Perhaps there has been little in recent years in Sino-U.S. relations that has caused as much of an international furor as the case of the blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng.This was not a case of a dissident seeking political asylum but of a blind man, a self-taught lawyer, who had won domestic and international renown for his promotion of human rights. He ran afoul of local authorities in Linyi prefecture because of his protests against forced abortions imposed arbitrarily by local aut

NEW YORK ― This year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund made clear that Europe and the international community remain rudderless when it comes to economic policy. Financial leaders, from finance ministers to leaders of private financial institutions, reiterated the current mantra: the crisis countries have to get their houses in order, reduce their deficits, bring down their national debts, undertake structural reforms, and promote growth. Confidence, it was repeatedly said, nee

France has elected only the second Socialist president in its history ― the first being Francois Mitterrand, who spent 14 years in the driver’s seat back when French presidential terms lasted seven years rather than five, and who made a hard-right turn away from economic socialism and toward spending cuts after his first two years in office. The best France can hope for now is that the newly elected Francois Hollande takes a similar plunge into a pothole of pragmatism and douses any budding soci

In the satirical novel “Tristram Shandy” (published 1759-67), Laurence Sterne tells the story of Tristram Shandy, a gentleman who sets out to narrate “the history of myself.” Tristram wants to begin with the beginning of his life. This, however, turns out to be a complex task. Although the novel starts with a scene during which a woman is about to give birth to Tristram, our hero is actually not born until many pages later, about halfway through the novel. For Tristram realizes that before he ca

MELBOURNE ― With daily headlines focusing on war, terrorism, and the abuses of repressive governments, and religious leaders frequently bemoaning declining standards of public and private behavior, it is easy to get the impression that we are witnessing a moral collapse. But I think that we have grounds to be optimistic about the future.Thirty years ago, I wrote a book called “The Expanding Circle,” in which I asserted that, historically, the circle of beings to whom we extend moral consideratio

Just over 100 years ago Shin Chae-ho, a Korean independence activist and historian, published a Korean history book in which he set forth the concept of Korean pure blood. He created this concept as a counter to the Japanese attempts to assimilate the Korean people. At that time the Japanese were trying to convince the Korean people that they were of the same racial stock. Shin’s new mythology was therefore necessary to protect Korea and its culture. Fast forward to the present day and South Kor