Recently I publicly debated someone who said Arizona and every other state should use whatever means necessary to keep out illegal immigrants. He wants English to be spoken in every classroom in the nation, and the Pledge of Allegiance recited every morning. And he wants to restore every dollar of the $500 billion in defense cuts scheduled to start in January. “We have to preserve and protect America,” he said. “That’s the meaning of patriotism.”For my debating partner, patriotism is about secur

NEWPORT BEACH ― When it comes to describing Europe’s ever-worsening crisis, metaphors abound. For some, it is five minutes to midnight; for others, Europe is a car accelerating towards the edge of a cliff. For all, a perilous existential moment is increasingly close at hand.Optimists ― fortunately, there remain a few, especially in Europe itself ― believe that when the situation becomes really critical, political leaders will turn things around and put Europe back on the path of economic growth,

By most accounts, Adams Oshiomhole is the most popular governor Nigeria’s Edo state has ever had. He is up for reelection next week, and the outcome could go one of three ways: Ruling-party thugs will kill him, as they have already twice tried to do ― including once last week. They will steal the election, as is the nation’s custom. Or, the least likely, Oshiomhole will be declared the winner.“They have not had a transparent election in a very long time,” Oshiomhole told me in an interview.You s

PARIS ― In the last few weeks, the idea of establishing a European banking union has become the latest remedy advanced as a solution to the long-running euro crisis. But, whatever the merits of a banking union ― and there are many ― proposals to establish one raise more questions than can currently be answered.The motivations of those who advocate a banking union differ markedly. For some, particularly in southern Europe, it is seen as a means of shifting the burden of supporting their indigent

Advocates of so-called attachment parenting take an all-encompassing approach: assiduous attention to a child’s every need, including prolonged breast-feeding. But those who claim that these practices benefit children’s intelligence miss an important point. A child’s biggest advantage arises from having the family resources that make such care giving possible in the first place. In this sense, attachment parenting is a trend among families whose children need it least ― the affluent. Fortunately

Improved technology is changing the spy game, merging once-disparate roles in the intelligence field and favoring an increased download of traditional spy roles to the private sector.This week, Canada’s Postmedia News cited a speech by Richard Fadden, the head of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in which he acknowledged this new reality.Fadden added that analysts must be well-read across various subject matters, and be creative enough to imagine threats that have

NEW DELHI -- The United States recently took the Iran-sanctions monkey off India’s back: it granted India an exemption from Iran-related financial sanctions in exchange for significant cuts in Indian purchases of Iranian oil. Nevertheless, Iran continues to cast a pall over an otherwise brightening U.S.-India relationship.From India’s perspective, Iran is an important neighbor with which it can ill afford to rupture its relationship. Indeed, India already seems locked geographically in an arc of

WASHINGTON ― The text of Iran’s negotiation proposal to the “P5+1” group last month makes clear what Iran’s “red lines” are in the nuclear talks, and where it might be willing to compromise. The Iranian PowerPoint presentation, obtained from a source close to the talks, stresses Iran’s status as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the right to enrich uranium. Iranian negotiators devoted the first part of their presentation in Moscow to this topic, under the title: “Why enrichm

Hong Kong was supposed to be mainland China’s showcase to the world (Taiwan in particular) of the benefits of its “one country, two systems” policy. Instead, it has quickly become the Communist government’s constant headache. The city boiled with discontent as its new chief executive Leung Chun-ying was sworn in yesterday. Being the Beijing-reporting mayor of a fierce freedom-oriented city such as Hong Kong has not been an easy job, and Leung certainly came onboard in a much worse position than

The debate on “economic democratization” is intensifying in politics, although the term still remains vaguely defined. In whatever ways the term is defined, one thing is clear ― it involves reforming the chaebol.The ruling Saenuri Party is expected to step up its push for economic democratization as Kim Jong-in, a key proponent of the elusive concept, has been named co-chairman of Rep. Park Geun-hye’s presidential campaign.While serving as a member of the ruling party’s emergency committee led b

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is set to take a scalpel to the controversial day care subsidy program for children under 24 months old.In March, the government began to provide day care subsidies to all families, regardless of their income, only if they registered their toddlers with a child care center. Previously, the subsidies were offered to families in the bottom 70 percent of the income distribution. The expansion was rushed by the ruling Saenuri Party, which was blinded by its desir

Investor activism is on the rise in post-Fukushima Japan. If it takes effect, the proof may show up at Nomura Holdings Inc. Some stockholders want to rename the venerable investment bank “Vegetable Holdings” to urge healthy business practices on a board embroiled in insider-trading accusations. Just as untenable was the suggestion at the annual general meeting that Nomura re-equip its offices with old-style Japanese toilets ― essentially holes in the ground. Yet another shareholder proposal aims

“We are at rest five miles behind the front. Yesterday we were relieved, and now our bellies are full of beef and haricot beans. We are satisfied and at peace.” Thus begins Erich Maria Remarque’s great anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” ― “Im Westen nichts Neues” ― published in 1928, 10 years after World War I came to an end. The novel chronicles the war experiences of the German soldier Paul Baumer, a young school boy who joined the forces on the western front at the beginning of t

One way the U.S. Congress could respond to Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on the individual insurance mandate would be to yank the debate over health care policy back to square one. Simply overturn the law and start from scratch, as the Republican chorus is calling for. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has promised a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act as soon as next week, and Mitt Romney has underlined his pledge, if elected president, to dispense with it on his first day in office. What

JERSUALEM ― A popular new slogan making the rounds among government ministers here is that in dealing with Iran, Israel faces a decision between “bombing or the bomb.” In other words, if Israel doesn’t attack, Iran will eventually obtain nuclear weapons. This stark choice sums up the mood among top officials of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: It’s clear that Israel’s military option is still very much on the table, despite the success of economic sanctions in forcing Iran in

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s historic health care decision, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney appeared before the cameras to offer their spin. Neither took questions. For weeks, both men methodically calibrated their response to what was the most eagerly anticipated pre-election high court decision ever. The ruling settles the law, not the politics. The outcome poses challenges for both presidential contenders. Obama’s claim that it means the country “can’t refight” the law is a pipedream. Romne

Some 1.78 million students in the United States will graduate from colleges this summer and try to squeeze into the weak labor market. Meanwhile, millions of graduates to-be hope to gain some real-work experience to add to their resumes.Jia Fei, a Chinese international student in the U.S., is one of this year’s summer interns. He recorded his road trip on his micro blog. After driving for four days, the communications major at Washington State University arrived in Los Angeles, where he rented a

CAIRO ― “You are the authority, above any other authority. You are the protectors, whoever seeks protection away from you is a fool...and the army and the police are hearing me,” said Egypt’s president-elect, Mohamed Morsi, to hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square. A man imprisoned following the “Friday of Rage” (Jan. 28, 2011) took the presidential oath in Tahrir on a “Friday of Power Transfer” (June 29, 2011). But he almost did not.Ten days earlier, on June 19, I was with a group of former Eg

In a world of turmoil and gloom, Aung San Suu Kyi is a beacon of optimism. Lately, though, the Burmese pro-democracy icon is sounding like a killjoy. Suu Kyi cautions markets and executives against “reckless optimism” about Myanmar’s prospects, a position at odds with her impoverished nation’s efforts to court them. Fellow Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz speaks for the economic intelligentsia when he calls her “excessively pessimistic.” Yet there’s an element to her concerns that isn’t getting en

From America to Australia, in Singapore, Japan and in the Middle East there are reports of an influx of prostitutes from South Korea. In Los Angeles the police estimate that as many as 90 percent of the prostitutes arrested every month are from South Korea. In Australia there are reports that one out of every six prostitutes in the country is from South Korea. And from Japan come stories of over 50,000 South Korean prostitutes; enough to fill a stadium. These accounts are giving South Korea a ne