Remembering Father Day LOS ANGELES How should the worth of a life be weighed? For when a phenomenon like Father John P. Daly, S.J., dies, thats a question you start asking yourself. What is a life worth?
How to better understand Asia and world LOS ANGELES It has finally hit Washington that Asia will be the major-league playing field for the foreseeable geopolitical future. But why should we complain when Uncle-Sam-comes-lately? Instead, we vow stay ahead of the great global game (and ..
Vietnam pivot heralds Asias complex new age LOS ANGELES Real-life diplomacy reveals, as Lord Palmerston, twice British prime minister (1855-58, 1859-65), famously put it: We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those inte..
Demise of great US expert on East Asia LOS ANGELES Scholars and journalists dont always get along (right, call this Dept. of Understatement). But their need for each other is endless and often deep, even when each side bull-headedly refuses to admit it.
Asian leader wins coveted American award LOS ANGELES They honored the controversial, though increasingly appreciated, Asian statesman Lee Kuan Yew at the historic Ford Theater in Washington, D.C., recently, and frankly I wish I had been there. Exceptional leaders are hard to find anywh..
Why US should get off high-currency horse LOS ANGELES China often gets bad press in America, and sometimes it is deserved. But not always. Take the controversial case of Chinese currency manipulation.
Taiwan redux LOS ANGELES The Taiwanese are being permitted to buy a $6 billion bundle of military goodies from the United States, but, says the Obama Administration, they are not to get their hands on the hot new jet fighters they want (measly upgrades only)..
We are a threat to no one LOS ANGELES Despite everything it writes and proclaims, modern-day China, it still seems to me, continues to search for a clear-headed sense of its true self and its proper place in the 21st century sun.
Chinas smart diplomacy Los Angeles – Chinas new and first aircraft carrier isnt fully operational yet. But whatever its ultimate naval potency, we know that it does at least float! Its currently in a mainland dock for further dressing up and hosting of crew tr..
Democracy cliches, please ABU DHABI Political man is a complicated species. Cultural conditions and history differ widely. Humility in the interpretation and prediction of human nature is the wisest bet.
Understanding China as Kissinger does LOS ANGELES It is very tempting to proclaim On China as the most important new nonfiction book of 2011. But that it may well be. Several reasons compel this judgment.
Ban Ki-moon deserves pat on the back Whats surprising about the probable confirmation of incumbent United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-moon for a second five-year term is not its near-certainty. It is the virtual lack of controversy surrounding it.
Very risky business IMF style LOS ANGELES We need to have a clear understanding about what is happening with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Do not for a minute believe the current scandal is just one of those more or less happening things. It may not be the total end..
One Osama was enough LOS ANGELES Just when you begin to worry that maybe the United States cannot do anything right, this happens. And suddenly things seem just a little better and the barometric pressure in America a little bit lighter. This is to say that the l..
A man who always got the last word in LOS ANGELES Prior to the prime ministry of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, not that many people had ever heard of Malaysia, outside of adjacent Singapore, which shared a common border but also an intense mutual antipathy that entertained the rest of South..
Death of quiet American diplomat LOS ANGELES He will certainly not be remembered for any grand theories of international relations, and his speeches were generally not memorable. But as U.S. secretary of state, he served President Bill Clinton during his first four years in the..
Open-minded self-review SINGAPORE Many residents of this famous and successful city-state doubt that the new book Hard Truths offers true full disclosure. The political system here is not open in the breezy (even sloppy) manner of a Western democracy, and so such wo..
