The Korea Herald

Twitter users protest as Web bows to rogues

Twitter Inc. needs an Arab Spring. In the past 12 months, the micro-blogging social-networking service played a role in changing the world, 140 characters at a time. From Egypt to Libya to Syria and beyond, Twitter helped activists thwart censorship dragnets, connect with the similarly aggrieved and put underperforming leaders on the defensive. Well, that was then. This will be remembered as the year Twitter sold its corporate soul at a time when the world needs genuine transparency and the tool

Feb. 2, 2012

[Robert Reich] Who’s bearing economic risks?

As Newt Gingrich lashes out at “liberal elites,” Mitt Romney is casting the 2012 campaign as “free enterprise on trial” ― and Romney defines free enterprise as achieving success through “risk-taking.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue, defending Romney, explains “this economy is about risk. If you don’t take risk, you can’t have success.”But who do they think is bearing the economic risks? The higher you go in today’s economy, the easier it is to make a pile of money without taking

Feb. 2, 2012

[Robert Reich] Who’s bearing economic risks?

Globalization ― survival of the phoniest

As increased globalization forces countries to pretend that they like playing with all the other kids in the playground despite fearing they’ll have their toys stolen, never has there been more blatant self-interest cloaked in the phony pretext of outreach or do-goodery. Nowadays, a country is expected to appear both broke and overtly generous ― otherwise, you’re just a jerk.Take Canada, for example. Canada used to be run by nanny-state leftists more concerned with looking like Boy Scouts to the

Feb. 2, 2012

Racial segregation on the decline in the U.S.

Even as two-thirds of Americans now say that there are strong conflicts between rich and poor, another great American division is slowly healing. As National African-American History Month begins tomorrow (Feb. 1), we should celebrate the decline of racial segregation in America for the fourth consecutive decade. While there are far too many children ― of all races ― who are raised in the midst of poverty and desperation, the lessening of segregation reminds us that our nation continues to have

Feb. 2, 2012

Racial segregation on the decline in the U.S.

[J. Bradford DeLong] Neville Chamberlain was right

BERKELEY ― Neville Chamberlain is remembered today as the British prime minister who, as an avatar of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, helped to usher Europe into World War II. But, earlier in that fateful decade, relatively soon after the start of the Great Depression, the British economy was rapidly returning to its previous level of output, thanks to Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain’s reliance on fiscal stimulus to restore the price level to its pre-depression tra

Feb. 2, 2012

[J. Bradford DeLong] Neville Chamberlain was right

Krugman take on $12 trillion question rings true

A fiery debate has broken out over an issue many thought had long been settled: Japan’s economy is sliding toward irrelevance. The freshest evidence, reported earlier this week, is the first annual trade deficit in 31 years. It means, at the very least, that the huge pool of domestic savings that Japan uses to finance its staggering national debt might instead start going to support a trade deficit, an ominous sign. Not necessarily a problem, says Eamonn Fingleton, a long-time observer who recen

Feb. 1, 2012

A Gingrich presidency?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that if Mitt Romney won the South Carolina primary, the Republican presidential race would be over and he would be the nominee. But Romney didn’t win, and that means it’s time to consider the unthinkable: What would life under President Gingrich be like?It’s an easy question to answer because Gingrich has spent much of his campaign listing all the things he wants to do ― not only in his first term or his first 100 days but in his first eight hours.A Gingrich presid

Feb. 1, 2012

Historian-in-chief Gingrich can’t shake his past

I was driving when I heard the latest Republican front-runner intoning that “the centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” He went on from there, but I was already grinning from ear to ear. Newt Gingrich had me at Alinsky. What excites me is not the preposterousness of the statement. No, there isn’t actually any conflict between the idea that America stands alone and the outlook of the proudly independent inventor of community org

Feb. 1, 2012

[Joel Brinkley] Possibly, there is hope for a North Korean thaw

Don’t give up on Kim Jong-un, the cherubic naif who is North Korea’s new supreme leader.For weeks now, North Korea’s establishment has been prostrating itself at his feet, while prosecuting a frenzied campaign to show his people that this young man with the chubby cheeks is a god-like leader, just like his father and grandfather before him. A few weeks ago, the state’s official media improbably credited him with presiding over North Korea’s nuclear-weapons tests, which began in 2006 ― when Kim w

Feb. 1, 2012

[Joel Brinkley] Possibly, there is hope for a North Korean thaw

Women’s bodies ― from Eden to a garden

From age 16 to age 20, a woman’s body is a temple. From 21 to 45, it’s an amusement park. From 45 on, it’s a terrarium.I know this because every morning I now take a capsule with 4.6 billion strains of supposedly beneficial flora to help establish the equilibrium in my digestive tract. There are only 7 billion people on the planet. Every morning I’m swallowing half my own universe.And I’m not the only one. Every person I meet who is even in the least bit neurotic about his or her ― it’s usually

Jan. 31, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Korea needs grand jury system

This month another new slate of judges will be appointed to serve in the South Korean courts. One of the most striking aspects of this process is the large number of youthful faces among the new appointees. Many of the new judges will be less than 30 years old as they are appointed to one of the most powerful positions in Korean society. In this position they have the power to free or imprison their fellow citizens, to separate parents and children or to make or break the businesses and liveliho

Jan. 31, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Korea needs grand jury system

U.S. leaders, not Colbert, made the mockery

Mark Twain once remarked, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”No dose of humor could leave us feeling sunny about a slimy Republican campaign that’s awash in unprecedented cash, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has rendered the process farcical. But Twain rightfully suggests it’s mentally healthy to laugh at life’s idiocies, that humor can tamp down irritations if we vi

Jan. 31, 2012

‘Fool in the Shower’ to give Fed a good scalding

Long and variable lags. That’s all I could think of when I read the Federal Reserve statement and learned that economic conditions “are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014.” My first instinct was to mark the date on my household calendar, but I couldn’t find one that goes out that far! What the Fed is saying, in essence, is that as the economy improves, it’s appropriate to provide as much stimulus, or support, as it did in late 2008, w

Jan. 31, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Plays on words demonstrate the value of literature

Often witty headlines in the media or twisted book titles amuse us with their double meanings and parodies. For example, we can laugh about the funny book title, “Even God is Single, So Stop Giving Me a Hard Time.” Apparently, the witty title implores your family members and relatives not to urge you to marry or ask questions about why you remain single.Another humorous book title, “Since You Are Leaving Anyway, Take out the Trash,” reflects a woman’s spiteful emotions when her boyfriend or husb

Jan. 31, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Plays on words demonstrate the value of literature

The Arab Spring’s one-year balance sheet

CAIRO ― Last year’s events in Egypt and Tunisia drew the curtain on a tottering old order and delivered much of the Arab world into a long-awaited new era. But what that new era will look like remains very much an open question, given the many challenges that the region’s countries still face.The old order that has begun to vanish extends beyond the former regimes. The region’s entire value system ― a political culture forged by autocracy ― is being transformed. Arab men and women have shed the

Jan. 30, 2012

[David Ignatius] Seeds of change for globalization

DAVOS, Switzerland ― The organizers of the World Economic Forum were self-critical enough to organize panels this year on such dark topics as “Is Capitalism Failing?” and “Global Risks 2012: The Seeds of Dystopia.” And these were just the latest in a series of annual ruminations here on the troubles of the globalization movement the conference symbolizes. It’s hard to be a convincing Spenglerian amid so much good food and drink, not to mention money. But let’s ponder one aspect of what might be

Jan. 30, 2012

[David Ignatius] Seeds of change for globalization

No joy in Egypt after one year of revolt

As Egypt marked the first anniversary of the Jan. 25 civilian revolt that eventually toppled the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, there was no agreement -- on how to celebrate or even whether rejoicing is in order.The current military rulers -- the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF -- wanted to hold parades and aerial jet exhibitions to exult in the revolution, of which their main part was to ease Mubarak out of power. Youth groups and democracy activists who originally engineered the u

Jan. 30, 2012

[Shahid Javed Burki] Politics continues to demilitarize in the Muslim world

ISLAMABAD -- Can Muslim governments free themselves from their countries’ powerful militaries and establish civilian control comparable to that found in liberal democracies? This question is now paramount in countries as disparate as Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey.To predict how this struggle will play out, it helps to understand the region’s past. Since Islam’s founding in the seventh century, it has maintained a tradition of deep military engagement in politics and governance. Indeed, Islam’s inc

Jan. 30, 2012

[Shahid Javed Burki] Politics continues to demilitarize in the Muslim world

[Meghan Daum] Newt Gingrich‘s debt to Bill Clinton

So it’s official. No one really cares that Newt Gingrich is an egotistical, vainglorious scoundrel, at least where women are concerned. Sure, his ex-wife went on TV two days before the South Carolina primary and re-dished a bunch of dirt about their marriage, but based on Jan. 14‘s outcome, it seems GOP voters got over the whole family values thing a long time ago.At the very least, it seems that unapologetic combativeness is proving a more effective campaign strategy than bragging about the lon

Jan. 30, 2012

[Meghan Daum] Newt Gingrich‘s debt to Bill Clinton

Afghanistan must confront its terrorism of women

KABUL ― Recently, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) office in Kudoz province reported the rescue of a young woman who had been imprisoned in her in-laws’ dungeon for seven months. Fifteen-year-old Sahar Gul was forced to marry an older man who serves in the Afghan army. She was then kept in the dungeon by her husband’s family and brutally tortured for months, because she refused to work as a prostitute.Over the past 10 years, the AIHRC has received more than 19,000 complaint

Jan. 29, 2012