Commentary Topics

Real scandal is the power IRS wields

by Ramesh Ponnuru

American Republicans on Capitol Hill are abuzz with the possibility that the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service will lead to tax reform.

Xi Jinping's 'Chinese dream' and the rule of law

by Fred Hiatt

When Xi Jinping accepted the designation as China's leader in March, his speech left analysts guessing about what sort of national "rejuvenation" he had in mind.

The link between austerity and demoralization

by Robert J. Shiller

High unemployment in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere is also tragic because of the emotional cost to the jobless of not being part of working society.

Butchery on a London street

The brutal and flagrant murder of an off-duty British soldier on a street in a London suburb in broad daylight on May 22 has caused both shock and horror in Britain. The two alleged assailants were British nationals of Nigerian origin in their 20s ...

Global-related Jun 5, 2013

Debunking five myths about chemical weapons

by Amy E. Smithson

The exact nature of what is going on inside Syria is tough to determine. The United States, Britain, France and Israel have focused on the question of whether forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have used chemical weapons. To answer that question and ...

Global-related Jun 5, 2013

What Bismarck can show Red China

by Pankaj Mishra

More than a century and a half after it was published, Alexis de Tocqueville’s “The Old Regime and the Revolution” has become an unlikely best-seller in China. Wang Qishan, China’s anti-corruption czar, is reportedly among the senior leaders obsessed with what he sees as ...

Global-related Jun 5, 2013

China's rise doesn't have to mean U.S. decline

by Noah Feldman

Someone steals your most sensitive secrets. Then, planning a face-to-face meeting, he says he wants to develop “a new type” of relationship with you. At what point, exactly, would you start thinking he was planning to drink your milkshake? Ahead of the first summit ...

Global-related Jun 4, 2013

Sunny spin to an oily Earth

by Kevin Rafferty

Politicians seem to be the last people in the world understanding clean energy or what kind of planet they will bequeath to their grandchildren.

Global-related Jun 4, 2013

Apple isn't the core of a taxing U.S. problem

by Harold Meyerson

There may be a better way to tax multinational corporations: tax them on their revenue in a country rather than on their profits.

Global-related Jun 3, 2013

Going gracefully into the No. 2 spot is not what Americans had in mind

by Kishore Mahbubani

If the era of American dominance in international affairs is indeed coming to an end, then the main question is how well the U.S. is prepared for the No. 2 spot.

Global-related Jun 3, 2013

'Privileged' dollar a cause of lopsided growth

by Robert Samuelson

For years, the dollar's role as the major global currency has been described as an "exorbitant privilege." Now it may be turning into an extravagant curse.

Global-related Jun 3, 2013

Lessons on moderation from an 18th-century British conservative aren't applied easily today

by Clive Crook

The political career of Edmund Burke was mediocre. Still, his 18th-century perspective offers a way to understand modern currents of ethnic/ideological alliances.