From his headquarters in the Netherlands, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the bearded founder of the transcendental meditation movement declared that everyone should leave Washington D.C.

At long last it’s official: Washington is a city beyond redemption. Last week, after a decade of collective meditation designed to lower the capital’s crime rate and improve its quality of life, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has ordered his flock to give up and pull out of the place. From…

In the Netherlands Japanese P.M. Kaifu expressed “sincere contrition” for the “unbearable sufferings and sorrow” the Japanese army inflicted on Dutch nationals in what is now Indonesia.

- For Americans, the day Pearl Harbor went up in smoke was Dec. 7. For Japanese, on the other side of the International Date Line, it was Dec. 8. A small point, perhaps, but one with symbolic dimensions. It illustrates how the two giants focus differently on their shared…

Germany’s threat to recognize Croatia and Slovenia has been the biggest sticking point in Europe’s handling of the crisis. H. van den Broek, the E.C. President, condemned the idea outright.

Not long ago, the reputation of the Balkans as the tinderbox of Europe seemed , to have faded. Now the region is once again in flames, igniting fears of a broader conflagration. For years, Yugoslavia was the acceptable face of communism: estranged from Moscow, a pioneer of peaceful coexistence with…

Policymakers in the U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands remained convinced that throwing money at Gorbachev was no cure for his country’s crippling economic ills.

Though it was mercifully short-lived, the specter of a totalitarian regime in Moscow and a revival of the cold war badly frightened the world’s major industrial powers. The nightmare evaporated quickly, but it left the wealthy democracies facing an urgent question: What were the best ways to help ensure that…