Commentary

SLOVAK PREMIER Vladimir Meciar, the bete noire of East European politics, is upping the stakes in hi

Labor insiders say AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is pushing hard to persuade the trade federation's

As the weather has turned colder since Quebec's Oct. 30 secession vote, so have relations between En

Bolivia has a long history of providing the world with its mineral wealth. Its Cerro Rico/Potosi sil

Faced with budget cuts, foreign-aid bureaucrats continue to insist that U.S. assistance is vital to

PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK'S appointment of an economist and veteran administrator to form Egypt's new

As with so much in Washington these days, the increasingly ludicrous budget impasse has come down to

THE COLLAPSE of a $1.4 billion investment in Russia's telephone monopoly by an Italian firm reveals

DESPITE A YEAR-LONG economic crisis, Mexico has honored its key commitments under the North American

The plan was to wrap up in this space what Congress and the administration jointly achieved in inter

The Interstate Commerce Commission, America's oldest regulatory agency, died Dec. 31, at age 108. Eu

NEVER LET IT BE SAID that Eastern Europeans aren't creative capitalists. Poland, like other

MERCOSUR IS NICE, BUT IT DOESN'T WORKIn your Dec. 26 article, "Hong Kong Sees Growing Busine

THERE ARE DISQUIETING SIGNS from the Clinton administration of an election- year detour from its goa

Last month, representatives of the United States and 109 other nations met in Vienna and agreed to f

Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo owes a huge debt to the Salinas clan for diverting attention from

WITHOUT MUCH FANFARE, the World Trade Organization's agreement on government procurement went into e

Gregory N. Austin of Brighton, Mich., is mad, and he is not going to take it any more. Mr. Austin, a

WITH NAFTA EXPANSION stalled by trade gridlock in Washington, Canada is moving ahead on its own. Can

Caught up in the blow-by-blow accounts of the budget battle in Washington, one might suppose that so

The European Commission is in for a rough ride this year, and that's bad news for Europe. Th

'INVENTED SPELLING' IS REAL TO CHILDRENI agree with Bob Dole's concern with students' readin

WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE NEW YEAR? Your guess is as good as ours, but we offer these picks anyway:

TWELVE MONTHS AGO, America's transportation industries were poised for major change. 1995 delivered

Behind the scenes of the budget debate, the Clinton administration is expanding the federal governme

When I was a graduate student in Italy years ago, one of my American friends used to play a folk son

ALEXANDER LEBED, the charismatic Russian general, has made it official: He will run for the presiden

The curtain has dropped on the first session of the 104th Congress. It was a disappointing performan

By the time lawmakers in Washington are done, many programs that have babied and bullied U.S. agricu

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, 1995 was not an annus horribilis. A majority of the world's population now li

BANKRUPT AND HUNGRY, North Korea is increasingly using blackmail as an instrument of foreign policy.

Today everybody seems to be talking about the flat tax. It's fairer. It's simpler. It's cost

Early last week, more than two years of intense diplomacy, tough negotiations and extensive planning

IF ALL GOES according to plan, Canada's transport minister, Doug Young, will soon be offered a bigge

The financial community cheered last week when the Federal Reserve System lowered its target for sho

TURKEY'S ELECTION Sunday, in which the religion-based Welfare Party won a plurality, should raise co

Republican leaders in Congress might save themselves a lot of grief by paying attention to the commu

Western investors watched apprehensively as Russian voters went to the polls earlier this month. Wha

AS THE OLD YEAR COMES TO AN END so too does GATT, the venerable institution that has championed free

POLISH PRESIDENT LECH WALESA, who exploded on the political scene 16 years ago, is leaving with a ba