[David Ignatius] Saga of the Chinese mole reads like a thriller

Behind last week’s admission by a former CIA officer that he plotted to spy for China lies an astonishing tale of Beijing’s espionage against America -- and the vindication of other officers who were falsely suspected of being the Chinese mole. This saga has a classic thriller plot, in which a suspect must find the real villain to clear his name. Unfortunately, most of the details of the true-life version remain secret, under seal at the US attorney’s office in Alexandria or in the vaults of the

May 12, 2019

[Noah Feldman] Trump is stuck with nationwide court injunctions

Vice President Mike Pence says that the Donald Trump administration will ask the US Supreme Court to bar federal district courts from issuing nationwide injunctions -- the court orders that make the entire government stop enforcing a law or policy that one district judge finds is likely to be unconstitutional.Such injunctions are always bad for the administration that’s in office, so you can understand why this Republican administration might think the conservative-leaning Supreme Court would be

May 12, 2019

[David Ignatius] US needs a defense secretary now

At a time when America is facing a potential military confrontation with Iran, an escalating trade war with China and a showdown with North Korea, you’d think President Donald Trump would want a permanent secretary of defense to oversee Pentagon plans.But Patrick Shanahan is still cooling his heels as acting secretary, awaiting a formal nomination that was expected nearly two weeks ago, after Shanahan was cleared in a conflict-of-interest probe. The nomination sits and waits, and some prominent

May 9, 2019

[Elizabeth Drew] Trump is now above the law

Things have gotten ugly in Washington since the release last month of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and they’re about to get uglier. It’s now clear that the United States has an attorney general who believes his job is to protect the president, facts be damned. During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, William Barr, the country’s top law-enforcement official, obfuscated and lied with contempt and

May 9, 2019

[Kim Myong-sik] New outlook on Korea-Japan relations in Reiwa era

Citizens in this republic were not quite impressed by the televised scenes of Japanese imperial abdication and enthronement last week that appeared more theatrical than real. However, poet-essayist Lee Sunshine (Seung-shin) said of former Emperor Akihito, who passed the throne to his son Naruhito on April 30, “I feel sorry that there were or will be no other Japanese monarch who thinks so much well of Korea as Emperor Akihito, before or after him. But we could wish (for the) improvement of our r

May 8, 2019

[Francis Wilkinson] Pelosi’s dangerous battle against Trump

This week almost 700 former federal prosecutors, including prominent Republicans, signed a letter saying the Mueller report lays out offenses against Donald Trump that would lead to indictment if committed by anyone who is not president. All of which is another way of saying that a corrupt executive is the problem of the US Congress, not of prosecutors.That leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a pickle. She faces mounting pressure, no doubt from her own conscience as well as from Democratic acti

May 8, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Elegy for the humanities

Recently, I read a perceptive article that the famous basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote for the Guardian. It was entitled, “The way Americans regard sports heroes versus intellectuals speaks volumes.” In this insightful article, Abdul-Jabbar defended the hopelessly waning humanities, lamenting Americans’ infatuation with famous athletes and disrespect for intellectual giants. It was a pleasant surprise that an internationally well-known athlete emphasized the importance of the humaniti

May 7, 2019

[Robert J. Fouser] Reducing abandoned houses in old neighborhoods

Last week, I visited a friend living on top of a steep hill in Seongbuk-dong. The house had a sweeping view of the entire center of the city and of the rest of the neighborhood below. As we talked about the view and the neighborhood, my friend said that many of the houses in the area were empty. He said that the area was slated for redevelopment and that many houses are not rentable because they are in such bad condition. Plans for redevelopment have stalled and property owners are left with hou

May 7, 2019

[Noah Smith] Politics moves faster than economists gather data

The dream of evidence-based policy is that as data and analysis get better and better, policymakers will be able to make informed decisions in real time. Instead of relying on judgment or on long-cherished theories when an economic crisis arises, they’ll have the facts at their fingertips. In reality, however, this dream may always remain just out of reach.Sometimes, the barrier to evidence-based policymaking is that the evidence just isn’t all that solid. When the financial crisis struck in 200

May 6, 2019

[Slawomir Sierakowski] The Rorschach test of Notre Dame

Following the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, a group of young Polish activists and artists donned T-shirts that read, “I did not cry for the Pope.” At a time of seemingly obligatory national mourning, it was the kind of provocative act that can only happen in a free, pluralistic society. In a country as staunchly Catholic as Poland, the meme immediately caused a scandal. Yet because it was so effective, the “I-did-not-cry-for” formulation has been repurposed for similar situations ever sinc

May 6, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Huawei is being held to an impossible standard

The Bloomberg report of persistent vulnerabilities found in Huawei telecommunications equipment by major telecom operator Vodafone highlights the Chinese vendor’s current problem: While its competitors are given the benefit of the doubt when their products are found vulnerable, Huawei is held to impossible standards for political reasons.This is a problem that probably can’t be solved on a technical level. Huawei will have to drop any legacy resistance to stringent tests by clients and regulator

May 2, 2019

[Daniel Moss] Does Indonesia need a new capital?

Even as he awaits official confirmation of his election to a second term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo appears to be thinking about his legacy. He’s proposing a $33 billion plan to relocate the capital far away from clogged Jakarta. The idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’ll work. Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known, is right to question Jakarta’s long-term viability as a capital city. The population has swollen to 30 million and, while a new subway system offers som

May 2, 2019

[Anjani Trivedi] China could win from tech Cold War

China’s growing technological prowess in areas such as artificial intelligence is making Washington very nervous. US efforts to fight back, though, could make the problem worse.In US policy circles, suspicion of China is starting to resemble a new Red Scare. Universities are heightening scrutiny of research proposals from China and, in some cases, restricting collaboration. Chinese scientists’ visas are being delayed for conferences and exchanges. Visas for Chinese graduate students studying top

May 1, 2019

[Chon Shi-yong] True test still ahead for Moon’s foreign policy initiatives

President Moon Jae-in is as confident as ever about his mediating role in denuclearization negotiations between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He reaffirmed that confidence in a meeting last week with a group of senior editors from the Asia News Network, a coalition of 24 leading media organizations from 20 countries across Asia. The Korea Herald is a member of the group, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in Seoul last Friday. In the meeting, held Thursday at

May 1, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Spiritual exiles “against the grain”

What is the role of an intellectual or a writer in a turbulent society? In his monumental book, “Representations of the Intellectual,” Edward W. Said eloquently illustrates what it means to be an intellectual in times of social and political turmoil. He contends that the intellectual should be a spiritual exile in his own society, who can “speak the truth to power” despite the threats of ostracism and even imprisonment. Said maintains that the intellectual should say “No!” not only to power-wiel

April 30, 2019