ong

This month, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched a formal investigation into complaints, lodged by the U.S. solar-cell manufacturers, that the government of China is funneling loan guarantees, grants and subsidies to its solar-cell companies. Apparently, the Commerce Department is shocked, shocked to learn that a government would subsidize the solar industry. A few days later, the New York Times described a “gold rush” under way in the U.S. as builders of wind and solar farms cash in on gran