It is dangerous to drive so fast.

NEW YORK All signs suggest that the planet is still hurtling headlong toward climatic disaster.

The dots exhibit human qualities. They kind of have their own physics, and they swarm wildly around, kind of exploring the world of life.

Historically, rising powers tend to become too confident too soon, leading them to behave imprudently, which frightens their neighbors.

It is like saying that people are more likely to drive dangerously if they wear a seat belt in fact, the opposite is more often the case.

True, countries that have not cleaned up their fiscal act, such as India, must not recklessly plunge ahead with big government projects without counterbalancing reforms to ensure sustainability.

According to US law, such actions would amount to reckless endangerment or culpable negligence. Yet politicians are taking citizens on precisely such a ride and facing very little pushback.

With soaring deficits, and a rudderless fiscal policy, one does wonder whether a populist administration might recklessly turn to the printing press.

Against this background, Rousseff s government was perhaps rash to decry the inflow of unwanted capital in recent years and to erect import barriers aimed at protecting domestic industry by hampering market competition.

Obama has consistently resisted the temptation to unleash more wars. His policies have sometimes been inconsistent and irresolute.

But political and historical tensions continue to shape daily life in Kaesong, where companies operate under the constant threat that North Korea, for whatever reason, will react rashly, even abandoning the joint project altogether. Already last year, rising inter Korean tensions led to a temporary shutdown of the complex.

No sooner did this strategy pay off with a narrow re election victory one that strengthened Republican control of Congress than the dark realities of Bush s fiscal recklessness started to be recognized.

If China really is distancing itself from North Korea, Kim Jong un s regime will be almost entirely isolated internationally. Will Kim respond to that isolation recklessly, by continuing to antagonize the South, or pragmatically, by becoming more flexible?