WASHINGTON ― President Obama is approaching one of those moments when a big turn in foreign policy is possible. People can debate whether it’s the equivalent of the opening to China or the end of the Cold War, but there’s no doubt that this is a time of opportunity ― and that, as the old English proverb put it, “there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip.” What was unthinkable only a few months ago with Iran and Syria now appears to be in motion. On Iran, Obama has talked directly with President Hass

Only a few months have passed since President Obama last boasted that al-Qaida is on “the path to defeat.”But then, just a few days ago, his State Department issued what it called a “worldwide caution” on “the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world.” State warned that al-Qaida is now threatening Americans in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Africa and Central Asia ― practically the entire world.What happened?

PRINCETON, New Jersey ― Americans are fond of speaking in reverential tones about “the wisdom of the Founding Fathers” ― that is, the men who wrote the United States Constitution. But the manner in which the House of Representatives has been able to bring the government ― or, at least, its non-essential services ― to a halt is making the Founding Fathers look rather foolish.The fundamental cause of the fiscal crisis lies in the Founding Fathers’ belief in the doctrine of the separation of powers

The high cost of ideological extremism was on full display in Washington this week, where a radical faction of the Republican Party forced a government shutdown. Mercifully, radicals in Congress, unlike, say, those in Syria, use parliamentary maneuvers rather than guns.But their antics distract U.S. attention from truly serious issues _ such as the growing threat posed by Islamist militants in Syria, where the rising strength of radical Islam could endanger Europe and the entire Mideast.Let me m

PARIS ― Boy, was that ever painful, watching Russian President Vladimir Putin attempting to pry U.S. President Barack Obama’s fingers off the Tomahawk missile trigger and convince him not to go ahead with an attack that Obama most likely didn’t want to launch in the first place.America won, and so did Russia. I realize that sounds bizarre, but this isn’t a football game with a winner and a loser. It’s not like Obama is going to have to give his Nobel Peace Prize to Putin as if it were the Lombar

North Korea unleashed a new salvo in an escalating war of words over nuclear threats when its vice foreign minister, Pak Kil-yon, addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. He said South Korea was “creating the danger of driving relations back into a destructive stage again.”Claiming that hostile U.S. policy was the cause of tension on the Korean Peninsula, he also accused Washington of abusing its power on the U.N. Security Council against North Korea. He was apparently referri

One large business enterprise after another is implicated in a scandal involving families controlling them. Quite a few leaders of family-controlled business conglomerates, or chaebol, have recently been sent to prison for their fraudulent practices.In July, Lee Jae-hyun, chairman of CJ Group, was arrested on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion. He was accused of creating a slush fund after fraudulently taking 100 billion won from the business group and evading 70 billion won in

As a child I was bullied by bigger boys who threatened to beat me up if I didn’t give them what they wanted. But every time I gave in to their demands, their subsequent demands grew larger. First they wanted the change in my pocket. Next it was the dessert in my lunchbox. Then my new Davy Crockett cap. Then the softball and bat I got for my birthday.Finally I stopped giving in. When the bullies began roughing me up on the playground, some older boys came to my rescue and threatened my tormenters

The U.S. doesn’t deserve Asia’s money, not with half of its government in financial jihad mode, damn the global consequences.The biggest economy has long taken its reserve-currency status for granted, but the events of recent days raise Washington’s hubris to entirely new levels. Chinese President Xi Jinping didn’t mention Ted Cruz, John Boehner or the Tea Party this week when he urged major developed economies to adopt responsible policies that avoid negative spillover. He didn’t have to. Their

Has the world entered a new era of chaos? America’s vacillating policy toward Syria certainly suggests so. Indeed, the bitter legacy of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by the 2008 financial crisis, has made the United States not only reluctant to use its military might, even when “red lines” are crossed, but also seemingly unwilling to bear any serious burden to maintain its global leadership position. But, if America is no longer willing to lead, who will take its place?China’s

As the Supreme Court prepares to begin its new term, observers have been discussing the familiar divisions among the justices. Judicial activism is opposed to judicial restraint, liberalism is opposed to conservatism, and those who believe in an evolving or “living” Constitution are opposed to those who believe that the document’s meaning was fixed when its provisions were originally ratified.But there is another division. For more than two centuries, the court’s members have adopted one of four

Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong seems to have barely weathered a storm of public censure with sincere explanations about his alleged remarks hinting the possibility of returning to Japan Buddhist statues that a group of Koreans stole from Tsushima. He faced sudden embarrassment when the Japanese media quoted their Culture Minister Hakubun Shimomura, coming from a meeting with Korean and Chinese culture ministers in Gwangju last week, as saying that Korea would be considering sending the stolen ar

The problem of multilateral trade negotiations is that, increasingly, negotiators are confined to the mandates and directives of their governments, with little leeway at the negotiating table. That is just natural: What they say will be transcribed into official documents and what they agree to will be put into treaty texts which will remain legally binding until terminated. Under these circumstances, everything said and delivered should be tightly controlled.To the contrary, a forum designed to

The government is planning to introduce pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, budgeting rules to maintain fiscal soundness by preventing political parties from recklessly passing costly welfare bills.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it would seek to revise the law on state finances during the ongoing parliamentary session to bring the rules into effect next year.PAYGO is the practice of financing new spending commitments with currently available funds rather than fresh debt. Under the rules, a new l

President Park Geun-hye’s revised pension program for senior citizens is going to be a hard sell, as it faces strong resistance from the main opposition Democratic Party. On the campaign trail last year, Park pledged to introduce a universal basic pension plan that gives all senior citizens aged 65 or older a monthly allowance of 200,000 won, regardless of their income. Yet last week, the government scaled back the plan, citing an unexpected revenue drop due to the slow economic recovery. The re

BERKELEY California ― The central banks of the North Atlantic region have vowed not to raise their short-term nominal interest rates until the economies under their stewardship show substantial recovery. So far, that has not happened. On the contrary, these economies continue to be battered by the fiscal headwinds of austerity; by uncertainty over whether America’s Republican Party will, in fact, undermine the “full faith and credit” of the United States by allowing the federal government to def

When I mentioned my bout with breast cancer to a new acquaintance, his first question was, “Are you married?”It was an unusual reaction ― a more common query is whether I have kids. Later he told me that his daughter-in-law had been diagnosed with breast cancer while still in graduate school and that she and his son had moved in with him. He understood better than most people that being married makes it easier to cope with cancer.The very next day the Journal of Clinical Oncology released a stud

In the past few decades, scientists have successfully unveiled the mystery of the chromosome map and acquired unprecedented genetic engineering skills. Now they are beginning to make advances in brain science, which is closely related to psychology. In order to perceive how the human brain works and how humans behave, scientists are conducting various experiments. And the results are quite intriguing and enlightening. Psychology is now beginning to flourish in Korea. For example, psychology is a

For the last three years, the Anglo-American and south European news media have presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the scourge of the recession. But on Sept. 22, she won an overwhelming victory in Germany’s parliamentary elections. Her Christian Democratic Union obtained 41.5 percent of the votes cast, its best result since 1990, five seats short of a majority in the Bundestag.Her success should give us pause to reconsider what has happened in Europe since the global financial crisis e

Spending a couple of days at West Point, especially coming from Washington, is uplifting.The majesty of the setting high above the Hudson River ― where George Washington set up his headquarters in 1779 ― inspires. Compelling, too, is the character of the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy.Whether they are asking vigorous questions in social science class or displaying the precision of the Long Gray line on parade, the cadets inhabit a world imbued with the auras of Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas Ma