The diplomatic crisis between Malaysia and North Korea is unlikely to end soon. The tension may drag on for months or even longer.　First, North Korea bans nine staff and family members of the Malaysian Embassy in North Korea from leaving the country, treating them as hostages. The government has to rescue them through negotiations.　Negotiation is a draining task. The main reason for North Korea to “hold” Malaysians is to claim Kim Jong-nam’s body in order to destroy the evidence of Kim Jong-nam’

March 13, 2017

With Park Geun-hye impeached and out of office, attention has shifted swiftly to South Korea’s next presidential election, which must be held by May 9, and front-runner Moon Jae-in.　Moon, a former human rights lawyer and chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, is known for his liberal views and opposition to key decisions made by the conservative government.　In a statement Friday, he welcomed the court’s decision to uphold a parliamentary vote to impeach Park and said that “So

March 13, 2017

Americans learned Tuesday that the CIA has tools that can hack smartphones, computer operating systems, message apps, Wi-Fi networks. That blockbuster revelation came courtesy of WikiLeaks, the organization last in the headlines for its role in the purported Russian leaking of emails to tilt the Nov. 8 election to President Donald Trump.　First reaction: We sure hope the CIA has those abilities, given that terrorists around the world need to communicate somehow.　Second reaction: That doesn’t mean

March 13, 2017

Now that a court has ousted her from office, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s troubles are only beginning: She could face indictment on charges of bribery and abuse of power. Koreans, however, need to move beyond this lurid scandal.　Months of uncertainty over Park’s fate have paralyzed her nation at a critical moment. Koreans have been riveted by accusations that she conspired with a mysterious confidante to extract millions of dollars in bribes from Samsung Group and other major co

March 12, 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping seems interested in embracing the role of global steward -- champion of the liberal political and economic order the US administration seems uninterested in promoting. Now is his moment to prove he’s serious.China’s erstwhile client North Korea has become an urgent threat to stability -- Xi’s stated top priority -- from one end of Asia to the other. Japan’s military is now on its highest state of alert, after the North’s latest round of missile tests landed in Japane

March 12, 2017

It was a serious crime involving deadly poison that can be used in chemical weapons. The international community must further heighten its vigilance on North Korea.　In the case of the murder of North Korea’s Kim Jong-nam, Malaysian prosecutors indicted two women, one Vietnamese and one Indonesian, on murder charges as perpetrators of the crime. The prosecutors concluded the women colluded with four men with North Korean nationality.The indictment can be called a step forward in uncovering the wh

March 12, 2017

The administration of President Donald Trump has announced a plan to cut nearly $20 billion from the $50 billion budget of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development. Reducing the budget for diplomacy by 37 percent does not seem to reflect Trump’s stated intention to increase America’s stature in the world.If carried out, the reduction in State and USAID wherewithal would cripple those two agencies in carrying out their activities on behalf of America abroad. Their budg

March 12, 2017

The release Tuesday by WikiLeaks of the first installment of what will apparently be a large batch of CIA communications, including what appears to be very sensitive information, moves the issue of the protection by the United States government of critical data into the “very serious” column.The CIA has refused to comment, consistent with its policy in such matters, but there is some reason to believe in the authenticity of the documents in question. It is also not the first instance of sensitiv

March 12, 2017

In response to the wave of fake news that inundated the recent presidential election campaign in the United States, much attention has been devoted to those who produce or spread those stories. The assumption is that if news outlets were to report only the “facts,” readers and viewers would always reach the right conclusion about a given story.　But this approach addresses only half of the equation. Yes, we need news organizations to deliver reliable information; but we also need those receiving

March 10, 2017

The overarching issue shaping so much of our public debate is the intense, often unsettled relationship between the realities of a globalized economy and the pull of a national identity. The latter force was so great, it fueled Britain’s exit from the larger European identity.　In our case, the tension between these two forces led to Donald Trump’s election, but it also produced frustration with migration into the country. Immigration, after all, is a central element in the flow of goods, capital

March 9, 2017

The new travel ban President Trump signed Monday is no less misguided and damaging to those trying to travel to the US, or to those seeking refuge from war-torn regions of the world, than the original. The two new executive orders implementing the ban also show that Trump learned little from the policy debacle of the first go-round. The courts will decide whether he has fixed all of the legal shortcomings with this new, narrower version (the original was put on hold by several federal judges), b

March 9, 2017

In his State of the Union address, President Trump hardly mentioned foreign policy. But he did repeat his campaign promise to “demolish ISIS” and “extinguish (it) from the planet.”The battle to uproot the so-called Islamic State, which is centered in the cities of Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, has been underway for months, using local forces backed by US advisers and air power. The president wants it done faster.Given the historical moment, I will be traveling this week to northern Iraq -- near

March 9, 2017

If Donald Trump proceeds to roll back rules on climate change, as promised, he will be remembered as the most pro-immigration and pro-terrorist president in US history. Global warming will force tens of millions of Mexicans and other Latin Americans northward. It will also further destabilize the Middle East, bringing the chaos and war that gives rise to terrorism.　The Pentagon and US intelligence services have long regarded global warming as a major national security issue, a threat multiplier

March 8, 2017