All Commentary
OpinionFor nuclear security beyond Seoul, eradicate land-based 'doomsday' missilesAmerica's 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction 鈥� as a result of a false alarm.聽We鈥檙e not exaggerating.- A 海角大神 Science PerspectivePolitical suicides: when protesting takes livesA 海角大神 Science perspective: A response to Tibetans鈥� use of self-immolation in protest to oppression.
The Monitor's ViewTrayvon Martin case: What cities can learnCities like Sanford must improve their community-building to reduce the kind of fear that might have led George Zimmerman to confront a hoodie-covered Trayvon Martin.- Readers RespondReaders Write: Pull the plug on electric car criticismLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of March 26, 2012: Two writers argue that an op-ed critiquing electric cars for failing to reduce pollution is unfounded and outdated. Not so, responds the writer, citing another study.
OpinionCan Seoul summit tackle biggest threat to US security 鈥� nuclear terrorism?What can President Obama and other world leaders meeting in Seoul, South Korea, for the second Nuclear Security Summit today and tomorrow plausibly accomplish?聽The answer is less than many observers hope 鈥� but more than skeptics appreciate. Look at Ukraine.
OpinionIndividual mandate in Obama's health care law: good for freedom, bad for free-ridersThe Supreme Court begins hearings today on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law, often called Obamacare. Critics say its 'individual mandate' threatens freedom. It actually protects it.
OpinionXi Jinping rise and Bo Xilai demise: China will move forward with reform, slowlyThe dismissal of Bo Xilai, China's controversial Politburo member, shows that聽Xi Jinping, slated to be China's next president, and top Communist Party members聽will move forward with reform step by pragmatic step, not backward to Maoist nostalgia or cult-of-personality populism.- A 海角大神 Science PerspectiveParents in prison, children in needA 海角大神 Science perspective.
The Monitor's ViewArmy on trial too as Sgt. Robert Bales faces charges for Afghanistan shootingsArmy Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was charged Friday for the Afghanistan shootings, but Congress must also probe the Pentagon over the way it screens soldiers sent back to war after an injury.
OpinionWhere's the Trayvon Martin petition about gun control?Protesters back a petition to prosecute George Zimmerman for fatally shooting unarmed Trayvon Martin. We need to ask whether 'Stand Your Ground' measures make people trigger-happy. And we need to think about the most common victims of lax gun laws: African Americans.
After Kony 2012: Three ways NGOs can work with Africans as equals As in the Kony 2012 campaign, humanitarianism in Africa gets oversimplified in myriad ways, in the process making Africans themselves one-dimensional and raising up the white Westerner as savior. Here are three ways nongovernmental organizations can work with African citizens as equals.- A 海角大神 Science PerspectiveHow much baggage are you flying with?A 海角大神 Science perspective.
OpinionTrayvon Martin could have been my brotherI can only hope that the family of Trayvon Martin and the social media activists who have raised awareness about his killing get the justice that they are fighting for. And that my brothers might be just a bit more safe the next time they鈥檙e on their way to the store.
The Monitor's ViewAfter Saints football scandal, NFL must end 'Hunger Games' cultureThe NFL penalties against the New Orleans Saints football team for purposely injuring other players may not be enough to curb the game's excessive violence 鈥� or those fans who enjoy it.
OpinionHow GOP can win more women votersLet Democrats waste their energies trying to woo women on 'reproductive rights.' They will shore up their base and alienate the middle. Republicans can win more women voters and bridge the gender gap by focusing on what is most important to women in 2012: jobs and the economy.
OpinionOn the death of Encyclopaedia Britannica: All authoritarian regimes eventually fallLet us trumpet the end of Encyclopaedia Britannica's print edition. We should celebrate the fact that in a Web 2.0, Wikipedia world, information now roams free. It lives and breathes, loosed from cages where it was allowed to reproduce only once a year, edition by edition.- A 海角大神 Science PerspectiveClean water: scarcity and abundanceA 海角大神 Science perspective: On World Water Day, some spiritual insights on the supply of a basic human need: clean water. 聽
The Monitor's ViewSupreme Court and health care law: state sovereignty at stakeThe Supreme Court hears various challenges to the health-care law next week. While the individual mandate will be the focus, state sovereignty is also at stake, especially in state reform of health care.
OpinionWarm spring weather and global warming: If only scientists could be so persuasiveWarm spring weather can help convince Americans that global warming is happening and a problem. But scientists must change the way they talk about this subject. They must leave their ivory towers and learn to speak about climate change in a language that people understand.
OpinionFacebook stalking in the name of affirmative actionAhead of the Supreme Court hearing on affirmative action, I recall how at Roll Call newspaper, I was told that one of our three interns had to be from a racial minority. Diversity is important, but giving someone an advantage beyond his experience degrades the applicant and the hirer.