Freedom of speech is something we only really talk about with reference to statements we condemn. Damage done to this principle may last long after the motive and the rulers who exploited it have been forgotten. In the atmosphere of near-panic immediately after 9/11, only one US senator, Russell Feingold, voted against the Patriot Act with its freedom-destroying raft of measures, which were adopted en bloc by Congress on the pretext of combating terrorism. Thirteen years and one president (...)

The fight for power in North Korea is between rival reformers with a different vision of the country’s future. Right now, the consumer approach is winning: don’t upset the new middle classes.

To China, possession of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, which Japan also claims, symbolises naval dominance of the East China Sea and free access to the Pacific. Hence the worsening dispute.