The Korea Herald

[Kim Seong-kon] Fulbright made the world bright

Perhaps the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright would never have known, but he changed my life completely. Had it not been for a Fulbright Scholarship which was awarded to me in 1977, I could not have studied overseas, and consequently, could not have become a professor at Seoul National University. Instead, I may have ended up a high school English teacher and been retired by now, unable to co

Feb. 22, 2011

[Kim Seong-kon] Fulbright made the world bright

GOP lawmakers too deferential to defense

House Republicans are using a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30 as a vehicle to roll back spending on many programs favored by Democrats. But it’s easy for lawmakers to cut spending on someone else’s priorities. The real test of fiscal discipline is the scrutiny they give their own.For Republicans, that means the Defense Department ― by far the largest federal program funded through ann

Feb. 21, 2011

The end of sound wave for Chinese audience

The Chinese audience will soon bid farewell to radio and TV broadcasts of the BBC and Voice of America in the Chinese language. VOA is the second mainstream Western media to announce plans to end its radio broadcasts in Chinese. Earlier, the BBC World Service decided to cancel a number of foreign-language services, including Chinese. The cut in the major Western media organizations’ Chinese langua

Feb. 21, 2011

[Trudy Rubin] Two reasons Egypt just might succeed

CAIRO ― The air of hopefulness is so palpable in Egypt’s capital city ― as people try to digest what happened to them during their revolution ― that it’s easy to become a dreamer.This is Egypt’s interregnum of hope, a period that comes just after “people power” ousted a dictator, but before the meaning of the revolution has become truly clear. At this point, it’s still possible to imagine that Egy

Feb. 21, 2011

[William Pfaff] U.S. can’t straddle fence much longer

PARIS ― Revolutions are known for devouring their children, but the people making the current revolution in the Middle East may prove indigestible. In greater danger are the Israelis. As for the United States, it faces a choice between jettisoning its traditional policy of supporting Arab dictators, or repositioning itself ― which is a paralyzing situation to be in.Most American commentators and a

Feb. 21, 2011

[William Pfaff] U.S. can’t straddle fence much longer

[Meghan Daum] Thoughts on Grammy Awards and dog shows

It was a big week for glittery, over-the-top and slightly perplexing contests. First the Grammy Awards ceremony, with its requisite preening and prancing and bizarre outfits, then two evenings of the Westminster dog show, which offered more of the same.Not that the Leonberger or Finnish spitz showed up in a giant egg, as Lady Gaga did. Nor did fans of the bearded collie, which was among the runner

Feb. 21, 2011

[Meghan Daum] Thoughts on Grammy Awards and dog shows

[Ta-Nehisi Coates] Hard labor of pregnancy

Surveying the GOP’s latest efforts to restrict abortion, I was recalled to a bit of personal history, which I try to not to think about.As with a lot of couples, the notice that me and my spouse would have a child was greeted with great joy. But about six months in, she started picking up weight at a rate that flummoxed and alarmed her doctors. Her body swelled like a water balloon, a description

Feb. 21, 2011

[Shahid Javed Burki] Pakistan’s ruling elite faces the ‘Mubarak moment’

ISLAMABAD ― Pakistan’s domestic situation is becoming increasingly precarious. Indeed, serious questions are now being raised as to whether the country can survive in its present form.Such questions stem from a growing fear that Islamist groups might once again make a serious bid to capture the levers of power in the country. If that is not possible because of the presence of a large and disciplin

Feb. 21, 2011

[Shahid Javed Burki] Pakistan’s ruling elite faces the ‘Mubarak moment’

A list of true international terrorism sponsors

Last fall, President Obama offered a sweet deal to one of the most reviled regimes on Earth: If the government of Sudan would allow a referendum on secession by the southern half of the country and abide by the election results, the United States would take steps to remove the country from the State Department’s list of terrorism sponsors. The election went off, the south voted overwhelmingly to s

Feb. 20, 2011

The Democratic Party of Japan’s losing streak

The results of the Nagoya mayoral and Aichi gubernatorial elections Feb. 6 were miserable for the Democratic Party of Japan, highlighting the DPJ leadership’s inability to think strategically to win elections. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada should figure out why, starting with its defeat in the Upper House election in July, that the DPJ has suffered a series of el

Feb. 20, 2011

[Gregory Rodriguez] What are the ties that bind us?

Multiculturalism breeds terrorism. That’s what British Prime Minister David Cameron said Feb. 5 in a high-profile speech in Germany, thereby opening up an absurd new chapter in the never-ending debate over how much to embrace, exalt and protect cultural differences in Britain and beyond.Now I’m no fan of multiculturalism, which is essentially the belief that ethnic minorities should be encouraged

Feb. 20, 2011

[DAVID IGNATIUS] Where now, a week after Egypt revolt?

CAIRO ― There’s still a glow of liberation here, a week after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Young activists hand out flowers to visitors at the airport, and there is exuberant flag-waving at night in Tahrir Square. But already you can see the political cleavages that will test this young revolution. The secret of the Egyptian revolution was that it was inclusive. The street protests broug

Feb. 20, 2011

[DAVID IGNATIUS] Where now, a week after Egypt revolt?

[Michael Smerconish] Reading the judges on U.S. health care

I fear that Roy Cohn had a better understanding of American justice than John Adams.It was Adams who in 1780 sought to instill a sense of separate yet balanced power in the Massachusetts Constitution ― “a government of laws and not of men,” he wrote.Cohn had other ideas. During his life, legend has it, the famed lawyer (who was ultimately disbarred before his death), was fond of saying, “I don’t c

Feb. 20, 2011

[Daniel Korski and Ben Judah] The West’s Middle East pillars of sand

LONDON ― Two centuries ago, Napoleon’s arrival in Egypt heralded the advent of the modern Middle East. Now, almost 90 years after the demise of the Ottoman Empire, 50 years after the end of colonialism, and eight years after the Iraq War began, the revolutionary protests in Cairo suggest that another shift may well be under way.The three pillars upon which Western influence in the Middle East was

Feb. 20, 2011

[Daniel Korski and Ben Judah] The West’s Middle East pillars of sand

[Doug Gurian-Sherman] GM crop giants block independent research

Soybeans, corn, cotton and canola ― most of the acres planted in these crops in the United States are genetically altered. “Transgenic” seeds can save farmers time and reduce the use of some insecticides, but herbicide use is higher, and respected experts argue that some genetically engineered crops may also pose serious health and environmental risks. Also, the benefits of genetically engineered

Feb. 20, 2011

Timing right for new Middle East peace talks

Talk of reviving Arab-Israeli peace talks amid Arab world turmoil might seem counterintuitive, even crazy, to many Middle East watchers, but now is exactly the time to seize a rare opportunity.Last week’s developments didn’t just uproot an entrenched dictator in Egypt. They unleashed an unprecedented wave of hope across a region where autocracy and intransigence have been constant companions.Now i

Feb. 18, 2011

Japan as No. 3 can still hold its head high

China’s economic output as measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms passed Japan’s in 2001, going by International Monetary Fund data. Measured in current exchange rate terms, China’s gross domestic product has just dislodged Japan’s from the No. 2 spot that Japan has held for 42 years ― China’s 2010 GDP of $5.88 trillion, against Japan’s $5.47 trillion. As GDP in PPP terms is regarded in m

Feb. 18, 2011

[William Pesek] Goldman’s picks can’t beat ‘7% Club’ on sexiness

Is anyone else a bit BRIC-ed out?Hey, I completely get the importance of Brazil, Russia, India and China as emerging powers, growth engines and, perhaps, role models. Yet ever since Goldman Sachs Group Inc. squeezed the indispensable four into an acronym, we seem to have lost sight of a wider constellation of hugely promising economies.Even Jim O’Neill, coiner of Goldman’s now-ubiquitous BRICs, sa

Feb. 18, 2011

[David Ignatius] Islamic radicals pose threat in Egypt

CAIRO ― For much of the past 30 years, the shadowy Muslim Brotherhood was almost a raison d’etre for the regime of President Hosni Mubarak: Egypt needed a strong authoritarian regime, the argument went, or it would be hijacked by Islamic radicals. That bugaboo went out the window with Mubarak’s ouster just over a week ago. It’s easy now, in the afterglow of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, to

Feb. 18, 2011

[David Ignatius] Islamic radicals pose threat in Egypt

[Cai Fang] China faces challenge of development mode

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held in mid-October, put forward a proposal for the 12th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development over the next five years, once again highlighting the importance of transforming the country’s economic development mode. It also called for governments at various levels to shift their economic

Feb. 18, 2011