Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Geography of values over values of geography
PARIS ― Confronted with Russia’s reassertion of its imperial tradition and the deceptive methods and reflexes of the Soviet past, how should Europe respond? Should it give priority to “the value of geography” or to “the geography of values”?Those who opt for the former do so in the name of short-term “energy realism,” arguing that it is vital to reach an agreement with Russia because Europe lacks America’s shale gas and oil. According to this reasoning, the United States can live without Russia,
May 27, 2014
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The warped ideology of Nigerian kidnappers
LONDON ― The abduction of more than 240 Nigerian girls has shocked the world. But, unfortunately, their case is not an isolated one in Nigeria. Indeed, Nigeria’s torment is shared by many other African countries, and the motivation behind the kidnapping derives from an ideology that is global.That ideology is based on a warped and false view of religion. It is taught in formal and informal school settings worldwide. Of course, the hideous and crazed words of the leader of Boko Haram, the group t
May 27, 2014
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Fake royal show among bottom of the heap
With the Russians on the prowl, the Chinese hacking into our computers, Boko Haram in Nigeria triggering fear and celebrity hashtags, the last thing America needs is to lose a trusted ally:England.But the great Anglo-American alliance is threatened by the reality TV show “I Wanna Marry ‘Harry,’” which premiered Tuesday on Fox and which mocks foolish young American women who think they can shake their hips and marry an English royal.This stupid show does more damage to NATO than Jack Bauer shooti
May 27, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] The pleasure of having special people around you
It is wonderful to have some special people around you from whom you can learn valuable things in life. It is even more wonderful if the special people are foreigners. I am lucky enough to have such special people around me and am eternally indebted and grateful to them for enlightening me. Among others, professor Caroline D. Eckhardt at Pennsylvania State University comes to mind. I first met Dr. Eckhardt when I was a visiting professor at PSU in 1990. As head of the Comparative Literature Depa
May 27, 2014
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[Albert R. Hunt] Campaign donations and bribes
There are three big winners from the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that Sen. John McCain says might “dismantle entirely” campaign-finance laws: wealthy interests, greedy politicians and investigative journalists.The decisions, culminating in another loosening of restrictions last month, were crafted by Chief Justice John Roberts and a slim majority. They essentially contend that campaign-finance limitations impede speech and that the system profits from more money. The consequence will be
May 26, 2014
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Obama late again in stepping up on VA crisis
Once again, a management mess. Once again, the White House says an angry president vows to fix things.And once again, that vow comes more than a little late, creating another political problem for Barack Obama.The president’s initial reaction to reports that Veterans Affairs officials covered up that perhaps two dozen veterans died because of delays in getting appointments was strikingly similar to his initial comments after last fall’s disastrous Affordable Care Act rollout.In both cases, the W
May 26, 2014
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Brazil wants a country as good as its soccer
The other day I stopped into my neighborhood bistro for a bite. It’s usually a laid-back place, with a great jazz soundtrack, but when two guys in dark suits walked in, the mood chilled. They were “fiscais” ― Rio shorthand for city inspectors ― snooping for irregularities. Proprietors in Rio de Janeiro dread these sorts of visits: Fiscais always find something. They might be persuaded to look the other way, for a price. Brazilians call it wetting the official hand.With Brazil in the global headl
May 26, 2014
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Korea’s financial system too onerous for growth
As a government official with responsibility to attract foreign investment into one of Korea’s free economic zones, I made an official trip to Hong Kong and Singapore a few months ago to meet and exchange ideas with prospective investors. Foreign capitalists I had meetings with shared their opinions on and insights into investing in Korea. The very first thing they mentioned was Korea’s stubborn regulatory burdens for capital investment. According to an indicator of government regulatory burdens
May 26, 2014
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[Ramesh Ponnuru] Hillary too old for White House?
Hillary Clinton’s age wouldn’t keep me from voting for her. She’ll be 69 on Election Day 2016. I voted for a 72-year-old by the name of John McCain in 2008.Age was a legitimate issue to consider when McCain ran for president. (I wrote an article urging him to allay concerns about his age by pledging to serve one term and picking a reassuring running mate. His campaign let me know my advice was considered, but he went a different way.)It’s a legitimate issue to raise about Clinton, too ― and the
May 26, 2014
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The latest billionaire who could save Ukraine
Part of the mystery of Ukraine is why, after two historic popular uprisings in a single decade against a political system corrupted by business tycoons, Ukrainians would choose yet another billionaire as president. Part of the tragedy of Ukraine is that Ukrainians didn’t have much choice.Sunday’s presidential election was fought among three wealthy candidates: the chocolate magnate Petro Poroshenko, fellow billionaire Serhiy Tigipko and former “gas princess” Yulia Tymoshenko. Exit polls suggest
May 26, 2014
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[David Ignatius] How to do spying right
WASHINGTON ― What makes a good spy? It’s not the flashy qualities you see in the movies, or the “Murder Inc.” tactics the CIA has sometimes been ordered to use against terrorists during the past decade. It’s something more delicate and human, as explained in a remarkable new biography of one of the CIA’s bravest and best officers ever in the Middle East.The book, titled appropriately enough “The Good Spy,” is by Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird. It tells the story of a master case offi
May 25, 2014
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Why this Thai coup matters more
Thaksin Shinawatra is living proof that leaders get the popularity thing all wrong. From Barack Obama to Indonesia’s Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, they try governing well, articulating a vision and inspiring ― and their approval ratings plummet.Thailand’s Thaksin tried a different approach. From 2001 to 2006, the tycoon broke laws, lined his pockets, neutered courts and was even accused of crimes against humanity in a war against drugs, then fled overseas in 2008 to avoid prison. Yet nearly eight ye
May 25, 2014
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Sacredness and universal values
In the early 1990s, a fierce East-West debate arose over whether or not the economic success of Asia was due to Asian values of hard work, fealty and paternalistic government, largely attributable to Confucianism, Islam, Hinduism and other Asian cultures. The debate faded when the Asian financial crisis cut back the hubris on both sides, and especially after the triumphalism of the West was shattered by the Great Recession of 2007-2009. There was a subtle shift when Francis Fukuyama published th
May 25, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Soaring expectations for prime minister nominee
In a surprise reshuffle, President Park Geun-hye has nominated former Supreme Court justice Ahn Dae-hee as her new prime minister. At the same time, she has sacked her two trusted but increasingly unpopular aides: National Security Council chief Kim Jang-soo and National Intelligence Service Director Nam Jae-joon. Ahn’s nomination, which is subject to parliamentary confirmation, shows Park’s determination to tackle the problems of the civil service exposed through the Sewol ferry fiasco. Her acc
May 25, 2014
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GOP puts its tea party ‘civil war’ behind it
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s easy victory over his tea party opponent in Kentucky’s Republican primary Tuesday presents a tidy storyline: the establishment strikes back.In the primary season so far, McConnell and fellow GOP incumbents have successfully out-organized and outspent such challengers from their right. And yet even as they rack up wins, they are revealing how the tea party already won the battle for influence in the Republican Party.The GOP’s civil war now looks more like a merger: the esta
May 25, 2014
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[Robert Reich] American women at risk
According to a report released earlier this month in the widely respected health research journal The Lancet, the United States now ranks 60th out of 180 countries on maternal deaths occurring during pregnancy and childbirth.To put it bluntly, for every 100,000 births in America last year, 18.5 women died. That’s compared to 8.2 women who died during pregnancy and birth in Canada, 6.1 in Britain, and only 2.4 in Iceland.A woman giving birth in America is more than twice as likely to die as a wom
May 23, 2014
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Markets’ Federal Reserve love story
LAGUNA BEACH, California ― The morning drive to my 11-year old daughter’s school is always fun, and often a source of insight. That was certainly the case last week when she pointed out something about Frozen, the hugely popular Disney film, that had totally escaped me. “It’s unusual,” she said, “to see a Disney movie in which they end up telling us not to marry someone we’ve just met.”Quite early on in the movie, Princess Anna meets Prince Hans at her sister Princess Elsa’s coronation ball. The
May 23, 2014
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U.S., China go private with the Cold War
PARIS ― The U.S. Justice Department filed charges this week against five Chinese military officers, accusing them of hacking American companies to steal secrets, including the nuclear energy company Westinghouse. In March, reports surfaced that the National Security Agency had hacked and spied on the Chinese telecom company Huawei.Hard power hitting soft targets: This is a new characteristic of the rebooted Cold War. Except that even NATO has yet to recognize that economic warfare is just as cri
May 22, 2014
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[Cass R. Sunstein] Open brain, insert ideology
Suppose that an authoritarian government decides to embark on a program of curricular reform, with the explicit goal of indoctrinating the nation’s high school students. Suppose that it wants to change the curriculum to teach students that their government is good and trustworthy, that their system is democratic and committed to the rule of law, and that free markets are a big problem.Will such a government succeed? Or will high school students simply roll their eyes?Questions of this kind have
May 22, 2014
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Vote-buying and democracy in Indonesia
Listening to the complaints about “vote-buying” by some of the sore losers of the recent legislative election or watching some of them going nuts after losing, one could almost be forgiven for thinking that the election had been a total disgrace or Indonesia’s democracy had gone to the dogs.But the following points are more than enough to dispel these notions: 1) the antics and semantics of the losers do not explain vote-buying but indicates how much money they had spent with nothing to show for
May 22, 2014