President Donald Trump’s foreign policy often seems designed to spite his predecessor. Barack Obama’s administration helped negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump voided it. Obama urged countries to accept more Syrian refugees. Trump is accepting far fewer. Obama brought us the Iran nuclear deal. Trump says it’s an embarrassment. And yet on the thorny question of Turkey, Trump’s approach has been more “yes we can” than “make America great again.” Like Obama in his first term, Trump now s

Oct. 17, 2017

The fall of Harvey Weinstein: It’ll likely make for a seriously rancid biopic someday, though Harvey Weinstein is unlikely to produce it. He wouldn’t be right for the material anyway. He’s too close to it.If this were a movie, “The Fall of Harvey Weinstein” (working title) is a grim cautionary tale about twisted male privilege and a powerful, Oscar-winning movie mogul who fancied himself a ladies’ man but was brought low, at long last, by deeply sourced accounts in the New York Times and the New

Oct. 17, 2017

Let’s consider abuse of power.Long after NFL players began taking a knee during the pregame national anthem to protest racial inequality, Donald Trump decided he could use the movement to cement his political base and change the conversation from his lack of a prompt response to devastation in Puerto Rico.Trump then argued such protests were an unpatriotic affront to the flag, the military and the country. Never mind the constitutional guarantee of free speech. He called for a boycott of the NFL

Oct. 17, 2017

The latest public uproar over juvenile delinquency has been fueled by two terrible cases, both involving girls (incidentally, the far less delinquent gender). Firstly, four middle school students in Busan brutally beat a 14-year-old girl. Publication of video footage of the attack along with a photo of the blood-soaked victim and the main perpetrator’s dismissive text messages caused this incident to go viral. Then an 18-year-old girl who had abducted, murdered and mutilated an 8-year-old girl i

Oct. 16, 2017

The civilian prime-working-age population in the US has barely budged over the past decade.The Wall Street Journal‘s Lev Borodovsky, taking notice of this phenomenon Wednesday, said it is making it “increasingly challenging to boost the speed of economic expansion.” But “prime age” isn’t necessarily what it used to be in the workplace, and this nation certainly has no shortage of 55-plussers.People 55 and older are less likely to be in the labor force than those aged 25 through 54 -- that‘s why

Oct. 16, 2017

Texas power generator Luminant announced Friday that it will close two coal-fired power plants in early 2018. Last week, it said it would close another coal plant that is more than 40 years old -- an announcement that came days before the clearly telegraphed effort to roll back the Clean Power Plan. The three plants join the ranks of more than 200 plants that have closed in the past decade due to age, a losing battle against low-cost natural gas and renewable energy, low or negative demand growt

Oct. 16, 2017

On the evening of Oct. 10, Catalonia’s separatist president, Carles Puigdemont, stood before the regional parliament to deliver what was widely expected to be a unilateral declaration of independence. But he ended up offering a fudge. Despite asserting “the mandate that Catalonia become an independent state in the form of a republic,” he proposed “suspending the effects of the declaration of independence to undertake talks in the coming weeks.”The performance left more questions than answers, bu

Oct. 15, 2017

If you thought internet ads were annoying, consider this: The websites you visit could now be harnessing your computer to do cryptocurrency mining.Digital currencies demand a lot of computing power. To complete each block of transactions, computer owners around the world must race to solve an extremely difficult cryptographic puzzle, with the winner getting paid in the relevant cryptocurrency. To increase their chances, such “miners” invest vast amounts in processing capacity -- building server

Oct. 15, 2017

One of the catchphrases in Korean education these last few years has been “creativity.” A number of government initiatives have been specifically designed to boost the creativity of students, both in primary and secondary education. A number of universities, including my own, have even built new buildings with names like “creativity center” or “institution for creative education.” Not that the name of a building can deliver results on its own, but it does show how important the issue is.Korea’s

Oct. 15, 2017

History of US military miscalculationThe hacking of the US-South Korea Military Operations Plan 5015 -- and US President Donald Trump’s recent comments on war as the only apparent solution for the current tensions with North Korea -- brings to mind US military strategy during the Vietnam War. In December 1972, in what was anticipated to be a simple and successful operation, the Nixon administration sent dozens of B-52 bombers to obliterate Hanoi and decapitate the North Vietnamese leadership. Th

Oct. 15, 2017

A few decades ago the choice for most people was pretty simple: either the city or the suburbs. The city was exciting but a little dangerous. The suburbs were comfortable but bland. These days our suburbs and cities are converging, which is narrowing our lifestyle choices.Consider the Washington area. The Rosslyn, Clarendon and Ballston parts of Arlington, Virginia -- which are right next to the District of Columbia -- used to be considered suburban, and are still formally classified as such. Ye

Oct. 13, 2017