NEW YORK — Staring down a flood of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants when restrictions expire at the end of the year, British ministers recently proposed a unique idea: an ad campaign to make the UK look like a terrible place to live.

The proposal from the far-right wing of David Cameron’s coalition government aimed to highlight some of the more unappealing aspects of British life, from the infamously dreary weather to the lack of jobs.

Editor's Note: Nicholas Burns is GlobalPost's senior foreign affairs columnist. He writes a bi-monthly column on the international issues that shape our world.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Back in 2000, when the unpredictable and seemingly maniacal North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was threatening general mayhem in Asia, the Economist magazine ran one of its most iconic covers. There was Kim waving blankly under the clever and very apt title, “Greetings Earthlings."

When it comes to how Americans respond to rape, our society could use a radical shift in thinking. But not simply in the rhetorical way many demanded last week. 

The uproar following an exchange between CNN reporters Candy Crowley and Poppy Harlow, who expressed sympathy for two teenage boys convicted of rape in Steubenville, Ohio, was nothing short of predictable.

WASHINGTON — Human rights advocates generally criticize governments for falling short and feel no need to credit them for acting the way they are supposed to. Having just returned from Lebanon, however, and seen its response to the Syrian refugee crisis, I will jettison my usual reticence.