CAMBRIDGE ― The political fallout from Mitt Romney’s characterization of 47 percent of the American electorate as “victims” who are “dependent on government” and refuse to take “personal responsibility” for their lives demonstrates anew that cultural generalizations, particularly in politics, are usually dangerous. In fact, Romney appears to have categorized a large segment of his party’s own voters as supporters of President Barack Obama.As a rule, one should judge people on their merits, not o

The CIA claims that it never saw the storm coming, but Canadian intelligence sure did.Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird landed in Vladivostok, Russia, earlier this month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and had barely stepped off the plane when he announced that Canada would be pulling its diplomats out of Iran and closing its embassy while kicking all Iranian diplomats out of Canada.At the time, some thought that maybe the minister had a few too many mini vodkas on th

Last week, demonstrators incensed by Japan’s purchase of the disputed rocky outcrops known as the Senkaku Islands filled Chinese cities for the biggest anti-Japanese protests since 2005. These mostly young men and women holding pictures of Mao Zedong reminded me of Mao’s speech at the founding of the People’s Republic of China in September 1949: the “Chinese people, comprising one-quarter of humanity,” Mao warned, “have now stood up,” adding that “ours will no longer be a nation subject to insul

Korean rapper Psy’s “Gangnam Style” hit No.1 on iTunes in Australia this week along with seven other countries including the United States. The song was first released in July making it YouTube’s most watched K-pop video in less than two months, viewed over 200 million times as of Sept. 18. Even the world’s great pop icon Britney Spears had a super time on “The Ellen Degeneres Show” emulating his horse-riding move, and the “Gangnam Style” music video was nominated under the category Best Video a

The recent rise of territorial disputes in East Asia marks a perilous new phase in the international relations of the region. At the same time, it presents an opportunity to build peace among the various East Asian nations, particularly between the two Koreas. In fact, Dokdo and the integrity of Korea’s national historical record are among the few causes that can unite South Korea and North Korea with a common Korean rallying cry. It is ironic and regrettable that the two Koreas have been fighti

The biggest enemy of Park Geun-hye, the presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, is neither Ahn Cheol-soo, an entrepreneur-turned-professor who declared his independent candidacy for president on Wednesday, nor Moon Jae-in, the standard-bearer of the main opposition Democratic United Party.Her worst enemies are within her own party. They are none other than her aides and people close to her. They are supposed to support her bid to become the nation’s first female president but are act

Angry anti-Japan protests have eased off in China after peaking on Sept. 18, China’s Day of National Humiliation that marks Japan’s invasion and occupation of Manchuria in 1931.Rowdy demonstrations continued in cities across China for a week following the Japanese government’s decision on Sept. 11 to purchase the Senkaku Islands from its private Japanese owner. Tokyo’s move infuriated Beijing as it regarded the islands, which are called Diaoyu in China, as an integral part of its territory. On W

Over many decades, tens of thousands of ordinary citizens in Middle Eastern states had been brutalized, arrested, tortured and killed before Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit salesman, set himself on fire in Tunisia, triggering the Arab Spring.A unique pair of affronts set him off. A government inspector confiscated his fruit and slapped him in the face. Bouazizi was insulted, humiliated in public. And the inspector threatened his very livelihood.His death resonated in a way that none of the previous ab

Unemployment is still above 8 percent, job gains aren’t even keeping up with population growth, the economy is barely moving forward. And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?Because Republicans are failing the central test of electability. Instead of putting together the largest possible coalition of voters, they’re relying largely on one slice of America ― middle-aged white men ― and alienating just about everyone else.Star

American voters deserve a substantive debate between the presidential candidates about how the U.S. can manage China’s rise as a powerful economic and geopolitical rival in the coming decades. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama and the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, have so far been unwilling to have that discussion. Instead, the candidates have waged a war of words that gives voters oversimplified ― and sometimes false ― explanations of a vital and complex issue. Obama accuses Romney of se

LOS ANGELES ― The events of recent days in the Middle East only forewarn of future turmoil as the democratization of the media in the West meets the political awakening in the Arab world.The now-marginalized children of Facebook may have inaugurated the Arab Spring, which unleashed ― some say liberated ― anti-Western voices and actors long crushed by brutal autocrats. But now it is YouTube’s turn to roil the region. A 14-minute preview of a movie called “The Innocence of Muslims” ― posted by a m

The Census Bureau reported last week that middle-class income is continuing to shrink, top-tier incomes are growing and those at the bottom remained about the same. It wasn’t shocking news, confirming what dozens of independent studies have shown.What does come as a surprise is what politicians regard as middle income.On Friday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said “middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less.”That’s about where President Barack Obama has drawn the line, too. He w

WASHINGTON ― The Georgian government of President Mikheil Saakashvili, long a favorite of U.S. conservatives for championing pro-democratic “color revolutions,” is under fire for its own alleged suppression of a domestic opposition movement headed by a billionaire tycoon. Saakashvili was lauded as a reformer after he became president in 2004, following the Rose Revolution, and he has bravely challenged Russian hegemony in the region. But he has also shown a tendency to overreach, as in the impru

Four years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the near-total paralysis of capitalism’s central nervous system ― the moment fear completely overwhelmed greed on Wall Street ― we are starting to see a few glimmers of hope. The good news: Several big banks have finally started taking steps to reform Wall Street’s out-of-control compensation system, which rewards bankers and traders with big bonuses for taking insane risks with other people’s money. The bad news: These banks are

What do Americans want done with killers in Libya who murdered U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others on Sept. 11, our national day of mourning?We want their heads stuffed into a burlap bag. We want to see that bag tossed into some town square, landing with hollow thunks, the bag opening, its cargo rolling along the ground.That’s revenge talking, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Americans were murdered. While our politicians make speeches about “resolve” and President Barack Obam

While political parties are engrossed in a debate on economic democratization, Korea has reached a profound demographic tipping point.A recent Bank of Korea report says Korea’s working-age population ― those between 15 and 64 years of age ― will peak in 2016 before starting to decline rapidly for the next half a century. Yet the report draws attention to an important demographic shift that is already taking place: The share of the working-age population in the total population reaches a peak thi

The Financial Supervisory Service recently said it would consider resuming the practice of disclosing data on corruption in the financial sector, as criminal activity by executives and employees of financial companies shows no signs of abating.Until 2004, the watchdog made public its corruption statistics for each segment of the industry. But it discontinued the practice in the face of opposition from financial companies.Financial firms have since made voluntary efforts to prevent their official

It’s a shame that France’s two most powerful people, its president and its richest man, were unable to get beyond populist posturing and recrimination as they battled over taxes this week. They may have missed a golden opportunity to find common ground on restoring growth to their country’s beleaguered economy. The clash erupted after Bernard Arnault, the chief executive officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, acknowledged that he has applied for Belgian citizenship. He said this was a “

DOHA ― “They are armed I am not going to fight a losing battle and kill my men over a demolished shrine,” said Fawzi Abd al-’Aali, the former Libyan interior minister, before he “resigned” last August. He was referring to the armed Salafi groups that were accused of destroying Sufi shrines. One of the accused groups was the Ansar al-Shariah Brigade, which was quick to support the demolition, but denied any responsibility for it.Ahmed Jibril, Libya’s deputy ambassador to London, has now accused t

Enough is enough! Obviously, the political leadership in Tokyo and Seoul never learned the First Rule of Holes: when you find yourself in one, stop digging. Each side seems to be going out of its way to make a bad situation worse, even while providing private assurances that it won’t let the situation get too far out of hand. In all likelihood it is probably impossible to start making significant repairs until after upcoming elections: December in Korea and who knows (but probably sooner rather