One thing Chiang Kai-shek learned during his brief Moscow stay in 1924 was how to organize the Kuomintang along the Leninist line. A Leninist party is one consisting of mostly intellectual revolutionaries organized not democratically but as a bureaucratic or semi-military hierarchy.

Forgive me for first offering a caveat. The words that follow are not cool or objective in tone. That may sound odd, given that this column appears on page 4 of the China Post.

The brief period of 50 years, that corresponds between the Great Depression and the oil-shocks of the 1970s, marked the height of consensus regarding the value of social democracy.

In pursuing current events as in playing cards, evaluating the wider atmosphere is as important as studying the specific hand one has been dealt.

“Trade is the cheapest way to produce growth,” exclaimed European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso before an executive audience adding, that a planned Transatlantic trade pact between the U.S. and Europe Union would produce a “win-win solution in trade” for both sides of the Atlantic.

Japan as the third-largest economy has for years had to endure criticism for failing to support an equitable global rebound. Stimulus packages were misspent on patronage projects, as an example. Deregulation to spur new investment was never seriously attempted.

During her summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in early May, South Korea President Park Geun-hye is expected to try to ensure Seoul and Washington will keep taking joint steps in countering threats from Pyongyang and moving toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

To effectively address North Korea's brinkmanship tactics and China's overbearing diplomacy, it is essential for Japan and the United States to step up cooperation further.

The death of Margaret Thatcher — the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the only woman ever to serve in that office — quite naturally ushered in debate over her political legacy.

It's up, it's down. It's the future of commerce one day, just another Internet bubble the next. It's the end of government-controlled currency and banking ... but wait, the U.S. government's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has something to say about that. It's Bitcoin, and you've almost certainly been hearing about it, even if you've never used it.