Western sanctions on Iran are as comprehensive and punishing as they have ever been. And yet they haven’t worked and probably never will.The sanctions are intended to block oil sales and banking transactions. But they are providing far less than a hermetic seal. In fact, new leaks are springing almost every day. And, as the United Nations pointed out a few days ago, Iran is galloping forward with its atomic-weapons program, while denying that it’s underway.Late last week, leaders of 120 nations

NEW YORK ― Mitt Romney’s income taxes have become a major issue in the American presidential campaign. Is this just petty politics, or does it really matter? In fact, it does matter ― and not just for Americans.A major theme of the underlying political debate in the United States is the role of the state and the need for collective action. The private sector, while central in a modern economy, cannot ensure its success alone. For example, the financial crisis that began in 2008 demonstrated the

Because of its historical beginnings as a British colony, Australia didn’t need to make hard choices on the international stage. It simply followed Britain, the mother country.During WWII when Japan was overrunning one Asian country after the other pushing Britain out of the region, Australia feared for its security, drawing closer to the United States. After WW11, it became part of the U.S.-led ANZUS alliance.But now with the rise of China and the resultant strategic competition between it and

For analysts, a company as innovative as Apple could never be Asian. A recent example is Samsung being found guilty by a Californian court of stealing Apple’s intellectual property. With the next iPhone imminent, Apple appears more invincible than ever. And yet, this victory may well signal both the peak and start of the decline of the Apple Empire. The man who created the personal computer as we know it ― the Macintosh of 1984 ― did it again, not just once, but twice. The iPod (2001) and iTunes

The recent spate of violent sex crimes has reignited the old debate on the death penalty. On one side of the debate are people enraged by the appalling kidnapping and rape of a 7-year-old girl in Naju, South Jeolla Province. They are calling for execution of those who commit heinous sex crimes.These people urge the government to lift the moratorium on executions, which has been in place since 1998, as it contributes to increasing violent sex crimes. They also argue that keeping death row prisone

Was it to blackmail an opponent or to give advice to an old friend? An aide to Ahn Cheol-soo, a strong potential presidential candidate, alleged Thursday that a Saenuri Party official threatened to expose skeletons in the entrepreneur-turned-professor’s closet.Geum Tae-sup, a lawyer with close ties to Ahn, claimed that Jeong Joon-gil, a Saenuri media relations official, called him Tuesday and said the ruling party would disclose allegations about Ahn’s “bribery and woman problems,” if he decided

By now, it should be pretty clear to anyone with even the faintest pulse that regardless of who ends up winning any future elections, they aren’t going to change your personal economic reality quickly enough to suit your liking. And that’s only if they even manage to find the courage to sufficiently cut through all the lobbyists and special interests to implement any significant ideas at all ― which is unlikely in all cases. Forget relying on politicians to determine your fate. Take charge of yo

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. and its allies are moving in Syria toward a program of covert support for the rebels that, for better or worse, looks very much like what America and its friends did in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The parallels are spooky, if you’ll forgive the pun. In Syria, as in Afghanistan, CIA officers are operating at the borders (in this case mostly in Jordan and Turkey) helping Sunni insurgents improve their command and control, plus other activities. Weapons are coming from third par

NEW YORK ― It is difficult for me, as an advocate against rape and other forms of violence against women, to fathom the laziness and willful ignorance that characterize so much of the media coverage of the sexual-assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. To report that we are simply witnessing Swedish justice at work, one must be committed to doing no research ― not even the bare minimum of picking up a phone. In fact, we are witnessing a bizarre aberration in the context of

One of the intractable problems that the incumbent government has failed to address is the construction of an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel rods. The project should have already started in light of the fact that the temporary at-reactor spent fuel pools, which currently store all fuel rods discharged from the nation’s 22 nuclear reactors, are nearly full.But the current administration did not bother to tackle the urgent problem throughout its term. All it did was to launch an a

Should the entrance quotas of domestic medical colleges be expanded or curtailed? The Ministry of Health and Welfare says student enrollments at medical schools need to be increased as physicians are in short supply. Yet practicing doctors argue exactly the opposite.According to a report released by a Yonsei University research institute, Korea is suffering a shortage of medical manpower. A comparison of doctor-population ratios among OECD countries clearly shows this. In 2010, Korea had two phy

WASHINGTON, DC ― What should an alliance do when its leading member and dominant pillar decides to shift its focus to the other side of the world? NATO leaders have been grappling with this question since U.S. President Barack Obama’s announcement of his administration’s “pivot” to Asia last year compelled them to examine the alliance’s global role.NATO leaders have examined their approach to managing relations with countries, such as China and Russia, that still view NATO as a potential threat

There still are Kennedy Democrats; there are Clinton Democrats. There are fewer Obama Democrats. This reflects more the president’s style than his substance; he’s in the mainstream of his party, so popular that any primary challenge was out of the question. Yet he remains strangely unfamiliar to some core constituencies. If Barack Obama is reelected, the biggest challenge won’t be ideological: He’s not the left-winger his opponents depict. The economy will be the dominant issue, events will shap

The Indian government will once again demonstrate to the world that it is no longer an independent entity. China’s defence minister General Liang Guanglie started his three-day visit to Mumbai yesterday to discuss revival of joint military exercise and more confidence building measures between both countries. The first exercise was held in China in 2007 and the second in India in 2008. This is the first visit by a Chinese defence minister in the past seven years. Both governments will discuss wa

Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, is sending a survey team to the Senkaku Islands on Sunday in defiance of a Japanese government order on visits without permission.Ishihara couldn’t get permission, but his team is visiting three of the eight tiny islets called the Tiaoyu or Diaoyu Islands which both Taiwan and China claim as their inherent territory. The visit is to pave the way for him to buy the islands to defend against the People’s Republic of China in lieu of lame duck Prime Minister Yo

Last week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inaugurated the summit of Nonaligned Movement leaders in Tehran with a blistering attack on the “dictatorship” of Western countries at the United Nations Security Council. The Iranians then had to listen stony-faced to Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi, the first Egyptian head of state to visit Iran since 1979, as he stressed the need for a united opposition to their ally, the murderous Syrian regime. Over several decades NAM summits, includi

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has disclosed the list of 43 underperforming colleges ― 23 four-year schools and 20 junior colleges ― that will be deprived of financial support from the government next academic year. The selected schools ranked in the bottom 15 percent in the ministry’s annual assessment of the nation’s 337 tertiary educational institutions ― 198 four-year colleges and 139 junior colleges.Of the 43 on the list, 13 face another disadvantage: Some of their studen

A gruesome sex crime has been committed against a child girl in Naju County, South Jeolla Province. The 7-year-old girl was kidnapped in the middle of the night while sleeping at her own home with her family. She was brutally raped and strangled to the point of unconsciousness, but luckily survived.Police has arrested a suspect, a 23-year-old man who lives in the victim’s neighborhood. A day laborer with no fixed abode, the suspect confessed he committed the crime under the influence of alcohol.

In Hugh White’s latest book, “The China Choice: Why America Should Share Power,” the Australian professor argues that, for the sake of regional peace, the United States and China should carve up Asia between them. In particular, the U.S. should consider ceding Indochina to China, the former defence official added.That suggestion has caused apoplexy throughout the region, not least from Vietnam, given its chequered history with China.But if one takes the hard-headed realist’s perspective, one can

As Bill Clinton is resurrected by the Democrats, George W. Bush is being erased by the GOP ― as if an entire eight years of American history hadn’t happened.While Clinton stumps for President Obama, Mitt Romney has gone out of his way not to mention the name of the president who came after Clinton and before Obama.Former President Clinton will have a starring role at the Democratic National Convention. Former President George W. Bush won’t even be at the Republican one ― the first time a nationa