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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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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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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[J. Bradford DeLong] Marx and Mechanical Turk
BERKELEY, California ― The economist Suresh Naidu once remarked to me that there were three big problems with Karl Marx’s economics. First, Marx thought that increased investment and capital accumulation diminished labor’s value to employers and thus diminished workers’ bargaining power. Second, he could not fully grasp that rising real material living standards for the working class might well go hand in hand with a rising rate of exploitation ― that is, a smaller income share for labor. And, t
April 4, 2014
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Putin is ‘wild’ while West is ‘wary’
VIENNA ― The West is now living in Putin’s world. It is there not because Putin is right, or even because he is stronger, but because he is taking the initiative. Putin is “wild” while the West is “wary.” While European and American leaders recognize that the world order is undergoing a dramatic change, they cannot quite grasp it. They remain overwhelmed by Putin’s transformation from CEO of Russia, Inc., into an ideology-fueled national leader who will stop at nothing to restore his country’s i
April 4, 2014
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[T.V. Paul] South Asia’s peace spoilers
MONTREAL ― Long-anticipated peace negotiations between India and Pakistan appear to have been delayed until after India’s May parliamentary elections, and the prospects for subsequent talks are not clear. Victory for Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, a resurgent Taliban in the wake of the United States’ impending troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s continuing failure to negotiate with or suppress the Pakistani Taliban, point to a period of intense uncertainty and
April 3, 2014
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Is Xi Jinping determined to catch the ‘tigers’?
It’s great that China’s President Xi Jinping is pouncing on ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang. By seizing assets worth an estimated $14.5 billion and launching the biggest corruption probe in modern history, Xi is showing he’s serious about curbing the excesses imperiling China’s future. Right?That’s one possible upshot of the Reuters scoop sending shockwaves through Beijing. The other: It’s politics as usual, retribution against a man who irked the establishment by opposing last year’s takedown o
April 3, 2014
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Indonesia’s foreign policy and the election
Many are pondering who to place their hopes in for a better Indonesia at the upcoming polls. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s recently nominated Jakarta Gov. Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as its presidential candidate. All assumptions about him must still be tested until a leader is elected.Those who criticize the nomination argue Jokowi should finish his term as governor before taking on the more difficult and challenging task of the presidency. Many say Jokowi is simply benefiting from his
April 3, 2014
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Myanmar’s flawed census discounts chance for peace
Myanmar’s government claims its first national census in three decades will bring about reconciliation in a country rife with religious and ethnic tensions. But the survey, which began on Sunday, appears more likely to intensify the divisions among communities.Conducting a census is a normal process for any government. It provides vital demographic information on the size of the population, its different ethnic and religious groups, how they live and how well they live. States routinely use this
April 3, 2014
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[Jonathan Eyal] Why crisis in faraway Ukraine matters to Asia
China’s diplomats have every reason to feel satisfied with their handling of the Ukraine crisis.On the one hand, China expressed its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, an implicit rebuke to Russia, which seized Ukraine’s Crimea region.But at the same time, Beijing has abstained from all anti-Russian votes at the United Nations, and let it be known that it won’t be supporting anti-Russian sanctions.Beijing’s determination to have its cake and eat it, to be caught neither on Russia’s sid
April 3, 2014
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[David Ignatius] U.S. may expand Syrian aid
WASHINGTON ― The Obama administration, stung by reversals in Ukraine and Syria, appears to have decided to expand its covert program of training and assistance for the Syrian opposition, deepening U.S. involvement in that brutal and stalemated civil war.The White House announced that President Obama discussed “the crisis in Syria” along with other subjects when he met Friday in Riyadh with Saudi King Abdullah, but the statement didn’t mention any details of the stepped-up Syria assistance progra
April 2, 2014
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Did America lose its libido in recession?
The Census Bureau reported last week that the financial crisis, aside from wrecking the economy, also helped drive down U.S. fertility rates to levels not seen since the late 1990s. The number of births for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 has dropped, to 62.7 in 2013 from 69.3 in 2007.No shock there. Historical demographers have long recognized that when it comes to fertility, recessions are the equivalent of a cold shower.The best evidence for this comes from the mother of all financial crises:
April 2, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] Can ‘sixth industry’ save our rural communities?
Have you ever heard of “the sixth-order industry,” “the senary industry” or simply “the sixth industry?” Some may have, but many haven’t even heard of a fourth or fifth industry. When I first spotted this novel term in a news item, I regretted the poor updating of my small economic glossary, which only contained entries for primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Yet, a box at the end of the article saved me. It kindly explained that the concept is a combination of the first (growing, raisin
April 2, 2014
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Fascism with face of feminism in Europe
NEW YORK ― Western feminism has made some memorable theoretical mistakes; a major one is the frequent assumption that, if women held the decision-making power in society, they would be “kinder and gentler” (a phrase devised for George H.W. Bush in 1988 to appeal to the female vote). Indeed, so-called “second-wave” feminist theory abounds in assertions that war, racism, love of hierarchy, and general repressiveness belong to “patriarchy”; women’s leadership, by contrast, would naturally create a
April 2, 2014
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Why political partisans don’t like facts
To paraphrase an observation attributed to the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, people are entitled to their own opinions, not to their own facts. But on some politically charged issues, people’s ideological commitments sometimes settle their judgments about questions of fact.A revealing body of research, coming largely from Yale Law School professor Dan Kahan, finds that “cultural cognition” shapes our reactions to science ― and that our values affect our assessment of purely factual claims, ev
April 2, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] WTO dispute over rare earths
A WTO dispute settlement panel issued a critical decision on March 26 faulting China for its export quotas and export duties for rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. These raw materials are essential for the production of key industrial products such as smartphones, electric car batteries and defense-related items.The complaint was lodged by three WTO members ― the United States, the European Union and Japan ― back in June 2012, who argued that Beijing’s export restraints and restrictions of th
April 1, 2014
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Taiwan’s position between U.S. and China
Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou is learning a very valuable lesson the hard way: If you want to cozy up to China, it’s best not to be too Chinese about it.The point is being driven home by hundreds of thousands of student protesters, enraged by the Taiwanese president’s attempt to enact a trade pact with China in the dark of night. The deal to open up the island’s service industries is controversial enough. But when Ma reneged on a promise to allow a clause-by-clause review before implementing it, he infu
April 1, 2014
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Chuck Hagel ― the Asia pivot is still on
Russian troops are massing menacingly on Ukraine’s eastern border. The civil war in Syria is still raging, and 33,000 American troops fight on in Afghanistan. So where is Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel headed this week? To Hawaii ― for a meeting with defense ministers from Asia, the region the Obama administration still considers its top foreign policy priority.“Asia is one of the great success stories of the world,” Hagel told me in an interview in his Pentagon office last week. “There is really
April 1, 2014
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Millennials may provide opening for high-speed rail
Two questions: Why doesn’t our nation have more passenger trains? And does the younger generation’s declining interest in driving imply an opening for the expansion of public high-speed rail?Last May the New York Times reported that all of us, and especially the so-called millennials, are driving less. The Times cites a report from U.S. Pirg, a nonprofit advocacy organization, that documents a 6-decade increase in distance driven per capita, and then a surprising 8-year decline in total distance
April 1, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] A curious ideological blend
Foreigners are often impressed by the commendable characteristics of the Korean people such as their admirable community spirit, astonishing diligence and warmth. They praise the Korean spirit of dogged persistence, which eventually enables Koreans to accomplish remarkable achievements, both economic and political. Foreigners also admire Koreans’ superb craftsmanship, which has made South Korea one of the best in IT technology.At the same time, however, foreigners are perplexed by some of the pe
April 1, 2014
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Erdogan channels Putin in Turkey
Turkey’s religious conservatives are rejoicing at Sunday’s local-election win for the ruling Justice and Development Party. For the country as a whole, there’s little to celebrate. As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear in his victory speech, retribution against his enemies and a polarizing presidential election campaign will follow.Sunday’s result is undeniably impressive. The prime minister managed to boost his party’s share of the popular vote to 46 percent from 39 percent, despite
April 1, 2014
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[Trudy Rubin] Help Syrians under siege
When Bashar Assad’s forces gassed the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh in August, the fumes penetrated Qusai Zakaria’s apartment within minutes. A female neighbor knocked on his door with two unconscious children, but he couldn’t breathe or talk.The 29-year-old struggled to the street, where women and children were running about wildly and dropping dead; he saw a young teenager with pale blue eyes on the ground “staring at nothing.” Then his heart stopped, and his body was thrown on a pile of corps
March 31, 2014
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Beware the rise of Putin the Terrible
At the moment, our preoccupation is President Vladimir Putin’s next move outside Russia. Will he invade eastern Ukraine? Will he move into Moldova? But even more worrisome than these territorial issues is what Putin may have in mind for Russia itself.The Russian president did not engineer the Ukrainian crisis, but he has exploited it to begin forging something far more dangerous than land grabs: namely, a political arrangement that could secure his rule of Russia for life. The annexation of Crim
March 31, 2014