Politics

President Obama recently announced the appointment of a completely unqualified Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Japan. This is a mistake. If there ever was a time to have an experienced ambassador with solid credentials, it is now. The increasingly important Japanese market, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is the largest free-trade agreement in history, […]

Monthly U.S. headlines trumpeting the death of inflation hide a painful truth for American families: rapidly rising food prices. News reports rarely mention this pain because economists’ preferred inflation metric, so-called “core CPI,” omits both food and energy due to concerns about their volatility. Although this omission might make sense from a purely economic perspective, […]

Comparisons almost always cause resentment. The French political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that when humans lived alone in the state of nature, they were happy with their lot and needed only their own self-approval. But the move to society, living cheek by jowl with others, invited precisely those comparisons with others that creates ill-will, envy […]

The broad coalition government formed in the aftermath of two snap elections held in May and June 2012 has not held up well under the strain of implementing a painful austerity program demanded by the EU and the IMF as a condition for two packages of bailout loans. The coalition was already leaking support when […]

SPECIAL REPORT—Political tensions that had been simmering ever since the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) romped to victory at legislative elections held in late 2011 and early 2012 finally boiled over in early July 2013. In a scene reminiscent of the events that brought the downfall of the entrenched autocratic regime headed by […]

President Park Geun-hye has suffered a number of political setbacks since taking office in February. This includes the forced withdrawal of four prospective Cabinet nominees from consideration owing to various transgressions or questionable affiliations, allegations that agents of the National Intelligence Service engaged in illegal political activity on behalf of Park’s presidential campaign, and accusations […]

Just one year since his triumph in the 2012 election, French President Francois Hollande is struggling to reverse the collapse of popular support. His abandonment of key planks of the Socialist platform has contributed to a sense of betrayal among his left-leaning base, while the government’s lack of action on key structural reforms has fostered […]

The power struggle at the top of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) appears to have been resolved sufficiently to reduce the risk of an open rift in the regime. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nguyen Van Dung has been weakened in the process. In addition, he still faces serious challenges in the form of a stalling […]

Since Daniel Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007, the former Marxist guerrilla leader has confounded his critics by implementing a generally liberal economic policy agenda in cooperation with the IMF. Ortega’s willingness to accommodate the private sector was highlighted in late November 2012, when the FSLN majority in the National Assembly approved a tax-reform […]

America’s “shale boom” is poised to revolutionize global energy markets. It could transform the nation from a longtime net oil importer into an export powerhouse. Consider that the 2012 increase in U.S. crude oil production, announced recently, was the largest not just in U.S. history, but the world.

On February 13, 2013, the White House announced that the United States and the European Union would begin negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the hope of reaching a deal by late 2014. The declared goal is to achieve duty-free trade on industrial and agricultural products, with certain exceptions.

China’s relationship with the United States is increasingly complex and competitive,

Once again the Obama administration is picking winners and losers when it comes to energy. The president has vowed that America will be a net energy exporter. There’s only one roadblock: Obama himself.

Voters went to the polls in February, and the electorate’s rejection of the austerity program carried out by a technocratic regime backed by both of the main political parties resulted in a hung parliament. The anti-euro Five Star Movement, headed by irreverent comedian Beppe Grillo, made a stunning third-place finish.

As I tried to suppress my anger over the recent news unfolding regarding possible corruption within the Obama administration, I looked back to see if our Founding Fathers had anticipated this. It didn’t take long to find a quote from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote: “Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government […]

A special election was held in mid-April to fill the presidential vacancy created by the death of Hugo Chávez in early March. Chávez’s hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, was heavily favored to defeat the joint opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles. However, Maduro won by less than two percentage points, compared to Chávez’s nearly 11-point margin of victory […]

Despite a series of potentially damaging scandals, President Barack Obama continues to enjoy a positive net approval rating for his overall job performance and is viewed more favorably than the leaders of the opposition Republican Party on his handling of most issues of greatest concern to voters. Approval of Obama’s management of the economy, although […]

When dealing with the White House press corps, the Obama administration is unable to concisely and informatively react to so-called scandals. Whether its the continuing Benghazi investigation, the Justice Department’s tapping of AP phones, or the sensational revelations that conservative applications for tax-exempt status were given higher scrutiny and delay than other applications at the […]

As an exporter, I half-heartedly believed in President Obama’s proposal to double U.S. exports in five years. That pledge was made in his State of the Union address in 2010, which means the clock is ticking on his plan to double American exports from $1 trillion to $2 trillion by 2015. His National Export Initiative […]

Iran is preparing for a presidential election. It is assumed that the clerical establishment headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will use the substantial power at its disposal to guard against a repeat of the domestic upheaval that erupted in the aftermath of the 2009 contest. Nevertheless, the next president’s power will be limited.