The Korea Herald

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] A global solutions network to save the planet

NEW YORK ― Great social change occurs in several ways. A technological breakthrough ― the steam engine, computers, the Internet ― may play a leading role. Visionaries, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, may inspire a demand for justice. Political leaders may lead a broad reform movement, as with Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.Our own generation urgently needs to spur another era of great social change. This time, we must act to save the planet from a human-i

Aug. 29, 2012

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] A global solutions network to save the planet

Asia drug lockups too cruel to earn U.S. aid

The accounts call to mind 18th century insane asylums: patients confined against their will in dismal conditions, abused and subjected to experiments and unscientific treatments. Today’s inmates ― at least 350,000 ― are locked up, in China and Southeast Asia, just for using illegal drugs, or being suspected of it. Human Rights Watch recently released a paper detailing the practice of warehousing alleged drug users in China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, adding to a stack of damning reports about t

Aug. 28, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Lasting effects of child abuse

Last November the body of a mother murdered months earlier by her high school son was discovered. The body had been sealed in the bedroom of their apartment for eight months. The initial shock at the discovery was soon replaced by controversy over the abusive treatment the son had endured at the hands of his dead mother, an abuse that stemmed from her obsession over his student rank. Police investigation and testimony at trial revealed extensive abuse involving a seven iron and a resultant paral

Aug. 28, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Lasting effects of child abuse

U.S. taxpayers are gouged on mass transit costs

If the first segment of Manhattan’s Second Avenue subway opens on schedule in 2016, New Yorkers will be reminded that it was once “the line that time forgot” ― a project more than 75 years in the making, with no end in sight. It should be remembered for another failing as well: It will be one of the most expensive subways in the world. Tunneling in any dense urban environment is an expensive proposition, but the $5 billion price tag for just the first two miles of the Second Avenue subway cannot

Aug. 28, 2012

Listen to what Iran is telling the world

In recent days, much attention has focused on signs from Israel that an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations may be imminent. Amid the flurry of analysis, little attention has gone to what Iran is telling the world about its views. We would do well to listen closely. The world should never become jaded, immune to the genocidal hatred spewed by leaders of a nation that is still treated as a full-fledged member of international institutions.On Aug. 17, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad procl

Aug. 28, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Those looking for heroes find disillusionment

In hard times we want heroes. Struggling in a quagmire of relentless miseries, we desperately want heroes to materialize out of thin air and save us from our nightmarish dilemmas. Under oppression of the Roman Empire, for example, the Jewish people desperately hoped for the arrival of the Messiah who could deliver them from their miserable predicament. It is only natural that people await a superhero in times of crisis. Heroes, however, do not appear often. In our imaginations, therefore, we con

Aug. 28, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Those looking for heroes find disillusionment

Citizen protests making an impact in China

The way the Chinese government is behaving right now, you’d almost think it had converted to democracy. Half a dozen times in recent weeks, government officials have backed down in the face of angry citizen protests ― canceling unpopular industrial projects, freeing wrongly imprisoned citizens or arresting one of its own for his reprehensible behavior.That’s not how a communist dictatorship is supposed to behave.The most notorious example involves Tang Hui from Yongzhou City in southern China. T

Aug. 27, 2012

[David Ignatius] An enigma on foreign policy

WASHINGTON ― When reporters are writing stories and don’t yet have a necessary piece of information, they sometimes write “TK,” as in “to come.” I feel that way about Mitt Romney’s foreign policy. Other than his support for Israel and rhetorical shots at Russia and China, it’s a mystery what Romney thinks about major international issues and where he would take the country. Is Romney a neoconservative who has an idealistic vision of America transforming the world through military power and advoc

Aug. 27, 2012

[David Ignatius] An enigma on foreign policy

Growth under Ethiopia’s dictator-diplomat

BRUSSELS ― The recent death in Brussels of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi finally brings to light what lay behind his mysterious two-month disappearance from public life. Ethiopia’s government had strenuously denied rumors of serious ill health caused by liver cancer. Now that the worst has, indeed, proven true, Ethiopia and all of East Africa will need to learn to live without the stabilizing influence of its great dictator-diplomat.Meles was certainly both. Ethiopia has undergone a rema

Aug. 27, 2012

How Pussy Riot bamboozled the media

If Justin Bieber or the Rolling Stones suddenly decided to stage an impromptu concert in a public place somewhere in America without a permit, would the authorities ignore it and shrug it off? Doubtful. Even buskers performing in the New York City subway system can’t play without formal authorization from the city.What about taking such a musical performance into a church? If Jennifer Lopez or Madonna just showed up in a place of worship, stripped down to their skivvies and started dancing aroun

Aug. 27, 2012

[Robert B. Reich] Ryan’s faux populism and small government

Last Friday, Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, made the most populist speech of this campaign season.“It’s the people who are politically connected, it’s the people who have access to Washington that get the breaks,” he told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 at a high school gym in Virginia.“Well, no more. We don’t want to pick winners and losers in Washington. ... Hardworking taxpayers should be treated fairly and it should be based on whether they’re good,

Aug. 27, 2012

[Robert B. Reich] Ryan’s faux populism and small government

Hawking world’s deadliest product just got harder

The world’s tobacco merchants are down on Australia after the country’s highest court backed the toughest cigarette-labeling rules anywhere. So far, the focus has been on intellectual-property rights, possible lawsuits by British American Tobacco Plc, Japan Tobacco Inc. and their ilk, and the plight of investors. More attention should be on how many lives will be saved and how much economic output won’t be squandered as other nations follow Australia’s lead. There’s a reason Big Tobacco waged su

Aug. 26, 2012

[Lee Jong-Wha] Safeguarding Asia’s growth

Emerging Asian countries should be proud of their economic resilience. Despite a global economy plagued by weak growth, persistently high unemployment, and heavy debt loads, the region’s emerging and developing economies grew at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent from 2000-2010, propping up global output and buttressing recovery efforts.The region’s success has been underpinned by dynamic growth in China and India, which account for almost 60 percent of the continent’s total GDP in purchasing

Aug. 26, 2012

[Lee Jong-Wha] Safeguarding Asia’s growth

China breaks the ice on northern sea route

Look out, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. A new chapter in maritime history is being written.Last week, the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long anchored in the Icelandic harbor of Skarfabakki after covering the 15,000km distance from Qingdao harbor in six weeks.The brick-colored Xue Long or Snow Dragon is the largest icebreaker in the world that does not run on nuclear power. Nearly 170m from tip to tail, it is 23m wide and can sail through 1.1m of ice at a steady speed of 1.5 knots.The journey, trav

Aug. 26, 2012

The non-relationship between sex and rape

How sad it is to have to read the story of a tagged sex offender having attacked and murdered a woman in her home in Seoul (The Korea Herald, “Ex-con wearing electronic tag arrested for attempted rape, murder”).Let me point out that the only ones to gain from tagging are private security companies who run these programs. The rest of us are left to defend ourselves against the likes of a man named Seo, who has been arrested for this latest crime.Several months ago I wrote in this paper (The Korea

Aug. 26, 2012

[Howard Davies] Economics in denial about its academic merit

PARIS ― In an exasperated outburst, just before he left the presidency of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet complained that, “as a policymaker during the crisis, I found the available (economic and financial) models of limited help. In fact, I would go further: in the face of the crisis, we felt abandoned by conventional tools.”Trichet went on to appeal for inspiration from other disciplines ― physics, engineering, psychology, and biology ― to help explain the phenomena he had exper

Aug. 26, 2012

[Howard Davies] Economics in denial about its academic merit

Myanmar’s potential to become Asia’s rising star

Just last month I made my first visit to Myanmar, a place Rudyard Kipling referred to as “quite unlike any land you know about.”While decades of isolation have helped this century-old observation hold true, on arrival in July I was immediately struck by the vibrancy and a palpable sense of change in the air.The country’s immense potential is reflected in the Asian Development Bank’s most recent analysis, which shows that Myanmar has the potential to follow Asia’s fast-growing economies and expan

Aug. 24, 2012

[David Ignatius] Seeking to cool war fever

WASHINGTON ― As Israel and Iran entered this summer of confrontation over Tehran’s nuclear program, the Iranians were also conducting talks with the U.S. and other leading nations to seek a diplomatic alternative to war. Since then, the rumors of an impending Israeli military strike have grown almost daily, but whatever happened to the negotiations? The answer is that the “P5+1” talks have been in recess during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but contact is expected to resume soon between the

Aug. 24, 2012

[David Ignatius] Seeking to cool war fever

A 21st century test: What’s a ‘search’?

Even many who cherish the “original meaning” of the Constitution recognize that provisions drafted in the 18th century must be interpreted in light of changing technology. That is especially true of the 4th Amendment’s guarantee of the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”When the amendment was adopted, unreasonable searches involved physical trespass. But in 1967 the court ruled that the 4th Amendment was vi

Aug. 23, 2012

[Dominique Moisi] Eyesight for Israel’s blind

PARIS ― To find a glimmer of hope on the Israel-Palestine question has become difficult, if not impossible. Most Israelis now believe that a peaceful solution will not come in their generation. As for the Palestinians, the political stalemate, and ongoing Israeli occupation, has led to radicalization: if they cannot have “something,” they want it all.And many believe that whatever their weakness today, time is on the Palestinians’ side. Even the most moderate Palestinians now reject Israeli left

Aug. 23, 2012

[Dominique Moisi] Eyesight for Israel’s blind