[Therese Raphael] How COVID-19 has made Brexit even harder

It came as no surprise that a fourth round of trade negotiations between the UK and the EU has produced no big breakthrough. Once again, there is talk about Britain separating from the EU in December without a trade deal in place; Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey told banks this week to prepare for just that. Why hasn’t the coronavirus pandemic changed the Brexit narrative, forced an outbreak of reasonableness between UK and EU negotiators or at least made compromise more likely? It&rsq

June 8, 2020

[Cass R. Sunstein] ‘Union’ crucial word in Mattis’ text

What pushed former Defense Secretary James Mattis over the edge, to denounce President Donald Trump in the strongest possible terms? Only the former general knows for sure, but a clue is provided by the title of his statement: “In Union There Is Strength.” Another clue is provided by the most important words in his text: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divid

June 8, 2020

[Serendipity] Time for government to step up to the plate

The 1,442nd Wednesday Rally held across the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday proceeded as it has for 30 years, opening with a performance followed by individual citizens and group representatives coming to the microphone to express their support for former Japanese military sex slaves during World War II and call on the Japanese government to officially apologize to the victims and provide legal reparations. The rally was subdued compared to those I had seen in the past, flanked on eithe

June 5, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] What would Biden presidency mean for Korea?

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated many trends that have been gathering force slowly. The pandemic transformed the tense competition between the US and China into a nascent Cold War. To isolate China, US President Donald Trump has proposed expanding the annual G-7 summit to include South Korea, along with Australia, India, Russia, and possibly Brazil. The goal of the strategy is to surround China with major powers that cooperate on global economic issues. South Korea’s participation

June 5, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] ’Comfort woman’ crusader puts us to shame

In the persistent condemnation of Japan’s wartime sex slavery, we have told the descendants of former imperialists to be sorely ashamed of the part of history that they share with Koreans. The recent episode, involving Yoon Mi-hyang, a key activist in the protest movement, brought shame on ourselves. Public complaints stoked when the leader of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery of Japan became a National Assembly lawmaker on the ruling

June 4, 2020

[Noah Feldman] Antifa threat imperils free speech

On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that the executive branch will designate Antifa as a “terrorist organization,” apparently in an attempt to pin blame for the weekend’s violent protests on the loose collection of far-left activists. The president’s announcement was characteristically unclear. Federal law says that if the Secretary of State designates a group as a foreign terrorist organization, then materially supporting that organization becomes a very serious f

June 4, 2020

[Adam Minter] Just one step for SpaceX

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that’s orbiting the Earth with two US astronauts is the picture of New Space Age glamour. It’s a sleek, stylish commercially made capsule that’s destined to be featured beside Italian sports cars in future design textbooks. Just don’t tell that to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive and chief designer. “Is a Ferrari more reliable than a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic?” he once asked a space journalist. The answer, of cou

June 3, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Good government in these troubled times

We need government to run the country for us and represent us in the international community. Unfortunately, however, we often find our government overbearing and oppressive. Sometimes we suffer heavy taxes and other times, tyrannical rule. That is why “governance” has always been a major concern of political scientists. Thomas Paine aptly pointed out the issue, saying, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

June 3, 2020

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] The uncertain pandemic consensus

What is the COVID-19 crisis teaching us about the role of the state? And what lasting lessons will our societies draw from it? It is still very early to be asking these questions, but they cannot be avoided. Postponing their discussion would simply leave the field open for those peddling old obsessions whose time is long gone (if it ever came). The starting point should be that, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump notwithstanding, a new pandemic consensus has been f

June 2, 2020

[Trudy Rubin] Stand with HK against Xi’s efforts to curb its liberties

A major turning point in US-Chinese relations occurred Thursday. It nominally involves the future of Hong Kong, but has major significance for Washington and the wider world. China’s National People’s Congress approved a security law that will allow Beijing’s security agencies to crack down directly on the civil liberties of Hong Kong residents, who have been protesting the regime’s indirect efforts to shrink their freedoms since last summer. China promised Hong Kong a

June 1, 2020

[Anjani Trivedi] Can China’s spenders lift the world?

The Chinese consumer has been one of the most important drivers of the world economy over the past decade, fueling hopes of prolonged growth and profits. So it’s worth looking at what’s happening to household balance sheets as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on a population now feeling the downside of growing personal leverage from the boom. In the last major financial crisis, big-spending Americans were hit hard, but the Chinese found new ways to open their wallets and took the rest of the

June 1, 2020

[Digital Simplicity] Netflix faces major regulatory setback in Korea

Jennifer recently opened a restaurant. She faithfully paid the rent, taxes and other sundry fees. She also hired staff, including a talented chef. She developed an incredibly tasty menu. Not long after she started her long-awaited business, a horde of customers rushed to dine out at the new restaurant. The restaurant became so famous and popular that a great number of people rode buses for hours to visit the restaurant and have a nice meal. Business, all in all, was great, and nothing would st

May 29, 2020

[James A. Goldston] How courts will shape post-pandemic world

In just a few months, COVID-19 has stricken millions and effectively shut down the global economy. But at the same time, the pandemic has profoundly altered the global debate about inequality and raised the prospect of reversing our decades-long failed experiment with market fundamentalism. Many lauded this month’s May Day protests by newly recognized (but still underpaid) “essential workers” as a sign of growing activism. But fewer have noticed that people around the world ar

May 29, 2020

[Shang-Jin Wei] America’s delisting threat could pay off

After passing unanimously in the US Senate on May 20, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is heading for the House of Representatives, and US President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law. The law requires that all companies listed on US stock exchanges submit to audits reviewable by the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and non-compliant firms can be delisted after three years. This has generated talk that all Chinese firms could disappear from US exchanges. Some

May 28, 2020

[Ivo Daalder] Our new Cold War with China: Not like the old Cold War

Are the United States and China heading for a new Cold War? Judging by some of the rhetoric and policies emanating from Beijing and Washington, it sure looks that way. Already tense, relations between the world’s two largest powers have deteriorated sharply since the lethal coronavirus first emerged in the eastern Chinese city of Wuhan and then rapidly spread across the globe. In the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has led the charge. Last January, Pompeo called the Chinese

May 28, 2020

[Eli Lake] Trump is right to quit Open Skies deal

President Donald Trump is preparing to exit his second arms-control treaty with Russia since taking the oath of office, and the opposition is already in high dudgeon. “This is insane,” tweeted former CIA director Michael Hayden. “Another shortsighted Trump move to abandon a treaty that includes many close allies,” tweeted Samantha Power, former ambassador to the United Nations.　 But Trump’s decision is the right one -- both in the details and on principle. The dea

May 27, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] ‘Person of Interest’ in the era of AI

We are now living in the era of artificial intelligence. In fact, AI is everywhere already, in our smartphones, laptops, and cars. What many commentators have hailed as the “fourth industrial revolution,” too, includes AI. As AI is fast becoming part of our everyday lives, we would do well to reflect on its upsides and downsides. An American television drama, “Person of Interest,” well illustrates many of the merits and problems of the AI era. The drama centers on a re

May 27, 2020

[Andy Mukherjee] China’s crypto is all about tracing -- and power

The coronavirus has disrupted the world in very large ways. While that battle has been waged, however, another event has almost been missed: the birth of a new kind of fiat currency, which could forever reshape the relationship between money, economic power and geopolitical clout.　 An official Chinese digital yuan, more than five years in the making, is now in pilot runs to slowly start replacing the physical legal tender. If the experiment succeeds, this new cash, valued the same as the famili

May 26, 2020

[Elizabeth Drew] Trump is not just a liar but a fabulist

In April 2011, Donald Trump, then considering a run for the presidency the following year, said he had sent investigators to Hawaii to check out rumors that President Barack Obama wasn’t born there, but in Kenya, which would disqualify him for the presidency. His investigators, Trump declared, “cannot believe what they’re finding.” I can find no record of Trump being challenged on this outlandish claim at the time. In the fall of 2016, Trump, as the Republican presidenti

May 25, 2020