WASHINGTON ― The hundred pages of Benghazi emails released last week tell us almost nothing about how four Americans came to die so tragically in that Libyan city. But they are a case study in why nothing works in Washington. Rather than reading these messages for their substance on Benghazi (on which officials were still basically clueless three days after the attack), try perusing them as an illustration of how the bureaucracy responds to crisis ― especially when officials know they will be un

If the horrific garment factory collapse last month in Bangladesh has any silver lining, it is the response from more than 30 of the world’s leading apparel companies ― including Benetton, PVH, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Inditex (Zara), Marks & Spencer and Tesco ― to sign an agreement to protect the safety and lives of that nation’s workers, who make the companies’ products.The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh is a historic advance over the voluntary private factory monitoring tha

The sentiment of a population never seems more vulnerable than in the days following a terrorist attack. By definition, terrorism strikes at the heart of people’s sense of security. The recent Boston Marathon bombings once again created a fierce public debate on what could have been done ― and what must be done ― to prevent such incidents. “In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing,” the conservative critic Rachel Marsden writes in a recent column, “it’s only natural to ask why some terrorists

My mother went into paid work soon after my father’s clothing store was flooded out in a hurricane, almost wiping him out. She had no choice. We needed the money.This was some two decades before a tidal wave of wives and mothers went into paid work.For the relatively few women with four-year college degrees, this change was the consequence of wider educational opportunity and new laws against gender discrimination that opened professions to well-educated women.But the vast majority of women ente

Addressing the scandal exposed at the Internal Revenue Service last week, President Barack Obama announced the resignation of the agency’s acting commissioner, adding: “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again.” Ideally, the scandal will lead to reform of the vague rules that govern political groups. It will also lead Congress to end the practice of anonymous donations to political causes, which is at the heart of the controversy. Are you sufficiently naive to

AUSTIN, Texas ― The twin revelations of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative political organizations and, now, that the U.S. Justice Department was spying on the Associated Press ― all in a few days ― mean this: It is time to air the dirty laundry of this administration’s intelligence and surveillance programs ― and it is way past time for heads to roll in Washington.Love it, like it or hate it, one thing is clear about the Obama administration: It is addicted to secrecy. First, C

Ten years ago this month, President George W. Bush climbed confidently from the cockpit of a fighter jet that had landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln flight deck. He strode to the microphone and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq.Behind him fluttered that infamous banner that declared “Mission Accomplished,” an embarrassing artifact that nonetheless is housed in the new library he dedicated last month.A great deal has been written about the miserable failure of the Iraq war. Much

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad must be pleased at how, within a week, the conversation has shifted from his regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons to an international peace conference on Syria’s civil war. The idea of ending the bloodshed ― and presumably addressing Syria’s chemical weapons as well ― through an accord similar to that of post-Arab Spring Yemen is certainly worth exploring. Let’s hope Assad’s foreign patron, Russia, has altered its stance enough to make some sort of deal feasib

PARIS ― Hardly a day goes by without America-bashers accusing the U.S. of “imperialism” or “interventionism.” Meanwhile, China is largely exempt from that sort of criticism from the same crowd. If only they’d listen to the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a few other stray voices.In late 2011, I had the privilege of sitting on a panel in Morocco with Lamido Sanusi, the aforementioned Central Bank of Nigeria governor, who’s on a mission to clean up Nigerian corruption. Sanusi told me t

The government has started to churn out detailed policy measures geared toward realizing President Park Geun-hye’s economic vision ― building a “creative economy.” On Wednesday, the government unveiled steps aimed at boosting investment in venture companies, the key players in an innovation-driven economy.The package is highlighted by measures designed to ensure that capital invested in venture companies is easily recouped and re-invested. Thus far, the government has focused on supporting ventu

The government has come up with a plan to reform the National Basic Living Security System, a social safety net designed to provide income security for people in poverty.The proposal is aimed at increasing the number of beneficiaries by easing the eligibility criteria and changing the way benefits are provided. According to a government estimate, the proposed changes will boost the total number of recipients from 1.4 million to 2.2 million.The safety net needs to be expanded in light of the wors

PRINCETON ― What began in Syria as a revolt against an oppressive regime has evolved into a sectarian civil war and, more recently, into a proxy conflict. In the process, the struggle has become increasingly convoluted, with conflicting agendas among allies, together with deep-seated communal tensions, rendering the situation nearly intractable.On one side, the United States, the European Union, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are backing the opposition ― a welter of armed factions with

The title of a book by the late American sinologist Benjamin I. Schwartz, “In Search of Wealth and Power,” rather accurately sums up the preoccupation of generations of Chinese intellectuals, reformers and revolutionaries in modern times. These men and women, with varying degree of success, sought to stem the tide of imperialist encroachment on China in its struggle for survival in the modern world, principally by unlocking the secret to “wealth and power.” A wealthy and strong China, one that i

WASHINGTON ― At a time when Congress can’t pass a budget and the president can’t win approval of any important legislation, the public is indignant about the threat of an overreaching, all-powerful federal government that uses the IRS and the Justice Department to harass its enemies.There’s a disconnect here: The Obama administration fears and maybe even hates conservative activists, and it has a weird bipolar attitude about the news media’s role in national-security leaks. But the real problem

Republicans in Congress are so hungry for scalps, they just can’t leave well enough alone. The scandal engulfing the Internal Revenue Service is a story that’s playing to their benefit. Yesterday, after having the weekend to think about it, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida puffed himself up and called on the president to “demand the IRS commissioner’s resignation, effectively immediately.” Only one problem: The position of IRS commissioner is currently vacant. (Rubio’s spokesman later clarified he wa

It sounds like a Bond villain’s idle fantasy. An enchanted machine that can produce any instrument of criminality you can think of: weapons, money, illicit keys, magical pills. Three-dimensional printers, as it happens, may soon be able to produce all this ― if they aren’t doing so already. We’ve argued that these machines could have significant economic and social benefits. But as with all human creations, they will also have a dark side. The critical thing for government, as it contemplates th

The sexual abuse scandal involving a now-sacked presidential spokesman has exposed another big hole in the governance system of the Blue House. The first hole needs no further explanation. A series of personnel appointment debacles by President Park Geun-hye a couple of months ago showed that the presidential office lacked a system that could help her pick the right person for the right post. This hole still needs to be plugged.The newly identified hole concerns crisis management. The way the gr

About three years have passed since the government launched a campaign to promote mutual prosperity between big companies and their smaller partners. Yet the deeply entrenched practice of large corporations bullying their suppliers still remains firmly in place.This is well illustrated by recent surveys. In a survey of CEOs of small firms, many respondents cited unfair demands for price reductions from their principal contractors as the biggest obstacle to mutual growth.Another major obstacle wa

The smile on Kazuo Hirai’s face shows why the yen’s drop below 100-to-the-dollar is as much a curse for Japan as a blessing. The Sony Corp. chief executive officer is beaming because his company has produced its first profit in years. Did the troubled giant that redefined consumer electronics with the transistor radio and then the Walkman dream up a new gadget better than Apple Inc.’s iPhone, iPad or iPod? No. Has Sony raised productivity or halted dangerous infighting between departments? Nope.

A tight race to select a new director-general of the WTO has just been completed. Roberto Azevedo, current Brazilian ambassador to the WTO, has been tapped to succeed Pascal Lamy to lead the global trade organization from Sept. 1. Once final confirmation is given at the special meeting on May 14, which is almost certain, he will become the first WTO director general from Latin America. Ambassador Azevedo is taking the helm of the WTO at the most critical moment for the trade organization. In Aze