New York Times (March 30)
“There’s nothing pretty about the details of Foxconn’s deal to take control of Sharp. And fixing Sharp, the loss-making Japanese electronics manufacturer, will be a tough slog for Foxconn.” But this transaction may just make history. It presents Exhibit A that Japan is capable of the sort of corporate reform critical to overhauling its economy.”
Tags: Corporate reform, Economy, Electronics, Foxconn, History, Japan, Loss-making, Manufacturer, Sharp
Washington Post (March 4)
Thursday, March 3 “will go down as the most embarrassing day in the history of U.S. presidential politics.” During the Detroit GOP debate, candidates hit new lows in public discourse with unrestrained vulgarity that made this “presidential politics’ worst day ever.”
Tags: Candidates, Detroit GOP debate, Embarrassing, History, March 3, Presidential politics, U.S., Vulgarity
Bloomberg (October 18)
“When Gen Nakatani arrives in Seoul on Tuesday he’ll be the first Japanese defense minister to visit South Korea in nearly five years, signaling that growing regional security risks are trumping the disputes over territory and history that have blighted relations between the countries.”
Tags: Defense minister, Disputes, History, Japan, Nakatani, Security risks, South Korea, Territory
Washington Post (October 9)
The “Ebola virus is a sobering reminder that we live in a world more connected and fluid than at any time in human history…. Viruses and bacteria do not stop at passport control.”
The Scotsman (September 18)
“The people of Scotland will go to the polls in record numbers today.” They will decide “the future of Scotland and that of the 307-year-old United Kingdom.” This will be “the most important vote in the country’s history.”
Washington Post (June 2)
Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, has attracted both applause and derision as it soars in popularity. Recent criticism has aimed largely at the supporting data, which suggests inequality has reached new heights. Not so, writes Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post. “Inequality isn’t as great now as in the ’20s. This is history’s real lesson. Although the debate over inequality is legitimate and important, we shouldn’t distort it with misleading and overwrought rhetoric.”
Tags: Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Data, Debate, History, Inequality, Legitimate, Misleading, Rhetoric, Robert Samuelson, Thomas Piketty
Los Angeles Times (May 14)
“Judges on Europe’s highest court may have thought they were striking a blow for individual privacy when they ruled Tuesday that search engines could be ordered to stop linking to sensitive or older information about people online, even if it had been lawfully published. Instead, they were creating an entitlement to censor history, or at least to make parts of the public record harder to find.”
Tags: Censor, Europe, History, Judges, Law, Links, Privacy, Public record, Search engines
USA Today (March 7)
“If the Ukraine crisis were a poker game – and to a large degree it is – you wouldn’t want to be dealt the American hand, and you certainly wouldn’t want to overplay it in the false hope of a quick win. Russian President Vladimir Putin has carefully leveraged forces of history, geography and politics in ways that ensure there is no short-term victory to be had.”
Washington Post (January 17, 2014)
“Over the past few months, the Middle East has become an even more violent place than usual. Iraq is now once again home to one of the most bloody civil wars in the world, after Syria of course, which is the worst.” There is no quick fix that outsiders can provide. “In fact, the last thing the region needs is more U.S. intervention.” The Middle East’s deep-rooted tension is part of “a sectarian struggle, like those between Catholics and Protestants in Europe in the age of the Reformation. These tensions are rooted in history and politics and will not easily go away.”
Tags: Catholics, Civil war, Europe, History, Intervention, Iraq, Middle East, Politics, Protestants, Reformation, Struggle, Syria, Tensions, U.S., Violence
USA Today (January 15, 2014)
Alex Rodriguez, the current home-run king and highest paid baseball player of all time, “has now made history of another sort as the recipient of the longest suspension ever for a doping violation.” If the arbitrator’s decision proves binding, he’ll be out a full season (162 games). “It’s clear that baseball’s steroid era isn’t over. But with a tough investigation and tough penalties, the sport appears finally to be turning the corner.”
Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Arbitrator, Baseball, Doping, History, Home runs, Investigation, Penalties, Season, Sport, Steroids, Suspension, Violation
