The Korea Herald

Taking tobacco out of the baseball game

It’s good to see the boys of summer back on the baseball field. It will be even better if more players take the field without a pinch of chewing tobacco tucked under their lower lips.Sure, that puffed-out jaw of Lenny “Nails” Dykstra will live in the memory of every Philadelphia Phillies’ fan who ever watched him tear up the base paths. And ballplayers’ chewing habit goes back more than a century,

Feb. 23, 2011

Kansai alliance and decentralization in Japan

The expanded Kansai regional alliance, which has the promise of becoming the first such organization to achieve efficient administration beyond prefectural boundaries, is hard at work.In this connection, there is no need to be obsessed with prefectural administrative borders in effect since the Meiji era (1868-1912). Transport conditions and the communications environment have changed drastically

Feb. 23, 2011

[Li Peilin] On road to balanced society

China has taken giant strides toward economic and social development. This has expedited its transformation from the previous class structure of workers, farmers, cadres and intellectuals to a more complicated one that comprises more classes and groups. To find the best way to handle and coordinate the interests of all classes and groups in today’s changed and pluralistic society and form a vigoro

Feb. 23, 2011

[Lee Jae-min] Return of the Machu Picchu artifacts

A foreign government suing Yale University? That is an odd combination of opponents in a legal dispute. But that is what is happening in the U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. In December 2008, the Peruvian government filed a complaint against Yale to reclaim Machu Picchu cultural artifacts from the Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University. The artifacts are pottery, textiles and b

Feb. 23, 2011

[Lee Jae-min] Return of the Machu Picchu artifacts

[William Pesek] Investors unite: Buy Australian bank debt

Investors of the world, unite and buy Australian bank debt. Why? Moody’s Investors Service suggests you shouldn’t.Really, in our post-U.S.-crisis world, is there a better contrarian indicator? Credit raters missed the Asian crisis, Russia’s default, the tech-stock crash, Enron, the U.S. housing bubble, Wall Street’s collapse and Europe’s meltdown. Now, we’re supposed to care what they think about

Feb. 23, 2011

[Kevin Hassett] Trump’s run for president requires memory loss

After making a big splash at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this month, Donald Trump was asked if he is considering a run for the presidency.“I’m incredibly tempted,” he responded.If Trump gives in to temptation, his past actions and positions may collectively provide the biggest handicap for a major candidate in the history of presidential politics.If he decides to run

Feb. 23, 2011

[Joel Brinkley] A temple and a tempest at the border

Across the Middle East and beyond, kings and dictators are quaking in their castles, afraid their people will throw them from power. All except one, that is.In Cambodia, long-time dictator Hun Sen, like his fellow potentates around the world, watched the news and figured out his own strategy. He decided to give a speech and threaten his people.“I would like to tell you that if you want to strike a

Feb. 23, 2011

[Joel Brinkley] A temple and a tempest at the border

Bare minimum arms necessity for Indonesia

The offer of two squadrons of used F-16 jet fighters ― gratis ― from the United States seems too good to be true. With its aging defense weaponry systems in desperate need of upgrading, the Indonesian Military (TNI) signaled last week it had accepted the offer under a U.S. grant. The ball is back in the U.S. court to decide whether to proceed with the deal or not.But wait. Nothing is as free as it

Feb. 22, 2011

[Abeer Mohammed] Iraqis view Egypt with admiration

BAGHDAD ― Frustrated with high unemployment, poor public services and corruption, Iraqis have been transfixed by media coverage of the uprising in Cairo. But while many are filled with admiration for the Egyptian people’s efforts, most here appear reluctant to follow suit.“I never watched any news on TV, but now I am following it daily,” said Namareq Sultan, 22, a medical student in Baghdad, regar

Feb. 22, 2011

[Howard Davies] G20 summit and Sarkozy’s moment

LONDON ― A little more than three years ago, just as the financial crisis was getting into full swing, I published a guide to the international system of financial regulation, “Global Financial Regulation: The Essential Guide.” It described an elaborate spider’s web of committees, councils, and agencies with overlapping responsibilities, unrepresentative memberships, and inadequate enforcement pow

Feb. 22, 2011

[Howard Davies] G20 summit and Sarkozy’s moment

[Doyle McManus] Debt and a tough-talking governor

President Obama’s new budget contains no serious proposal for solving two of the biggest fiscal problems facing the federal government: Medicare and Social Security. And though Republican leaders in Congress are happy to take swipes at his proposals, they haven’t come up with a serious plan of their own to fix those popular programs either.But one potential Republican presidential candidate recent

Feb. 22, 2011

[Albert Hunt] Republican budget cuts at heart of medical research

President Barack Obama’s call for “investments” in education, infrastructure and science and health research is dismissed by most congressional Republicans as a fig leaf for more big-government spending. That underlies the House’s decision Feb. 19 to slash $61 billion from an array of discretionary spending programs in the current fiscal year budget. This may make proponents feel good, yet, as alm

Feb. 22, 2011

[Kim Seong-kon] Fulbright made the world bright

Perhaps the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright would never have known, but he changed my life completely. Had it not been for a Fulbright Scholarship which was awarded to me in 1977, I could not have studied overseas, and consequently, could not have become a professor at Seoul National University. Instead, I may have ended up a high school English teacher and been retired by now, unable to co

Feb. 22, 2011

[Kim Seong-kon] Fulbright made the world bright

GOP lawmakers too deferential to defense

House Republicans are using a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30 as a vehicle to roll back spending on many programs favored by Democrats. But it’s easy for lawmakers to cut spending on someone else’s priorities. The real test of fiscal discipline is the scrutiny they give their own.For Republicans, that means the Defense Department ― by far the largest federal program funded through ann

Feb. 21, 2011

The end of sound wave for Chinese audience

The Chinese audience will soon bid farewell to radio and TV broadcasts of the BBC and Voice of America in the Chinese language. VOA is the second mainstream Western media to announce plans to end its radio broadcasts in Chinese. Earlier, the BBC World Service decided to cancel a number of foreign-language services, including Chinese. The cut in the major Western media organizations’ Chinese langua

Feb. 21, 2011

[Trudy Rubin] Two reasons Egypt just might succeed

CAIRO ― The air of hopefulness is so palpable in Egypt’s capital city ― as people try to digest what happened to them during their revolution ― that it’s easy to become a dreamer.This is Egypt’s interregnum of hope, a period that comes just after “people power” ousted a dictator, but before the meaning of the revolution has become truly clear. At this point, it’s still possible to imagine that Egy

Feb. 21, 2011

[William Pfaff] U.S. can’t straddle fence much longer

PARIS ― Revolutions are known for devouring their children, but the people making the current revolution in the Middle East may prove indigestible. In greater danger are the Israelis. As for the United States, it faces a choice between jettisoning its traditional policy of supporting Arab dictators, or repositioning itself ― which is a paralyzing situation to be in.Most American commentators and a

Feb. 21, 2011

[William Pfaff] U.S. can’t straddle fence much longer

[Meghan Daum] Thoughts on Grammy Awards and dog shows

It was a big week for glittery, over-the-top and slightly perplexing contests. First the Grammy Awards ceremony, with its requisite preening and prancing and bizarre outfits, then two evenings of the Westminster dog show, which offered more of the same.Not that the Leonberger or Finnish spitz showed up in a giant egg, as Lady Gaga did. Nor did fans of the bearded collie, which was among the runner

Feb. 21, 2011

[Meghan Daum] Thoughts on Grammy Awards and dog shows

[Ta-Nehisi Coates] Hard labor of pregnancy

Surveying the GOP’s latest efforts to restrict abortion, I was recalled to a bit of personal history, which I try to not to think about.As with a lot of couples, the notice that me and my spouse would have a child was greeted with great joy. But about six months in, she started picking up weight at a rate that flummoxed and alarmed her doctors. Her body swelled like a water balloon, a description

Feb. 21, 2011

[Shahid Javed Burki] Pakistan’s ruling elite faces the ‘Mubarak moment’

ISLAMABAD ― Pakistan’s domestic situation is becoming increasingly precarious. Indeed, serious questions are now being raised as to whether the country can survive in its present form.Such questions stem from a growing fear that Islamist groups might once again make a serious bid to capture the levers of power in the country. If that is not possible because of the presence of a large and disciplin

Feb. 21, 2011

[Shahid Javed Burki] Pakistan’s ruling elite faces the ‘Mubarak moment’