Asian geopolitics may never be the same now that Kim Jong-un has Seth Rogen and James Franco in his cross hairs.Their new comedy, “The Interview,” centers on a plot to assassinate Kim. The baby-faced dictator with the awful haircut doesn’t see the humor in it. His dad, Kim Jong-il was none-too-happy about being the dupe in the 2004 feature, “Team America,” by the “South Park” guys. Nor did he enjoy seeing James Bond foil Pyongyang in 2002’s “Die Another Day.” Now, Kim the younger has warned Wash

PARIS ― The irony of recent U.S. foreign interventions is that despite Uncle Sam’s best efforts, the ultimate benefactor ends up being America’s primary economic rival in the area in question. It should come as no surprise that the two economic rivals who usually benefit are China and Russia, both absolute masters of subversion.According to ancient Chinese military expert Sun Tzu: “Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enem

MUNICH ― The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, currently the subject of intense negotiations between the European Union and the United States, is making big waves. Indeed, given the scale of the two economies, which together account for more than 50 percent of world GDP and one-third of global trade flows, the stakes are high. In order to ensure that the TTIP benefits consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, those negotiating it must recognize and avoid several key traps ― some mor

ISTANBUL ― Central bankers want only a few things. To achieve any of them they usually seek to nudge inflation expectations, demonstrate the transparency of monetary policy, and establish their institutions’ credibility. To communicate their intentions simply and clearly, they may set an explicit target range in terms of a particular economic variable, or announce a forecast for the variable, or offer forward guidance by specifying a threshold value for it that must be met before changing intere

As investors place bets on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s program for economic growth, the success of Japan’s revival plans may rest, oddly enough, on casinos.For more than a decade now, Las Vegas Sands chief Sheldon Adelson and his counterparts have salivated over bringing gambling tables to Asia’s richest nation. Abe is nudging lawmakers to legalize casinos to help boost gross domestic product. With analysts estimating Japan’s gambling-resort market will be worth $40 billion a year by 2025, it se

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a common favorite for the job of European Union foreign policy chief, has been recorded calling the U.S. a worthless ally. That must have been a nasty shock for the State Department, coming from a diplomat perceived to be more pro-American than many of his European colleagues.The Polish weekly Wprost has somehow come by a number of recorded conversations between various Polish government officials. It is now Sikorski’s turn. In an exchange earlier thi

By agreeing to ask for foreign countries’ cooperation in hunting down exiled anti-junta activists and academics, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry has lost its way. The National Council for Peace and Order had already handed the ministry the tough task of explaining the reasons behind the coup to the international community and beseeching their understanding.The ministry has done that job well so far. The most prominent foreign nations will never agree that a military coup against an elected governmen

Why didn’t the male assembly member come forward sooner to admit to the sexist remark he made toward a female colleague during a Tokyo Metropolitan assembly session?During a session last Wednesday, Ayaka Shiomura of Your Party was raising a question about the metropolitan government’s support measures for pregnancy and child-rearing. She did so by taking into account the current situation in which women tend to marry and give birth later in life, while an increasing number of women are receiving

Tang Jun, a famous professional manager in China wrote part of an open letter to seven million college graduates this year, saying that no matter whether for work or in life, people can’t do without relationships, or guanxi, in China, which means one’s social networks are of the upmost importance for one’s personal development. So for students, using the referral from social acquaintances can be a good way to get a job because such guanxi is a person’s unique resource.Although he wrote less than

When President Obama went on TV last week to outline his response to terrorist advances in Iraq, he missed a chance to do something essential: convey how serious the threat is to the Mideast ― and to us.The practical steps he proposed made sense in the short run (although they should have been taken at least a year earlier): Increase U.S. intelligence surveillance of Iraq and Syria; send up to 300 more U.S. military advisers to Iraq to learn what’s really going on; make an intense diplomatic eff