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[David Ignatius] Obama's destabilizing candor

ViewpointsMar 18, 2016

What accounted for Vladimir Putin’s surprise decision Monday to start pulling Russian forces from Syria? Is it possible that he spent last weekend reading Jeffrey Goldberg’s piece in the Atlantic and decided that President Obama was right about the Syria mess, and that he should quit before he got any deeper in the quagmire?Goldberg’s account of how Obama fell out of love with the Arabs has inspired much commentary. But here are a few brief thoughts, occasioned in part by Putin’s adoption of wha
Russia's surprise pullout from Syria

ViewpointsMar 18, 2016

As the cease-fire, concluded by the USA and Russia, mercifully holds in Syria, the Kremlin has announced a critical shift in strategy. Vladimir Putin’s declaration on Monday night that Russian troops would begin a partial withdrawal from Syria is without question a surprise move that could mark a major shift in the conflict. On closer reflection, the Russian President’s signal of intent was only very logical in the aftermath of the truce in the troubled land, one that he had brokered with Barack
Indonesia’s role in Islamic world

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

Indonesia created a historic moment at the fifth extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The summit concluded with a cornerstone on the peace process and independence of the Palestine state. After two years of nearly no signs of progress, the world now has new hope in solving the Israel-Palestine conflict. As the host of the latest OIC summit, Indonesia could push forward Palestine issues to the wider international arena and play a bigger role in the OIC from merely part
[Nophakhun Limsamarnphun] Computers turning to real-life human issues

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

Artificial intelligence has achieved another milestone. On March 15, Google’s AlphaGo, an AI program, beat one of the world’s best Go players, champion Lee Se-Dol of South Korea, 4-1 in a five-game match.This underscored the computer’s capability to further outsmart humans in complex tasks such as playing the complicated board game, Go.Previously, IBM’s Deep Blue computer had defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov.Since the 1900s, when computers emerged in the form of tabulation; and the 1
Xenophobia in Germany

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

The elections in three states of Germany would scarcely have triggered much excitement across the continent were it not for the resounding setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her open-door policy toward migrants. The elections have turned out to be a referendum on her geostrategy, one that allowed more than a million migrants to enter the country last year. The electoral setback must be stunning, however much she may be trying to conclude a deal with Turkey to curb the influx. Unmistakable
Fair play matters

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

Customers are surely the beneficiaries when rival players in a given industry engage in a price war, such as the current one taking place between app-based transportation service providers grouped under Grab and Uber versus conventional transportation service operators. But given the generously discounted prices offered by the new players, which seem to go beyond business common sense, the outrage of many who make a living working in the traditional transportation industry has a strong basis.On
[Aryeh Neier] Naming names behind rights abuses in Syria

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

Human rights reports make for depressing reading. Filled with accounts of cruelty, they can inspire despair for the human condition. But while I have read many such reports over the years, I cannot recall one as packed with horror as the one recently published by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.The commission, established in 2011 by the United Nations Human Rights Council, was denied access to Syria. It based its findings on 415 interviews, supplem
[David Ignatius]] U.S.-China showdown looming

ViewpointsMar 17, 2016

The Obama administration is moving toward what could be a dangerous showdown with China over the South China Sea. The confrontation has been building for the past three years, as China has constructed artificial islands off its southern coast and installed missiles and radar in disputed waters, despite U.S. warnings. It could come to a head this spring, when an arbitration panel in The Hague is expected to rule that China is making “excessive” claims about its maritime sovereignty. What makes th
[John M. Crisp] Let’s raise the smoking age to 25

ViewpointsMar 16, 2016

California made a bold move last week by passing legislation that raises from 18 to 21 the legal age for purchasing and using tobacco products. If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the measure, California will join Hawaii and a number of major American cities that ban anyone younger than 21 from smoking legally.　Laws that limit Americans’ freedom to smoke -- combined with higher cigarette taxes and public awareness campaigns -- have transformed the face of smoking in America in a good way. The National Cen
[Kim Ji-hyun] Laws aren’t enough to stop abuse

ViewpointsMar 16, 2016

Deep into the night, after my 9-year-old has finally tuckered out, I sometimes gently fold down the covers to see how much he has grown. And grown he has. The other day, he finally beat me in a wrestling match, fair and square.But when I see him asleep in his pajamas, I notice how tender his little body is, how fragile his young bones are. And it’s not just physically. When he is scared, fear leaps into his eyes. When he is sad, I can see the sorrow in them. He may seem like a tough kid at times
[Robert J. Shiller] Is Russia’s national character authoritarian?

ViewpointsMar 16, 2016

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the Russian public’s acquiescence in direct government control of news media have many people wondering if Russians are predisposed to authoritarianism. It seems like a sensible question. But I have learned from experience that we have to be very careful about drawing conclusions about national character from isolated events.In 1989, I was invited to an economic conference in Moscow, then in the Soviet Union, sponsored jointly by the Soviet think tank IMEM
U.N.’s big chance to end war on drugs

ViewpointsMar 16, 2016

Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions. After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while in office, we came to an unavoidable conclusion: The “war on drugs” is an unmitigated disaster.For nearly a decade, we have urged governments and international bodies to promote a more humane, informed an
[Kim Myong-sik] Rejecting machine’s interference in man’s noblest hobby

ViewpointsMar 16, 2016

It was shortly after the war and we little boys back in our country homes on summer vacation had few means of passing the time. My house had a large shed where all kinds of tools for farming and other trades were stored, along with old furniture and curios collected by ancestors. One day, we decided to make an inventory of the shed to see if there was anything of our interest. 　In one corner, we found a Go board and wooden bowls containing white clamshells and very little black pebbles. The Go
[Christopher Tan] Untangling the policy barriers to electric cars

ViewpointsMar 15, 2016

The story of a Tesla Model S which was slapped with a S$15,000 ($10,923) carbon surcharge here throws up several questions. The one that goes up in neon must be: Are electric cars as clean as we think?　And there are conflicting answers, just as there are for diesel cars, hybrid cars and natural gas cars.Detractors point out that electric cars are actually dirtier than conventional cars if one adopts a lifetime comparison. They say the cars’ biggest shortcomings have to do with the production of
Reform in China

ViewpointsMar 15, 2016

Although Chinese growth numbers are sliding in comparison to India, this may be temporary and based on curves in the business cycle; China’s economic fundamentals are stronger than any other emerging economy.The vice governor of China’s central bank, Yi Gang, was not far from the truth when he said, “Chinese foreign exchange reserves are ample and reasonable.”Thus according to him, expectations are high on the yuan; therefore it should remain steady and cross-border capital flows should be manag