The Korea Herald

When the two American political narratives collide

The most famous speech in American history begins this way: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Lincoln’s eloquence at Gettysburg was lyrical but not historically accurate. For no such thing as a “new nation” had been proposed in 1776; only a temporary union of sovereign states, declaring their independence from Britain, then presumably going their separat

May 10, 2012

[Eli Park Sorensen] Thoughts on the relationship between life and work

In the satirical novel “Tristram Shandy” (published 1759-67), Laurence Sterne tells the story of Tristram Shandy, a gentleman who sets out to narrate “the history of myself.” Tristram wants to begin with the beginning of his life. This, however, turns out to be a complex task. Although the novel starts with a scene during which a woman is about to give birth to Tristram, our hero is actually not born until many pages later, about halfway through the novel. For Tristram realizes that before he ca

May 10, 2012

[Eli Park Sorensen] Thoughts on the relationship between life and work

Monsieur Normal should say ‘Non’ to Germany

It would be a mistake to interpret the election of France’s socialist presidential challenger, Francois Hollande, as portending a seismic shift for Europe’s second- largest economy. All indications are that Hollande doesn’t owe his victory to any passion among the electorate for a sweeping left-leaning platform. The defeated incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, is merely the latest leader felled by Europe’s economic crisis and the lassitude of its citizens. His flamboyant, hyperkinetic persona had grown

May 9, 2012

[David Ignatius] America’s plentiful future

WASHINGTON ― With so much talk these days of America’s decline, it may sound strange to ponder the prospects for an American economic boom a decade or so from now. But that’s the thrust of two new studies, which have me thinking like Dr. Pangloss, Voltaire’s caricature of optimism. These analyses predict the repair of two of America’s greatest economic vulnerabilities in recent times ― dependence on foreign energy, with the threats of supply disruption, and the decline of the manufacturing secto

May 9, 2012

[David Ignatius] America’s plentiful future

Austerity is strangling economies of eurozone

BERLIN ― The emergence of a united Europe is a process that has been going on for decades, characterized by progress but also by setbacks. There have been crises again and again in the history of European unification. Crucially, Europe has always found an answer to these crises and come out of them strengthened in the end. It will be the same this time if the political actors face up to the great challenges and muster the political will to overcome them.Since the founding of the European Coal an

May 9, 2012

To leave China or not, that is the question

Most dissidents in China have to face a simple but potentially life-changing question at some point in their lives: Should I stay or should I go?The answer, unfortunately, is not as straightforward.As the Chen Guangcheng incident has shown, deciding whether to leave China and go into exile is an extremely tough call.The blind legal activist was adamant that he did not want to leave his country during his stay in the United States embassy in Beijing, but changed his mind after leaving the secured

May 9, 2012

[Peter Singer] Are humans getting better?

MELBOURNE ― With daily headlines focusing on war, terrorism, and the abuses of repressive governments, and religious leaders frequently bemoaning declining standards of public and private behavior, it is easy to get the impression that we are witnessing a moral collapse. But I think that we have grounds to be optimistic about the future.Thirty years ago, I wrote a book called “The Expanding Circle,” in which I asserted that, historically, the circle of beings to whom we extend moral consideratio

May 9, 2012

[Peter Singer] Are humans getting better?

Lame attempts to shut off Afghan heroin spigot

A Russian source recently brought an obscure but disturbing article to my attention. Published last month by a little-known online journal called the Oriental Review, the piece, “Active Endeavor And Drug Trafficking,” proposed that not a single gram of heroin has been confiscated on the Mediterranean Sea since the inception of NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor, a maritime operation launched a month after the Sept. 11 attacks with the mission of “monitoring shipping to help detect, deter and prote

May 8, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Multiculturalism thrives in Korea

Just over 100 years ago Shin Chae-ho, a Korean independence activist and historian, published a Korean history book in which he set forth the concept of Korean pure blood. He created this concept as a counter to the Japanese attempts to assimilate the Korean people. At that time the Japanese were trying to convince the Korean people that they were of the same racial stock. Shin’s new mythology was therefore necessary to protect Korea and its culture. Fast forward to the present day and South Kor

May 8, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Multiculturalism thrives in Korea

Peace with Palestine first

HAIFA ― Not long ago, a Dutch journalist interviewed me about the Iranian nuclear question. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has allegedly banned politicians from giving interviews on the subject, so the journalist had no choice but to seek other candidates, perhaps more “intellectual,” but with no authoritative information to offer. The journalist asked me, first, if I thought that Israel would launch an attack against Iran’s nuclear plants; second, if I thought that it would be worth

May 8, 2012

Choosing to photograph, to publish, to look

Before they started snapping pictures, the amateur photographers of the 82nd Airborne Division whose work was recently made famous by the Los Angeles Times had official business to transact: bombings to investigate, corpses to identify, biometric information to collect. Their assignments were expressly visual: inspect, scan, document. It seems that they performed those duties. They got into trouble, however, when they started doing unauthorized visual work, posing for photos with the corpses to

May 8, 2012

[Meghan Daum] Loss of basic human trait, beauty in the eye of app

If you’re one of those people who says, “There should be an app for that!” every time you’re confronted with one of life’s little quandaries (recent entrepreneurial brainstorms in my household include “What’s the Dog Thinking?” and some form of gaydar), you’ve probably already imagined this: an app that will tell you how ugly you are.Too late. The Ugly Meter has been around for more than a year, but thanks to a recent mention by Howard Stern on his satellite radio show, it’s suddenly become a se

May 8, 2012

[Meghan Daum] Loss of basic human trait, beauty in the eye of app

[Kim Seong-kon] Outsiders’ view on Korean tales

An outsider’s perspective is often illuminating and enlightening, as he or she perceives the world differently from us, and sees things that insiders tend to miss. While an outsider’s views are fresh and penetrating, an insider’s vision is often banal and myopic. In Korea, for example, the famous short story, “Kapitan Lee,” is widely known as an account of an opportunistic doctor who manages to survive Korea’s turbulent years of the Japanese occupation, and the liberation and division of the cou

May 8, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Outsiders’ view on Korean tales

Shortcut culture mars China’s reputation

China is facing a product-quality scandal once again, another in a seemingly endless string ― though right now the blind dissident’s great escape last week and the Bo Xilai family cataclysm are smothering all news of it.Still, the new scandal and the Bo case derive from a single cultural cause.A few days ago, the state announced that it has detained 54 suspects, shut down 80 “illegal production lines” and seized 77 million gelatin capsules used for prescription drugs, all of them heavily contami

May 7, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Germany’s neighborhood watch

FRANKFURT ― On a recent trip to Germany, I was struck by two distinct narratives. One narrative features a robust German economy with low unemployment, strong finances, and the right competitive position to exploit the most dynamic segments of global demand. The other narrative describes an economy that is encumbered by never-ending European debt crises whose perpetrators seek to shift their responsibility ― and their financing needs ― onto Germany’s pristine balance sheet.Both narratives are un

May 7, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Germany’s neighborhood watch

Islamists evolving in Middle Eastern politics

Islamist politics in the Middle East cracked wide open with the Arab Awakening: Islamists have emerged on top in Tunisia, Libya, Iraq and Egypt. Western publics, lulled by the sight of iPhones and other social media at work, assumed that the demonstrations, rebellions and regime changes were all driven by Muslim wannabe Westerners and that Islamist politics were relics of the past.But when dictators started to fall, it shouldn’t have been any surprise that Islamists quickly came out on top. This

May 7, 2012

Mutual defense of the sea is not cross-strait military cooperation

Lai Shing-yuan, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), was asked a couple of days ago at the Legislative Yuan if Taiwan would cooperate with the People’s Republic of China in the defense of the small archipelagoes in the South China Sea. She said Taiwan would never do so, perhaps to please the Philippines, Vietnam and probably the United States as well. These countries are very concerned about Taiwan ganging up with China to fight another mini-war over the island groups known to be su

May 7, 2012

[Brahma Chellaney] The resistible rise of Asia still far from certain

NEW DELHI ― A favorite theme in international debate nowadays is whether Asia’s rise signifies the West’s decline. But the current focus on economic malaise in Europe and the United States is distracting attention from the many serious challenges that call into question Asia’s continued success.To be sure, today’s ongoing global power shifts are primarily linked to Asia’s phenomenal economic rise, the speed and scale of which have no parallel in world history. With the world’s fastest-growing ec

May 7, 2012

[Brahma Chellaney] The resistible rise of Asia still far from certain

Exit from Afghanistan: Why wait two and a half years?　

No argument is necessary about whether President Obama‘s six-hour visit to Afghanistan was political. Of course it was. Obama is running for re-election. The better question is whether a celebration is justified.Regarding the mission to assassinate Osama bin Laden -- and Wednesday was the anniversary of it -- some crowing is fine. The Navy SEALs’ mission was successful, and spectacularly so. Obama ordered it. He took the political risk and won a victory for America. Any president would remind pe

May 7, 2012

The Resistible Rise of Asia?

A favorite theme in international debate nowadays is whether Asia’s rise signifies the West’s decline. But the current focus on economic malaise in Europe and the United States is distracting attention from the many serious challenges that call into question Asia’s continued success.To be sure, today’s ongoing global power shifts are primarily linked to Asia’s phenomenal economic rise, the speed and scale of which have no parallel in world history. With the world’s fastest-growing economies, fas

May 7, 2012