“Diplomatic immunity” is one of the concepts that perplex ordinary people. Under international law including the 1963 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, all registered diplomats are immune from criminal jurisdiction of the receiving states. Even if a diplomat is caught red-handed right on the spot, no criminal prosecution or punishment is permitted. The only defense available for the receiving state under the convention is to declare such person as persona non grata ― meaning unacceptabl

Old maxims always turn out to be true. Once again, we are belatedly trying to “repair the barn after the cow is stolen.” Ever since the sexual harassment scandal involving the president’s former spokesman shook the nation, government institutions have been busily holding sexual harassment prevention classes for public servants, and warning high-ranking government officials to avoid similar incidents. Unfortunately, it is too late, for the cow has already been stolen. And it is costly to repair t

WASHINGTON ― Watching President Obama’s compelling speech on counterterrorism policy Thursday, you couldn’t help wondering what he might accomplish if he could apply the same intellectual focus and intensity to governing the nation that he has shown as covert commander in chief. By announcing new restraints on the use of armed drones for targeted killing and pushing again for the closure of the Guantanamo prison, Obama signaled more strongly than ever that he means to turn the page of American h

Traveling around Southeast Asia last week, the mood was all about currency fluctuation and impact on markets. Things do look different when the Thai stock market daily turnover touches $2 billion and is higher than that of Singapore. But the headline that Thai growth slowed quarter-on-quarter but still grew 5.3 percent year on year gave rise to fears that export-driven economies in the region are beginning to slow. The guru on the dollar relationship with the East Asian currencies has to be Stan

BRUSSELS ― China’s recent elevation of its claim to the Diaoyu Islands to a “core interest” has made the prospect of resolving its sovereignty dispute with Japan, which governs the islands, even trickier. Indeed, the recent publication by the official People’s Daily of two Chinese scholars’ commentary questioning Japan’s sovereignty over even Okinawa suggests that the authorities have scant interest in ending the dispute anytime soon. So, with China hardening its multiple sovereignty claims thro

NEWPORT BEACH ― Some two years into Egypt’s grass-roots revolution, the country’s economy is in a worrisome downward spiral. A growing number of people, inside and outside of the country, are starting to blame the revolution itself for derailing an economy that was growing, reducing its external-debt burden, and maintaining a comfortable cushion of international reserves.Blaming the revolution is the wrong approach to Egypt’s current economic woes. Yet its appeal to some is understandable, given