On a recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan, I could not fail to notice the increasingly frequent international calls for an “endgame” in Afghanistan. But an endgame for that country is a dangerous illusion: the game will not end, and neither will history. The only thing that could come to an end is the world’s attention and engagement in Afghanistan, which could well lead to catastrophic consequences.Much international focus is now on the year 2014, the target date for completion of the gradu

At a time when the ongoing European debt crisis is fracturing public faith in the continent’s political and economic institutions, one would expect Europe’s leaders to strengthen as many unifying symbols as they can. Instead, they have allowed one of the jewels of post-World War II European integration -- the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) -- to come under threat as well.Unlike the Brussels-based European Union, long beleaguered by its democratic deficit, the Strasbourg-based ECHR is, if

In France, an Islamic terrorist has likely hijacked the agenda for the remainder of the French presidential race. That terrorist is 23-year-old Mohammed Merah, a Franco-Algerian from Toulouse who was fatally riddled with bullets by French forces last week after a 30-hour standoff and took the television remotes of an entire nation with him.Because of Merah, an election fought on economic grounds has become dominated almost exclusively by national security. The extreme nationalist National Front

In economic circles, no slight stings more than being compared to Herbert Hoover. The 31st U.S. president, who helped make the Depression of the 1930s great, ranks among history’s worst growth killers. Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japan’s prime minister from 1996 to 1998, went to his deathbed in 2006 seething over being tagged as Asia’s Hoover. Among those doing the labeling was former Sony Corp. chairman Norio Ohga. Hashimoto’s crime? The same as Hoover’s ― an ill-timed and ill-advised tax increase that

The news media has been abuzz recently about the Motion Picture Association of America’s decision to adopt an R rating for the film documentary “Bully,” and understandably so. School bullying has reached epidemic proportions, and with the rise in social media, bullying insidiously follows children from the schoolyard into their homes, their dorm rooms and their computers.A long list of Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, members of Congress and just plain folks denounced the MPAA for assigning

“All is not well in the People’s Republic.” So proclaim China-watching Hamlets around the world. They seem to have ample evidence. Six months before the 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party, when a major transition of leadership is to take place, a political earthquake is riveting the nation.Bo Xilai, one of China’s most prominent leaders, a member of the Politburo and son of one of the founding fathers of modern China, was removed from his position as party secretary of Chongqing. The a

In the year leading up to the general election, the Saenuri Party faced an important decision. Party support was flagging and the issue of the redistribution of wealth solidified as the second most important issue to the nation behind job creation, according to the monthly public opinion polls conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Traditionally, the Saenuri Party has hung its hat on the economy and security, and while the Saenuri Party has always been seen as competent on the econo

The scandal over the alleged illegal surveillance of civilians by President Lee Myung-bak’s administration is escalating as new allegations are made, this time about activist entertainers put under police surveillance. News reports say that the police kept a watch on them under order from the presidential office.Upon being called on to verify the allegations, the presidential office says it is in the process of confirming them. But suspicions were raised about the Lee administration having put h

“All is not well in the People‘s Republic.” So proclaim China-watching Hamlets around the world. They seem to have ample evidence. Six months before the 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party, when a major transition of leadership is to take place, a political earthquake is riveting the nation.Bo Xilai, one of China’s most prominent leaders, a member of the Politburo and son of one of the founding fathers of modern China, was removed from his position as party secretary of Chongqing. The a

In the year leading up to the general election, the New Frontier Party (Saenuri Party) faced an important decision. Party support was flagging and the issue of the redistribution of wealth solidified as the second most important issue to the nation behind job creation, according to the monthly public opinion polls conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Traditionally, the NFP has hung its hat on the economy and security, and while the NFP has always been seen as competent on the econ

The news media has been abuzz recently about the Motion Picture Association of America‘s decision to adopt an R rating for the film documentary “Bully,” and understandably so. School bullying has reached epidemic proportions, and with the rise in social media, bullying insidiously follows children from the schoolyard into their homes, their dorm rooms and their computers.A long list of Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, members of Congress and just plain folks denounced the MPAA for assigning

Rabbi Shneur Kesselman estimates that he has been the victim of 100 or so anti-Semitic confrontations since he arrived in the southern Swedish city of Malmö in 2004. The latest was just a few days ago, when some young immigrants in a car spotted him on his way home after the evening service at the synagogue. The driver accelerated up onto the sidewalk as if trying to run him over.Kesselman leads the Jewish congregation in Malmo, a town where many Jews are now afraid to wear a yarmulke or a Star

Four times in the past century, a large chunk of the industrial world has fallen into deep and long depressions characterized by persistent high unemployment: the United States in the 1930s, industrialized Western Europe in the 1930s, Western Europe again in the 1980s, and Japan in the 1990s. Two of these downturns – Western Europe in the 1980s and Japan in the 1990s – cast a long and dark shadow on future economic performance. In both cases, if either Europe or Japan returned -- or, indeed, eve