When the 1996 presidential campaign approached, Bill Clinton faced an uphill struggle to win a second term. His biggest legislative proposal, a sweeping health care bill, had failed. His party had lost the House of Representatives to Republicans led by a fiery conservative, Newt Gingrich. Clinton's poll ratings were sagging. So he tacked toward the center. He battled Gingrich to a standstill ove...

The United States is finally paying attention to Africa. But recent attempts at engagement -- the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s 10-day tour of the continent last month -- have offered no indication that the US has anything close to a meaningful strategy for engagement with the continent. And the European Union is no better. Renewed Western interest...

Every day, the $6.7 trillion Big Tech industry affects our lives in ways that empower and harm. Despite recent hits in earnings, current layoffs and Google getting slapped with yet another lawsuit from the Justice Department, the tech giants are still all-powerful in our society, economy and daily lives. As long as the digital age keeps pulling more of our lives online, Big Tech companies will gr...

Next door to Ukraine, where people are being killed every day for wanting to join the European Union, Polish leaders are waging what they have called a war on two fronts -- against both Russia and the EU. As a result of this “war,” the country’s populist government, led by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, has failed to unlock the 160 billion euros ($170 billion) that was allocated to P...

While the world’s powers may not agree on much these days, most recognize that the world is at a critical juncture. US President Joe Biden’s National Security Strategy calls this the “decisive decade” in the contest for the future of the international order. Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the world is entering “the most dangerous, unpredictable, and at the same time most ...

Amid challenges to democracy around the world and military escalation in Asia, the United States, South Korea and Japan are discussing how to strengthen security cooperation. But Koreans have ample reason to feel uneasy. Will they be asked to ignore a territorial infringement that began 118 years ago? On Feb. 22, 1905, Japan arbitrarily “incorporated” Dokdo, a group of rocky islets known as Take...

Just what do the Academy Awards tell us about the world we live in? I began thinking about this after I was contacted by Carl Plantinga, a research fellow and professor of film and media studies at Calvin University in Michigan. Plantinga was pushing a theory that, for better or worse, Oscars for best picture tend to honor films with simple, straightforward, morally clear messages and are less l...

When you take a taxi, the driver will ask, “Where to?” Upon knowing your destination, he will try to figure out the fastest way to reach it, avoiding traffic congestion and wrong turns, so you can arrive safely without any problems. Likewise, your political leaders should know your desired destination and choose the best way to reach it. If they happen to choose the wrong path or become blocked ...

The Chinese balloon that floated across the United States this month, apparently on a mission to collect intelligence, began its journey as a curiosity. Then it became a political metaphor: a symbol of US weakness to Republicans, a sign of President Joe Biden’s prudence to Democrats. Now, more than a week after the US Air Force shot it down, the errant balloon is gone, but its impact is still re...