BERLIN ― Syrian opposition activists regularly express disappointment with the level of international support that they receive. Although the last meeting of the so-called “Friends of Syria” (a group of countries that convenes periodically to discuss Syria’s situation outside of the United Nations Security Council) brought more financial aid, the degree of genuine outside commitment to their cause remains questionable.The United States, the European Union, Turkey, and most Arab countries agree t

CAMBRIDGE ― The United States is famous for its ability to innovate. Aspiring fiscal conservatives around the world thus might be interested in learning four tricks that American politicians commonly use when promising to cut taxes while simultaneously reducing budget deficits.These are hard promises to keep, for the simple reason that a budget deficit equals government spending minus tax revenue. But, each of the four tricks has been refined over three decades. Indeed, they first acquired their

South Korea is experimenting with e-democracy in the Dec. 19 presidential election. The “person to watch” in this test is Ahn Cheol-soo, 50, a medical doctor-turned antivirus software guru.Though the popularity rating can be dicey, the independent presidential candidate Ahn is leading or running neck-and-neck in a two-way or three-way matchup in most polls against the candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, Park Geun-hye, 60, and that of the main opposition Democratic United Party, Moon Jae-in, 5

One of the struggles in teaching U.S. and international law to South Korean lawyers and law students is imparting a thorough understanding of the power of prior court decisions in the common law. South Korean lawyers and law students are steeped in a civil law tradition imported from Japan that finds its roots in 19th century German and French law; both of which have as their foundation the law of ancient Rome.In this civil law system legislative enactments reign supreme and courts are generally

Once again, the Swedish Academy bypassed Korean writers when they announced this year’s Nobel Prize winner.As is well known, South Korea has a host of prominent writers who are well qualified for the Nobel Prize and yet, none of them has been awarded the Nobel Prize. Among this year’s candidates was our celebrated poet Ko Un whose name had been on the list for promising candidates for the past few years. Unfortunately, however, Ko Un was neglected once again by the Swedish Academy and the Korean

PARIS ― The European Union is now the proud owner of a Nobel Peace Prize. When the choice alighted on Barack Obama three years ago, the Norwegian Nobel Committee was criticized for honoring someone whose achievements were still to come. The Committee took that criticism to heart, and this time decorated an institution with a proud past, but a clouded future.The eurozone is distinct from the EU of course, but it is the Union’s most ambitious undertaking to date, and it is still struggling to equi

There goes Madonna, classing up the joint again. To show her support of Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot and critically wounded by the Taliban because of her advocacy for girls’ education, the Material Girl (a.k.a. Madge, Esther, the Queen of Pop, the Hottest Bod in the AARP) took the opportunity during a recent concert at L.A.’s Staple Center to pull her pants down and reveal a (fake) tattoo of the girl’s name inked across the small of her back.Take that, Taliban! Mess with