It was inevitable that the U.S. would eventually initiate some form of military cooperation with Myanmar, but few expected that it would come so early. Washington’s invitation for Nay Pyi Taw to join the annual Cobra Gold U.S.-Thai military exercise is a reward for Myanmar’s rapid process of reform. It also demonstrates just how desperate the U.S. is to make trade inroads into a country that has been isolated from the international community for the past five decades. Given that nearly all trade

BERLIN ― Syrian opposition activists regularly express disappointment with the level of international support that they receive. Although the last meeting of the so-called “Friends of Syria” (a group of countries that convenes periodically to discuss Syria’s situation outside of the United Nations Security Council) brought more financial aid, the degree of genuine outside commitment to their cause remains questionable.The United States, the European Union, Turkey, and most Arab countries agree t

CAMBRIDGE ― The United States is famous for its ability to innovate. Aspiring fiscal conservatives around the world thus might be interested in learning four tricks that American politicians commonly use when promising to cut taxes while simultaneously reducing budget deficits.These are hard promises to keep, for the simple reason that a budget deficit equals government spending minus tax revenue. But, each of the four tricks has been refined over three decades. Indeed, they first acquired their

PARIS ― The European Union is now the proud owner of a Nobel Peace Prize. When the choice alighted on Barack Obama three years ago, the Norwegian Nobel Committee was criticized for honoring someone whose achievements were still to come. The Committee took that criticism to heart, and this time decorated an institution with a proud past, but a clouded future.The eurozone is distinct from the EU of course, but it is the Union’s most ambitious undertaking to date, and it is still struggling to equi

For more than three decades, China has been courting its neighbors to the south. Enticing the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations into closer cooperation has been a top goal of Chinese foreign policy since the days of Deng Xiaoping, and it has brought great rewards. In 2010 the two sides entered into a free-trade agreement that created one of the world’s largest integrated markets. But now, with its aggressive attitude on demarcation lines in the South China Sea, China risks

PARIS ― The people of France have spoken on the subject of the U.S. presidential election. Naturally, you couldn’t care less about what anyone else (let alone the French) thinks about you or your electoral choices, right?The French aren’t particularly interested in appearing too keen on America, either. A Harris Interactive poll found that 66 percent of respondents either care little about the U.S. presidential race or not at all. However, should a gun be put to their head mid Gallic shrug, 88 p

However you read the polls, the 2012 presidential election is turning into a nail-biter. Former Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are just about tied among likely voters.The bump Romney got from the first debate seems to have been matched by the bump the president got from the good jobs report for September. (We won’t know the real results of Tuesday night’s matchup for another week.)But beware. Polls of “likely voters” are notoriously imprecise because they reflect everyone who says t

Mark Twain said there was no difference between someone who did not read and one who could not read. The same goes for manufacturing. A country that does not manufacture isn’t unlike a nation that cannot.There is much talk in the U.S. these days to bring back manufacturing jobs for energizing the stagnant economy. But, how? The malaise that has gripped the manufacturing sector shows no sign of abating. Can this be remedied?I was drawn to Korea when I advised one of the largest conglomerates of t

Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who Taliban miscreants shot in the head last week, has once again galvanized worldwide public opinion against Muslim extremism.The Taliban boasted about the shooting, saying this young girl’s education advocacy was a deviant symbol of “Western culture in the area.” God forbid!Now she’s an icon. But if you don’t follow this issue closely, you may be surprised to learn that Muslim extremists injure and kill innocent little girls all the time.For years now

The lobby of Tokyo’s majestic Imperial Hotel was people-watching central last weekend. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, whisked by with 20 television cameras in tow. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble zoomed by moments later with even greater hysteria. Next came Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and other notables on hand for the IMF’s annual meeting. Amid

WASHINGTON ― Left on its current course, America’s sensibly cautious policy toward Syria is unfortunately going to come to an unhappy end: The jihadist wing of the opposition will just get stronger, and gain more power to shape Syria’s future. But what’s the right alternative? How can the U.S. help the Syrian opposition while avoiding another costly military intervention in the Muslim world? I’ve been puzzling over this dilemma since traveling into Syria two weeks ago with the Free Syrian Army.

A government plan aimed at preventing large corporations from poaching skilled workers from small and medium-sized enterprises has sparked controversy.In a bid to stem the brain drain plaguing SMEs, the Ministry of Employment and Labor is set to unveil a guideline on compensation that big businesses will be required to pay SMEs for recruiting their core employees. The scheme is intended to address the free rider problem of large companies hiring away workers for whom SMEs have invested in traini

It was unfortunate that a Chinese fisherman was killed on Tuesday during a Korean Coast Guard raid on Chinese boats fishing illegally in South Korean waters in the West Sea.The fisherman was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a Korean Coast Guard officer, who felt threatened as Chinese fishermen wielded deadly weapons such as hacksaws and knives to stop the Coast Guard from seizing their boats.The Seoul government allowed Coast Guard commandos to fire rubber bullets against Chinese fishermen early

The White House is breathing a bit easier. The president’s awful debate performance was bad enough. If it had been followed by a bad jobs report, the president’s chances for reelection might have plummeted.But the report showed September’s unemployment rate dropping to 7.8 percent ― the first time it’s been under 8 percent in 43 months.Look more closely, though, and the employment picture is murkier.According to the separate payroll survey, just 114,000 new jobs were added in September. At least

NEW DELHI ― In September, India’s mild-mannered prime minister, Manmohan Singh, turned 80. He also turned a page: After months of being pilloried by every pundit with a soapbox for indecision and weakness, and for presiding over “policy paralysis” while corrupt colleagues allegedly made off with the country’s silver, Singh has boldly seized the initiative. A series of reform announcements, and some frank talk to the public, have underscored his new message: “I am in charge.”The initial steps tha

Benjamin Netanyahu is so eager to see Mitt Romney elected president that he’s making a fool of himself.For the last couple of weeks, the Israeli prime minister has been the featured player in a Republican-sponsored TV ad playing in Florida. It shows excerpts from Netanyahu’s United Nations speech last month in which he tacitly attacks President Obama for his failure to set a clear red line for Iran’s nuclear program.“The world tells Israel: ‘Wait, there’s still time,’” he says. “And I say, wait

NEW DELHI ― This month marks the 50th anniversary of China’s military attack on India, the only foreign war that communist-ruled China has won. Yet that war failed to resolve the disputes between the world’s two most populous countries, and its legacy continues to weigh down the bilateral relationship. While their economic heft is drawing increasing international attention, their underlying strategic rivalry over issues ranging from land and water to geopolitical influence in other regions usual

Let me tell you about the worst thing I ever did to my son. When he was 4, I took him to a small basement apartment in a Manhattan brownstone. I then paid a man to give my son an intelligence test.The test was an attempt to deliver my son from the chaos of “normal” public school in my adopted hometown of Harlem into a gifted-and-talented program on the tony Upper West Side. My son performed pretty abominably. This did not shake me, as I was not very confident in how well I would have done had I

PARIS ― America has collective attention deficit disorder, and in one way it’s a bigger threat than terrorism, cybersecurity dangers and the never-ending Middle East drama: Those other problems at least have the potential to be solved.We witnessed this phenomenon last week during the first presidential debate. Washington pundits and policy wonks tried to sift through the rhetorical sandstorm for logical solid ground amid such concepts as Mitt Romney’s revenue-neutral tax cuts and Barack Obama’s

MENOUFIA, Egypt ― You can see what the Egyptian revolution has achieved, 20 months on, by visiting this rural area of the Nile Delta that was the birthplace of the deposed dictator, Hosni Mubarak: Everything is different outwardly, but beneath the surface, almost nothing has changed yet. The revolution’s impact is most obvious in the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood won the parliamentary elections here, even in this former regime stronghold. And people seem free to say what they think, including