The cascading events that followed the US exit from Afghanistan reminded me of a poem written by a young Buddhist monk of the eighth century. Hyecho, from the Silla Kingdom, upon meeting a fellow traveler from China in Fayzabad, in present-day northeast Afghanistan, wrote:  You bemoan the distance to the western frontier. I lament the long road east. Rugged roads cross colossal snow ridges, Dangerous ravines where bandits wander. Even birds in flight fear the soaring cliffs. Travelers

When Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Games, a reporter asked a famous Japanese judoka if he expected to win gold. The former gold medalist answered, smiling pleasantly, “I’m working at a bank. That is my job. Judo is merely my hobby. I will just do my best, but a gold medal is not my primary concern.” His answer was cool and impressive. Then, the same reporter turned to a Korean judoka who was also a strong candidate for the gold medal and asked the same question. The Korean ath

As the news shifts, many Americans may think the Afghan war is over. Not so. The searing scenes of Kabul’s fall are having a powerful impact on America’s global image, including the abandonment of Afghan allies. Chinese and Russian propaganda outlets are gleefully trumpeting scenes of America’s “defeat.” NATO allies who had troops in Afghanistan are bitter that they were forced to leave Afghan staff and their own nationals -- because President Joe Biden didn&rsquo

The planned fall 2021 return to the office is being delayed. Until January, purportedly. That’s when Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and some other major employers of knowledge workers now say they expect people back at their desks, 22 months after sending everybody home at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the current high US levels of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and in some places deaths, it’s understandable that companies don’t want to do a big ret

There are optimistic suggestions that the hard-won integration of Afghanistan into the global economy will remain despite the ascendancy of the Taliban and the withdrawal of the US. A number of commentators have suggested that China -- which the Taliban have declared their strongest ally -- could become Afghanistan’s primary economic supporter and help the country stay part of the global system. That analysis is unrealistic. For one, it ignores the sanctions regime imposed by the internat

It is understandable, given the chaos surrounding the US exit from Afghanistan -- especially the murder of the 13 US troops -- that our attention has been focused on the ending of America’s longest war. The statistics are sobering. Length of the war: 20 years. Total number of US fatalities: 2,461. US wounded: more than 20,000. Afghan fatalities: more than 70,000. Cost of the war: $2.3 trillion. Major goal achieved: The Taliban were removed in late 2001 as the head of the Afghan governmen

Truck drivers are often blamed for the surging number of people who get transported to another virtual world filled with magicians, knights and demons. I mean, not real truck drivers, but those in fantasy web novels. A typical storyline goes like this: A protagonist is killed by a speeding truck on the road and for some mysterious reason comes to life in a new world that is drastically different from Earth. In the transition period, a mythical god gives superhuman abilities to the characters s