US Opinion and Commentary

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2015 in Review

Posted December 30th, 2015 at 2:12 pm (UTC-5)
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As 2015’s final minutes tick away, it’s gives us a chance to look into the mirror to see what we are leaving behind. Many philosophers have noted that history tends to repeat itself. Terrorism. Gun violence. Racial tensions. Religious differences. Politics. The environment. So we reflect on the events and trends of 2015 in hopes of identifying patterns, learning from the mistakes of the past and building on its successes to take on many of the same challenges in 2016.

China Calling

Posted September 25th, 2015 at 3:16 pm (UTC-5)
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Cybersecurity. A trade imbalance of almost $350-billion. Intellectual property theft. Island building in the South China Sea. North Korea. Human rights. Those are just some of the issues on the table for this week’s U.S.-China summit. Presidents Obama and Xi announced an agreement — details of which are still to be worked out — that their governments will not knowingly support cyber theft of intellectual property or commercial trade secrets. In the next breath, Obama warned of possible sanctions for cybercrime that has happened, or may happen in the future. Despite the stern smiles and niceties of state dinner toasts, there is a lot of work to do on both sides of the U.S.-China relationship.