Articles by Lee Yoon-joo
Lee Yoon-joo
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[Kavi Chongkittavorn] Russia's ties with ASEAN need more substance
Among key major powers, relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia are the least developed -- albeit full of potential. Leaders from both sides have repeatedly pledged to bring their relations to a new level. But they remain at best rhetorical. Bluntly speaking, their promises contained in the all-encompassing action plans from 2005-15 were somewhat hollow, judging from the records of implementation. Currently, the 11-member eminent persons group, which has been task
Viewpoints Feb. 25, 2016
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[Elizabeth Drew] The agony of Hillary Clinton
WASHINGTON – Being Hillary Clinton, one of the most celebrated women in the world, holder of some of the highest offices in American politics, and possibly the next president of the United States, has had more than its share of agony. Widely regarded a year ago as a shoo-in for the Democratic Party’s nomination, she has faced a far more difficult slog than anyone, including her, ever contemplated. Yet most of the problems Clinton is encountering were predictable and foreshadowed in 2008, when sh
Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016
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[Kim Seong-kon] In memory of novelists Lee, Eco
Two literary stars left us last week. Harper Lee and Umberto Eco sadly passed away at 90 and 84, respectively, leaving two everlasting masterpieces behind: “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Name of the Rose.” I still vividly remember the day when I first watched the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel in 1964, when I was a vulnerable high school student. I was enchanted by the splendid acting of Gregory Peck, who superbly portrayed the widowed father,
Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016
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[Neal Ungerleider] Apple vs. FBI: Unlocking Pandora’s box
In the locked-iPhone battle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Apple, the feds may have the judiciary on their side, but the tech giant has the better argument. Last week, the FBI obtained a court order from the Federal District Court for Central California telling Apple to help unlock the iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino on Dec. 2. Specifically, the FBI wants Apple to create a custom operating system update that woul
Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016
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[Leonid Bershidsky] Why Russia stopped at Crimea
President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia took over Crimea “without a single shot being fired.” There’s even a propaganda movie that presents the operation as the result of brilliant Kremlin planning and seamless execution. A document published on Monday shed new light on why the annexation was bloodless -- and on the limits of Putin’s aggressiveness. The news site Pravda.com.ua has published the transcript of a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council that took place F
Viewpoints Feb. 23, 2016
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[Carlton U. Forbes] Auspicious timing of monkey New Year
Now that 2015 has come and gone, the sheep has reluctantly returned to its pasture. As 2016 crests above the horizon, the monkey emerges from its nest, ready to engage in mischief or untaught antics. Naturally, the monkey year is in full swing so the next 12 months will be dominated by the wiles of the red zodiac primate. Monkey is the ninth astrological animal of the Chinese calendar. One Chinese Fortuneteller Blog likens the monkey to the first metal of the cycle of elements. This makes the
Viewpoints Feb. 14, 2016
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[Cass R. Sunstein] How pro golf explains stock market panic
Can professional golf help explain what is now happening with the stock market? I think that it can, because it offers a clue about an important source of this month’s market volatility: human psychology. The best golfers make par on most holes. They also have plenty of chances to make a welcome birdie (one under par) or to avoid a dreaded bogey (one over par). To do either, they have to sink a putt. A stroke is a stroke, so you might think that whether a pro makes a putt can’t possibly depend o
Viewpoints Feb. 14, 2016
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[Joshua Kurlantzick] The dark heart of ASEAN summits with U.S.
WASHINGTON -- Next week, at a summit in California, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of the 10 countries of Asia’s most important regional grouping: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The event, the first-ever U.S.-ASEAN summit on American soil, is being touted as a sign of America’s growing interest in Southeast Asia. The question is whether the U.S., by inviting all members of ASEAN, has allowed its interests to overwhelm its principles. The upcoming summit is t
Viewpoints Feb. 14, 2016
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[Robert B Reich] Volcanic core of U.S. election
Not a day passes that I don’t get a call from the media asking me to compare Bernie Sanders’ and Hillary Clinton’s tax plans, or bank plans, or health care plans. I don’t mind. I’ve been teaching public policy for much of the last 35 years. I’m a policy wonk. But detailed policy proposals are as relevant to the election of 2016 as is that gaseous planet beyond Pluto. They don’t have a chance of making it, as things are now. The other day, Bill Clinton attacked Sanders’ proposal for a single-paye
Viewpoints Jan. 29, 2016
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[Francis Barry] Obama asks bipartisanship while sabotaging it
It’s hard to remember a presidential address with more rhetorical dissonance. In his final State of the Union, President Barack Obama offered a hopeful vision of the future while also expressing little interest in achieving it over the next 12 months. Obama began the speech by paying lip service to bipartisanship and ended it by lamenting the “rancor and suspicion” that dominates Washington, pleading with the country to “fix our politics.” High notes, both. But in between, he took a dismissive t
Viewpoints Jan. 15, 2016
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[David Ignatius] A rough new year for Xi Jinping
A year ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to be living what he called the “Chinese Dream.” China’s economy seemed strong, its military power was growing, and Xi was aggressively consolidating domestic political power. But Xi is off to a bad new year. The Chinese economy is slowing sharply, with actual GDP growth last year now estimated by U.S. analysts at several points below the official rate of 6.5 percent. The Chinese stock market has fallen 15 percent this year, and the value of its
Viewpoints Jan. 15, 2016
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[J. Bradford DeLong] Piketty’s writing vs. Piketty’s actions
In “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the French economist Thomas Piketty highlights the striking contrasts in North America and Europe between the Gilded Age that preceded World War I and the decades following World War II. In the first period, economic growth was sluggish, wealth was predominantly inherited, the rich dominated politics, and economic (as well as race and gender) inequality was extreme. But after the upheaval of WWII, everything changed. Income growth accelerated, wealth was
Viewpoints Jan. 3, 2016
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[David Ignatius] Talk is cheap, real strategy is hard
Making New Year‘s predictions is tricky in this turbulent world, but here’s one fairly safe bet: The next president will propose a more assertive U.S. foreign policy. Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, has often sounded nearly as hawkish about use of military force as the Republican contenders. But what would a new American assertiveness mean, in practical terms? What can U.S. military power do, realistically, to combat the Islamic State and other threats more effectively? How can C
Viewpoints Jan. 3, 2016
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[Leonid Bershidsky] Berlin right to flout Russia sanctions
Germany has rallied Europe in support of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, but has been less diligent in their implementation. German leaders back these ineffectual measures primarily to humor the U.S. and are rightly unwilling to suffer too much for them. In a recent speech to her CDU party, which ended with a nine-minute standing ovation, Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the sanctions: It was the right reaction, no matter how much we’d like to keep a good relationship with Russia. We m
Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2015
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[Howard Davies] Political consequences of financial crises
I may not be the only finance professor who, when setting essay topics for his or her students, has resorted to a question along the following lines: “In your view, was the global financial crisis caused primarily by too much government intervention in financial markets, or by too little?” When confronted with this either/or question, my most recent class split three ways. Roughly a third, mesmerized by the meretricious appeal of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, argued that governments were the
Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2015
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