The conservative ideologues in Washington discovered last week that their fond dream of privatizing Medicare is political suicide.This should not have come as a surprise. Back in early April, when the tea-partying House Republicans were preparing to vote yes on a plan to eradicate guaranteed health care for seniors ― one of the most popular government programs of the last half-century ― their own

The leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-il paid a successful visit to China from May 20 to 26. The attention-grabbing event marks the further consolidation of relations between the two neighbors. It also sends a strong signal to the outside world that the two will make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. This is Kim’s third visit to China

Voices critical of Prime Minister Naoto Kan appear to be getting louder within the Democratic Party of Japan. One cannot give high marks to Kan for his performance as the nation’s leader in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.Even so, as Japan faces the difficult task of reconstruction and bringing the nuclear accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant under control, DPJ poli

A few years ago, if Americans had been asked to name the world’s most conservative countries, Canada likely wouldn’t have been on most people’s list. But as so many previous top contenders, including the U.S., slide into socialism, Canada is beginning to shine as a beacon of free-market success. After decades of Liberal Party rule, broken only by eight years of Conservative governance in the 1980s

I recently returned from a week in Iraq, where I trained an elite security force unit on human rights and the law of combat operations. Discussions regarding the responsibility of commanders for the acts of their forces migrated to the issue of the United Nations’ International Criminal Court. One Iraqi officer asked me, “If the United States believes in accountability over impunity, why are you n

The perseverance that people in northeastern Japan have shown after the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated their communities March 11 has impressed many people around the world.In Northeast Asia, anti-Japan feelings in China and South Korea seem to have receded since the catastrophe, thanks to Tohoku people’s dignified behavior.Under these circumstances, Prime Minister Naoto Kan held meetin

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea met in Tokyo on May 21-22 as scheduled, even though Japan is still recovering from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, demonstrating the three countries’ consensus on regional responsibility.The leaders agreed to strengthen a future-oriented partnership aimed at constructing a nuclear power safety and disaster prevention system, and developing co

Jason Lamoreaux will graduate June 14 from Upper Merion High School. Last year at this time, he was navigating the college-application process, which includes the writing of a personal statement and this dilemma: Do I tell them what I think, or what I think they want to hear? Lamoreaux took what some might view as a risk. Instead of addressing world hunger or carbon emissions, he offered an honest

The phone call came in the middle of the night last month, when my brother Todd and I were visiting our father in a suburb of Portland, Ore. Todd’s fiancee, Dorothy Parvaz ― also my good friend and former colleague ― was missing. An editor from Al-Jazeera English, where she works, told Todd that no one had heard from her in 24 hours, not since she left Qatar to report on the violence in Syria.As a