In the uproar following the attempted military coup in Turkey, relations between Washington and Ankara, already badly strained, appear to be headed for new difficulty.The immediate test will be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s demand that the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish Muslim leader blamed by Erdogan for the coup attempt. Obama administration officials say they will consider any such request, under an existing extradition treaty with Turkey. But the issue

July 20, 2016

Still reeling from Brexit’s cold slap, Europe sought salve in the form of NATO’s summit in Warsaw this month. The continent needed to show its resolve to unify in the face of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. As it happens, there’s an adversary to the east that amply serves as an entity to unify against.NATO decided to answer Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggressiveness in Ukraine with the deployment of 4,000 troops in Poland and the Baltic states along Russia’s western border

July 19, 2016

Koreans tend to be conscious of what others think of them, rather than what they think of themselves. Strangely, however they do not seem to care about what foreigners think of Korea. Embarrassingly, many foreigners I met lately call South Korea a weird country.  Due to the nature of my job, I frequently meet with foreigners who either reside in Korea or are here on a visit. To my Korean friends who tell me that I spend too much time with foreigners, I humorously answer that it is an occupationa

July 19, 2016

Barack Obama was just beginning to enjoy himself. He’d been itching to throw himself into the 2016 presidential race and do what he could to ensure that Donald Trump wouldn’t succeed him as President of the United States. It was evident throughout the campaign that he backed his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, but he had to wait to declare his support openly until it was certain that Sen. Bernie Sanders couldn’t beat her at the convention. His entry into the campaign came at a time w

July 19, 2016

As the chaos in Turkey is starting to clear, investors are asking what the failed coup might mean for the country’s economic future. The news stories show many conflicting elements in play, and right now it is hard to make specific verifiable claims about what the country can expect. We can, however, turn to the broader historical record, and that suggests failed coup attempts against democratic governments don’t much lower subsequent rates of economic growth in those countries.Assistant Profess

July 19, 2016

The much awaited referendum is finally over, and Britain has decided to leave the European Union. In the months leading up to the referendum, the risks associated with a Brexit were repeatedly warned, while many foreign leaders, big businesses, and experts impassionedly urged Britain to stay in. As if those were not enough, a life was tragically taken away. Since the historic decision was reached, emergency meetings have convened around the world to discuss appropriate responses to Britain’s dec

July 18, 2016

Donald Trump has selected the perfect non-Trump as his running mate. Mike Pence, the phlegmatic Republican governor of Indiana, has strong credentials with the social right and mediocre political instincts.Pence passes an important test: He might help govern and could take over in an emergency situation.He won’t help much politically; he was in a struggle for reelection in his home state. But no vice presidential candidate really has made a political difference since Lyndon Johnson more than hal

July 18, 2016

When it comes to Palestine, one of the most likely images that comes to mind is a complex of violent territorial, political and religious disputes. The vicious cycle of those disputes has put Palestine into social and economic hardships. It, in turn, has made this country a significant recipient of international aid and donations to help it carry on. Konkuk University is part of this global community implementing international development cooperation projects in Palestine.As a higher educational

July 18, 2016

After the horror in Nice, perhaps the most depressing comment came from France’s prime minister. Calling for unity in the face of terror, Manuel Valls observed, “Times have changed, and we should learn to live with terrorism. We have to show solidarity and collective calm.”If this sounds like resignation, it shouldn’t. Valls is no squish. After the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015, he told the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that accusations of “Islamophobia” were too often used to silence legit

July 18, 2016

After a landslide victory in Japan’s election on July 10, the Liberal Democratic Party now has a supermajority in both the upper and lower houses of the Diet. Essentially, there is no longer any effective political opposition in Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has more power than any leader in decades -- even more than his famous grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as prime minister in the 1950s. Most importantly, his twin supermajorities give him the ability to get constitutional reforms t

July 17, 2016

In recent years, Republicans have argued that Congress is a more responsible policymaker than the executive branch. But when it comes to regulation, Congress is often much worse, and for just one reason: Executive agencies almost always focus on both costs and benefits, and Congress usually doesn’t.As a case in point, consider the Senate’s recent vote, by a margin of 63-30, in favor of a new law to require national labels for foods containing genetically modified organisms. The House is expected

July 17, 2016

An international court rules that China broke the law by building islands in the South China Sea. China doesn’t care. Does that make international law a joke? The answer is yes and no.International law is not the command of a sovereign backed by the threat of force. It usually cannot force countries to obey its dictates and decisions. That makes it different from domestic law.But international law still matters. The decision against China by a Hague tribunal for violating a treaty, the United Na

July 17, 2016