The Korea Herald

[Mihir Sharma] Modi’s wake-up call

This weekend, residents of the western Indian state of Gujarat began voting in an election whose outcome should‘ve been a foregone conclusion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi served for 12 years as Gujarat’s chief minister and remains a hugely popular figure there. His political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has ruled the state uninterrupted for more than two decades, dominating all forms of political, cultural and even social life. The opposition Congress is derided there as a “party of Musli

Dec. 12, 2017

[Albert R. Hunt] Trump-Russia probe about to get uglier

Here are two certainties about the Trump-Russia investigation: It won’t end soon. It will get uglier.　A new shoe drops almost daily in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. First, former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying and agreed to cooperate. Then the White House changed its story (again) on what President Donald Trump knew after he was first advised in January that Flynn posed security problems.Last week came news that Mueller had subpoenaed financial records

Dec. 12, 2017

[Jonathan Bernstein] Anti-harassment wave could swing US Congress

With resignations in the US Congress piling up and rumors that two or three dozen members could face charges of sexual misbehavior in the near future, it’s not too early to start thinking through the political impact. Could such a wave of resignations affect swing the House?　Nate Silver thinks it “probably helps Democrats’ chances” to do so, further explaining:　1. The Republican Party has more exposure to losses because they hold most of the swing seats in the House.　2. Voters will “punish” memb

Dec. 12, 2017

[David Ignatius] Despite Trump’s rancor for the global system, the world economy is surging

A year ago, with the election of a US president who had fulminated against the international trade and financial systems, some analysts worried that the engine of global prosperity might soon be sputtering. But that’s not what happened.The global economy has surged forward this year, significantly outperforming expectations. As the International Monetary Fund wrote in its latest world economic outlook, published in October: “The current upswing reaches more broadly than any in a decade -- roughl

Dec. 11, 2017

[David Ignatius] Despite Trump’s rancor for the global system, the world economy is surging

[Tara Susman-Pena] Learning from Russia’s other media war

Misinformation and propaganda have been around for as long as mass communication. What has changed is the speed and scale of the delivery. Social media platforms have intensified the spread of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, threatening democratic institutions in frightening new ways. One only has to Google “Russia” and “Trump” to see the impact of so-called fake news on democracy. But the best way to fight disinformation may be to follow the example set by Ukraine, a country that has fac

Dec. 11, 2017

[Tara Susman-Pena] Learning from Russia’s other media war

[Los Angeles Times ] Trump’s EPA wants to ignore science and put more dirty trucks back on the road

Diesel exhaust fumes are the most foul tailpipe emissions on the road, as anyone stuck in traffic behind an ageing bus or 18-wheeler can attest. But researchers have gathered overwhelming evidence that the fumes are more than just unpleasant; diesel emissions contribute to asthma, heart disease, cancer and a host of other ills. Diesel-powered trucks are also major contributors to lung-searing smog, and their emissions are loaded with climate-altering soot and gases that contribute to global warm

Dec. 11, 2017

[Tyler Cowen] How’s immigration going? Check the menus

I’ve written an online ethnic dining guide to the Washington area for over 20 years, and I find food a useful way to grasp how rapidly this country can change. These days, a lot of the biggest trends just aren’t on most people’s radar screens.The first and most striking dining development is the rise of Chinese regional cuisine. There are now Nanjing, Shanghai, Uighur, Shanxi, Taiwanese and other regional restaurants readily available. Real Hunan and Sichuan offerings are plentiful, in contrast

Dec. 11, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] Only one side compromised for this Brexit breakthrough

After UK and EU negotiators reached a deal opening a path for trade negotiations on Friday, arch-Brexiter Michael Gove declared British Prime Minister Theresa May had “won.” That is a statement worthy of all the now-debunked Brexit slogans. The parties‘ agreement shows the EU has given up virtually no ground, and that’s what‘s likely to happen in the trade talks, too.In plain terms, the 15-page document that closes the first stage of the talks -- according to a EU-determined sequence -- seals th

Dec. 11, 2017

[Pankaj Mishra] Asia’s new politics of outrage

Stunning mini-revolutions have erupted in recent months in two of the world’s largest Muslim countries. The first shock came in Indonesia, where a little-known group of activists led a mass protest against the Christian governor of Jakarta. Accused of disrespecting the Prophet, the governor, a close ally of the country’s president Joko Widodo, is now in prison. In Pakistan in late November, another pop-up political outfit besieged the capital city Islamabad, forcing the government to concede to

Dec. 10, 2017

[Pankaj Mishra] Asia’s new politics of outrage

[Doyle McManus] Trump’s weaponized ‘whataboutism’

President Donald Trump thinks lots of people should be investigated for wrongdoing. Just not him.Hillary Clinton above all. More than a year after she lost the presidential election, she’s still Trump’s favorite target -- a rhetorical security blanket he returns to over and over.“Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn’t looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary and the Dems,” the president tweeted last month.But Clinton has plenty of company, beginnin

Dec. 10, 2017

[Park Sang-seek] President Moon’s four-directional foreign policy

Since President Moon Jae-in was inaugurated in May, he has formulated four national security strategies: western diplomacy dealing with China; eastern diplomacy dealing with Japan; northern diplomacy focusing on the Russian Far East and China’s three northeastern provinces, Central Asia and Mongolia; and southern diplomacy focusing on Southeast Asia and India. The South Korea-US alliance plays the role of an axis in the sense that it affects the above four diplomatic strategies.President Moon’s

Dec. 10, 2017

[Park Sang-seek] President Moon’s four-directional foreign policy

[Leonid Bershidsky] Putin wants to win, but not at all costs

As Russia has worked to convince the world that its military power is growing, it has concealed its costs in terms of blood and treasure. But newly revealed statistics show surprisingly low casualties despite engagements in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and Syria. It was the latest evidence that President Vladimir Putin’s military strategy is far more calculated than that of his predecessors. Boris Yeltsin’s losses in Chechnya gutted his public support and the Soviet Union’s costly, failed Afghanistan

Dec. 10, 2017

[J. Bradford DeLong] America’s broken system

The tax bill that US Republicans have doggedly pushed through Congress is not as big a deal as many are portraying it to be. It is medium-size news. The big news -- the much more weighty and ominous news – lies elsewhere.Of course, medium-size is not nothing. If the tax bill does clear its final hurdle -- a conference committee must reconcile the Senate-approved bill with that of the House of Representatives -- and become law, it will complicate the tax system considerably, as it opens many loop

Dec. 10, 2017

[Daniel Gordis] Trump is clear on Jerusalem, even if his motives are not

Calling it a “recognition of reality” and “the right thing to do,” President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the US was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and that the American Embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to the contested city.　The announcement leaves many questions, two of which are primary. The first is whether violence will ensue. The Palestinians and Turks are making threats, and Israel’s security establishment is said to be on alert. But many Israelis are dismissing th

Dec. 8, 2017

[Daniel Gordis] Trump is clear on Jerusalem, even if his motives are not

[Heidi Stevens] Time rightly recognizes women who spoke up

Time magazine declared “silence breakers” the Person of the Year for 2017, echoing and amplifying a sense, a hunch, a flickering of a notion that many of us feel but are afraid to utter aloud, lest we curse it:Nothing will ever be the same.A magazine can’t wipe out sexual harassment. Roy Moore may very well get elected to the US Senate despite multiple allegations of preying on teenage girls. Donald “grab ’em” Trump still occupies the highest office in the land.But to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luthe

Dec. 8, 2017

[Dennis M. Kelleher] Why all Americans should want a strong consumer watchdog

If you have — or ever want to have — a bank account, credit card, debit card, car loan, student loan, home loan, payday loan, credit report or any other financial product of any type, or if you were harmed in any way by the 2008 financial crisis, then you have a personal stake in the success of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.At the moment, the watchdog agency is under threat. It’s caught in a power struggle between its Obama-era holdovers and the Trump administration, which is moving t

Dec. 8, 2017

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] The globalization of our discontent

Fifteen years ago, I published Globalization and Its Discontents, a book that sought to explain why there was so much dissatisfaction with globalization within the developing countries. Quite simply, many believed that the system was “rigged” against them, and global trade agreements were singled out for being particularly unfair.Now discontent with globalization has fueled a wave of populism in the United States and other advanced economies, led by politicians who claim that the system is unfai

Dec. 7, 2017

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] The globalization of our discontent

[David Ignatius] Can the US stop North Korea from becoming a nuclear power?

The US-North Korea confrontation is nearing another tense inflection point, with North Korea signaling that it could be ready for negotiations with Washington soon, even as it moves toward becoming a full nuclear-weapons power.When such diplomatic standoffs get resolved, it‘s often by allowing each country to claim it’s entering negotiations on its own terms. In this case, North Korea would assert its status as a nuclear-weapons state, while the US would insist the dialogue is about eventual den

Dec. 7, 2017

[David Ignatius] Can the US stop North Korea from becoming a nuclear power?

[Leonid Bershidsky] Europe’s far right won’t keep winning if it can’t govern

From Liechtenstein and Bulgaria to Norway and the Czech Republic, it was a good year for far-right parties in Europe. While none of the strong election results were sufficient for a full takeover, it was enough to allow most of them to become a full-fledged part of government. So are they leaping at this opportunity? And if not, why not?　It’s not such a crazy thing to expect. Even in Germany, extreme parties have become an accepted part of the political landscape. Die Linke, the successor of the

Dec. 7, 2017

[Stephen L. Carter] What a technophobe doctor shows about future of work

What if your profession has never required much computer literacy -- and then all of a sudden it does. Should you be fired? Should your license be yanked? That’s the question raised by the bizarre case of Anna Konopka, a physician who claims that New Hampshire has barred her from the practice of medicine because she does not know how to use the internet.Konopka, 84, received the bulk of her medical training overseas. She voluntarily surrendered her license this fall after allegations that she wa

Dec. 7, 2017