As increased globalization forces countries to pretend that they like playing with all the other kids in the playground despite fearing they’ll have their toys stolen, never has there been more blatant self-interest cloaked in the phony pretext of outreach or do-goodery. Nowadays, a country is expected to appear both broke and overtly generous ― otherwise, you’re just a jerk.Take Canada, for example. Canada used to be run by nanny-state leftists more concerned with looking like Boy Scouts to the

Both ruling and opposition parties are moving to restrict investments by large business groups. The purported goal is to prevent economic power from being concentrated in the hands of a select few.But the proposed control, if written into law, will obstruct large corporations planning to venture into new technology-intensive business areas in pursuit of sustained growth. Moreover, the proposal to restrict investments will discourage corporations from providing young people fresh out of school wi

The ambitious urban redevelopment projects that President Lee Myung-bak launched as Seoul mayor a decade ago are being phased out in disgrace. Park Won-soon, the incumbent mayor, says he will discontinue most of them with approval from residents. He says his metropolitan government will help residents repair their shoddy homes, instead of supporting massive urban redevelopment projects.Left behind are displaced residents and investors that have sustained huge losses. Who will have to be held acc

A fiery debate has broken out over an issue many thought had long been settled: Japan’s economy is sliding toward irrelevance. The freshest evidence, reported earlier this week, is the first annual trade deficit in 31 years. It means, at the very least, that the huge pool of domestic savings that Japan uses to finance its staggering national debt might instead start going to support a trade deficit, an ominous sign. Not necessarily a problem, says Eamonn Fingleton, a long-time observer who recen

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that if Mitt Romney won the South Carolina primary, the Republican presidential race would be over and he would be the nominee. But Romney didn’t win, and that means it’s time to consider the unthinkable: What would life under President Gingrich be like?It’s an easy question to answer because Gingrich has spent much of his campaign listing all the things he wants to do ― not only in his first term or his first 100 days but in his first eight hours.A Gingrich presid

I was driving when I heard the latest Republican front-runner intoning that “the centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” He went on from there, but I was already grinning from ear to ear. Newt Gingrich had me at Alinsky. What excites me is not the preposterousness of the statement. No, there isn’t actually any conflict between the idea that America stands alone and the outlook of the proudly independent inventor of community org

The Grand National Party, which will soon have a new name, released a new draft platform in a desperate move to keep public support. As was widely expected, the 10-point platform, which was dubbed “Promise with the People,” was focused on welfare in what was seen as a bold departure from traditional conservative values.Park Geun-hye, who was given full mandate to manage the troubled party as head of the emergency committee, declared that the new platform marked a “fundamental change” of the part

Na Kyung-won of the Grand National Party lost to Park Won-soon in the Seoul mayoral by-election last October by a 7 percent margin. Most analysts agreed that an allegation that she spent 100 million won ($90,000) at a skincare clinic in Gangnam cost the ruling party candidate a lot of votes along with the disclosure that President Lee Myung-bak purchased a plot of land in Gangnam in his son’s name to build his retirement house.In the contest against a rival posing as the advocate of common peopl

From age 16 to age 20, a woman’s body is a temple. From 21 to 45, it’s an amusement park. From 45 on, it’s a terrarium.I know this because every morning I now take a capsule with 4.6 billion strains of supposedly beneficial flora to help establish the equilibrium in my digestive tract. There are only 7 billion people on the planet. Every morning I’m swallowing half my own universe.And I’m not the only one. Every person I meet who is even in the least bit neurotic about his or her ― it’s usually

Mark Twain once remarked, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”No dose of humor could leave us feeling sunny about a slimy Republican campaign that’s awash in unprecedented cash, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has rendered the process farcical. But Twain rightfully suggests it’s mentally healthy to laugh at life’s idiocies, that humor can tamp down irritations if we vi