[Jordan Gans-Morse] Conditions for negotiating with Putin

Three months have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and calls for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are growing. The leaders of the European Union’s three largest member states -- Germany, France and Italy -- have all recently issued statements calling for a cease-fire, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz underscoring the need for this to come “as quickly as possible.” Italy and Hungary sought -- unsuccessfully -- for the EU to call for an immediate cease-fi

June 10, 2022

[Lee Kyong-hee] Cultural leverage to better neighborly ties

As President Yoon Suk-yeol’s foreign policy advisers attempt to mend fractured relations with Japan, they will likely sense a palpable change in the dynamics; they will realize they have more leverage than their predecessors. They can thank, in part, Korea’s ascent on the global stage, its popular culture being a huge boon. Though the cultural dimension may have its limits and needn’t be a zero-sum factor, perhaps it can serve as an alternative pathway to smoother relations.

June 9, 2022

[ionel Laurent] Sanctions fatigue is next obstacle in confronting Putin

The momentum behind Western sanctions against Vladimir Putin is flagging. Even as the European Union toasts its toughest restrictions yet against the Russian war machine -- including a partial ban on oil imports -- concessions are mounting, from exempting pipeline crude to removing Putin’s favorite cleric from the sanctions list. Hungary’s Viktor Orban, an admirer of Putin, is clearly playing a big role in splintering the united front. But the risk of fatigue and waning morale goes

June 8, 2022

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Getting deglobalization right

The World Economic Forum’s first meeting in more than two years was markedly different from the many previous Davos conferences that I have attended since 1995. It was not just that the bright snow and clear skies of January were replaced by bare ski slopes and a gloomy May drizzle. Rather, it was that a forum traditionally committed to championing globalization was primarily concerned with globalization’s failures: broken supply chains, food- and energy-price inflation, and an intel

June 7, 2022

[Robert J. Fouser] Masks create sense of security

Each weekend last month brought ever larger crowds to popular areas in Seoul and other big cities in South Korea. Many remaining COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted earlier as cases fell sharply in April, but people still felt cautious. The lifting of the outdoor mask mandate in early May combined with warm weather and a continued drop in cases gave people confidence to get out and spend time with family and friends. By month’s end, Seoul looked and felt much like it had in 2019, except

June 3, 2022

[Kim Myong-sik] Disturbing anti-intellectualism in politics

Most South Korean adults must probably know what the “586 Generation” means. If you are a foreigner unfamiliar with Korean politics, let me explain. It refers to the bunch of midcareer politicians who were born in the 1960s and entered college in the turbulent 1980s, so naturally who now are in their (late) 50s. The 586 Generation, or just “586” for short, emerged as a group occupying a big turf in Korean political topography when many people who were active in pro-democ

June 2, 2022

[Doyle McManus] To deter China on Taiwan, Biden needs to reassure

Last week, in an unscripted moment, President Joe Biden warned bluntly that if China invades Taiwan, the United States will come to the island’s defense. “We’ve made a commitment,” Biden told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo. Including military action? “Yes,” he replied. That isn’t what US policy on Taiwan says -- not officially, at least. The White House and State Department hurriedly tried to walk back the president’s words. “O

June 2, 2022

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] The eurozone’s unusual policy playbook

The economic situation in Europe is truly disconcerting. Annual inflation in the eurozone has reached a record-high 7.4 percent, yet banks still lend to each other at negative rates. In April, year-on-year inflation in Estonia was a hair’s breadth shy of 20 percent, but only 5.4 percent in Malta. Public debt as a share of GDP is at unprecedented levels, yet German bond yields remain significantly below their long-term average, and spreads, though rising, are still contained. Across the con

June 1, 2022

[Kim Seong-kon] Now I know that I never know

For the past few years, there has been derision and contempt between the young and the old in Korean society. Politicians, who have often instigated such hostility to get votes, are primarily responsible for the generation war. Nevertheless, both generations have problems of their own. As for the young, they tend to think that they know everything. They believe they know love, life, and the world quite well. As a result, young people are impetuous. They never think they are too young to know e

June 1, 2022

[Jason Stanley, Federico Finchelstein] White replacement theory is fascism’s new name

Since Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, mass murders in the name of white replacement theory (WRT) have become prevalent. Many of these killers, including Breivik; Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch shooter; and Payton Gendron, the suspect in the massacre in Buffalo, New York, are self-identified as fascists. And yet, it’s easy to miss or even downplay WRT’s fascist origins and its current manifestations. It’s not surprising that this resurgence of WRT comes a

May 31, 2022

[Barbara Shaw] A trip revealed how serious Peru is taking the pandemic. My return to Chicago led to infection

When the plane touched down in Chicago, I sighed with relief. After meticulous planning, we were returning from a two-week trip to Lima, Peru. We hadn’t seen my partner’s sister -- soon to turn 91 years old -- for five years and felt that with thorough precautions, we could keep ourselves and our loved ones safe while in Peru during the pandemic. That sigh of relief soon turned to alarm as we deplaned and saw virtually no one masked or practicing social distancing in the terminal. I

May 31, 2022

[Jeffrey Frankel] Get ready for reverse currency wars

The US dollar is up 12 percent against the euro over the past year and, at 0.93 euros, is approaching parity. If prices of oil and other commodities now seem high in dollar terms, they look even higher in euros. With the greenback surging, and inflation in many countries currently at multi-decade highs, we may be entering so-called “reverse currency wars” -- in which countries compete to strengthen their currencies’ foreign-exchange values. The term “currency wars”

May 30, 2022

[Steven Greenhouse] A new generation of unions

This is the most exciting -- and promising -- moment for the nation’s labor movement in decades thanks to the landmark union victories at Starbucks and Amazon, as well as the spread of union drives to well-known companies like Trader Joe’s and Apple. To find similar excitement about unions, one would have to go back to the 1930s and the victorious Flint sit-down strike against General Motors, which inspired a tremendous wave of strikes and union drives across the US. What has made t

May 27, 2022

[Lee Kyong-hee] The plight of seamstresses, bakers and migrant farm workers

“Sewing Sisters,” a full-length documentary released this year, transports viewers to Seoul Peace Market in the 1970s. It unmasks the fate of garment workers galvanized by a suicide-protest against their harsh working conditions. And, when layered over what we see today, it illuminates how much has not changed, despite the new president’s claim that structural gender inequality no longer exists in this country. Chun Tae-il was one of thousands of workers in a hive of sweatshop

May 26, 2022

[Kim Seong-kon] When suspicion becomes procedure

As the new government has launched, the season of National Assembly hearings for Cabinet members has come again. As expected, controversial issues such as plagiarism, aggressive real estate investment and income sources are at the forefront of the discussion. The most contentious issue is what Koreans call “parent chance,” which refers to advantages that children receive from parents in influential positions in society. In many other countries, it is only natural for parents to hel

May 25, 2022

[Doyle McManus] India has become a US partner in countering China — a limited partner, that is

For more than two decades, American presidents have invested high hopes in a deepening US relationship with India. And at first glance, India looks like a natural US ally, not only an electoral democracy but a rapidly growing economy that fears the expanding power of China. Last year, President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Washington and declared a “global strategic partnership” -- not quite a formal alliance, but the next best thing. Then Russia invade

May 25, 2022

[Jos Midas Bartman] The fight for press freedom is local

A macabre political thriller recently unfolded in the Philippine province of Palawan, an island known mostly for its rich biodiversity and pristine beaches. On May 9, Joel T. Reyes, the alleged mastermind of the 2011 murder of well-known radio broadcaster Gerry Ortega, ran again for governor. Had Reyes won, the possibilities for Ortega’s family to obtain justice for the killing would have dwindled. Fortunately for them, he lost. Although episodes like the Ortega murder might seem extreme,

May 24, 2022

[Lynn Schmidt] True leaders practice the art of persuasion. Others tweet out trash talk

There is something that has been sorely missing in the United States in the last decade -- soaring rhetoric. We are lacking leaders who, like Abraham Lincoln, appeal to our better angels through their ability to craft rhetoric that resonates in people’s hearts and minds. Rhetoric appeals to people’s emotions and logic to persuade, motivate, or inform. In the fourth century B.C., Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote “The Art of Rhetoric,” in which he defined rhetoric as the

May 24, 2022

[Thomas Spoehr] America’s Army: ‘Equitable’ but not combat-ready

Americans are used to picturing US Army combat soldiers as incredibly tough individuals, able to run faster and do more pushups than most people. In today’s Army, though, that notion is officially passe. At a recent Senate hearing, we learned that Army physical fitness has been sacrificed on the altar of gender equity, a move that former infantryman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, noted, will “get soldiers killed.” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth admitted to Cotton that the serv

May 23, 2022

[Robert J. Fouser] Yoon Suk-yeol’s neoliberalism

President Yoon Suk-yeol began his five-year term last Tuesday with an optimistic inauguration speech. In it, the new president focused on raising the nation’s competitiveness in science and technology and maintaining a strong security posture, but it was his repeated use of the word freedom that caught people’s attention. The president used the word 35 times in the 17-minute speech. The speech immediately set President Yoon apart from today’s intellectual currents moving away

May 20, 2022