The Korea Herald

[Hal Brands] There’s a crack between US and Europe over China

In several new strategy documents, the Trump administration argues that America needs to gear up for prolonged geopolitical competition with China. This shift in US policy is welcome because it reflects the growing threat that a revisionist, authoritarian China poses to American interests in the Asia-Pacific and to the liberal international system more broadly. Yet even though US-China competition is primarily a transpacific matter, a transatlantic divergence may hamper American strategy on how

Feb. 12, 2018

[Hal Brands] There’s a crack between US and Europe over China

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Italy’s youth need ideas like these

It wasn’t long ago that Matteo Renzi was the King Midas of Italian politics. At just 39, he rose from being mayor of Florence to becoming Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister. Such was his popularity that in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament, he secured the largest vote share ever gained by a left-of-center party in Italy. Many international leaders fell for his mixture of charisma and bravado: Barack Obama chose him as guest of honor for his final state dinner at the White House, s

Feb. 12, 2018

[Michael Walzer] US foreign policy and the missing left

Consider the disaster of American foreign policy under President Donald Trump. While the president spent his first year in office trading insults with the dictator of North Korea, that country has moved steadily forward with its nuclear program, and the United States has moved steadily closer to a war that no one wants.In Syria last April, US forces attacked government installations with a one-time bombing raid that, with no political or diplomatic follow-through, achieved nothing. Similarly, af

Feb. 12, 2018

[Daniel Moss] A new era for China’s central bank

The next governor of the People’s Bank of China has a broader, more conceptual inbox than is typical of incoming central bankers.　Zhou Xiaochuan has held the post since 2002 and has hinted that retirement is coming. Zhou helped transform the bank from a fairly obscure bureaucratic outpost in the economic world to a place with a growing international profile that’s increasingly transparent -- compared with when he arrived -- even if it still has a great deal of work to do. 　The next leader will h

Feb. 12, 2018

[Eli Lake] Ukraine’s top spy is pleased with Trump

Vasyl Hrystak is the last person you would expect to praise President Donald Trump for his administration’s approach to Russia. As the director of the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s spy service, he is intimately familiar with Russian predations in his own country. And yet, Trump often sounds oblivious -- at best -- to the Russian threat.　Last summer, Trump agreed to a joint US-Russian commission to examine cyberthreats, a ridiculous conceit considering that Russia hacked Democrats in

Feb. 11, 2018

[Eli Lake] Ukraine’s top spy is pleased with Trump

[Leonid Bershidsky] How Elon Musk beat Russia’s space program

Nowhere did Tuesday’s launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket echo as powerfully as in Russia. The private US company continues to produce technical feats on which the Russian space industry has given up: First the consistent reuse of rockets, and now the successful launch of a rocket with as many as 27 engines.　The Soviet Union tried something similar in the 1960s and early 1970s. Sergei Korolev, the rocket designer who launched the first satellite and the first man into space, began the develop

Feb. 11, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] How Elon Musk beat Russia’s space program

[Joe Nocera] A #MeToo tale of two corporate boards

On Monday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Steve Wynn, the chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts, had hidden a $7.5 million payment to “a woman who accused the casino mogul of forcing her to have sex.” It was the latest in a 10-day string of revelations about Wynn’s sexual behavior, going back decades, that has left him bruised in the press yet still in control of his empire.　About an hour and a half later, Lululemon Athletica announced that Chief Executive Laurent P

Feb. 11, 2018

[William H. Frey] Millennials can make America whole

“Build a wall and my generation will tear it down,” read a sign held by a young anti-Trump protester at a recent rally, a cry reiterated by Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III in his response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. That sentiment could serve as a slogan for millennials, now in their 20s and early 30s, who are well placed to serve as a bridge between the older adult population and the Americans who are now in their teenage years or younger.　One major fault line in our divi

Feb. 11, 2018

[Priya Fielding-Singh] Why do poor Americans eat so unhealthfully? Because junk food is the only indulgence they can afford

The verdict is in: Food deserts don’t drive nutritional disparities in the United States the way we thought. Over the last decade, study after study has shown that differences in access to healthful food can’t fully explain why wealthy Americans consume a more healthful diet than poor Americans.　If food deserts aren’t to blame, then what is?　I’ve spent the better part of a decade working to answer this question. I interviewed 73 California families -- more than 150 parents and kids -- and spent

Feb. 11, 2018

[Yoon Young-kwan] From Pyeongchang to peace?

After some two years of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the reprieve, however brief, that the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang promises to bring is more than welcome. But, with some military experts estimating that the probability of war now surpasses 50 percent, complacency is not an option.After years of accelerated missile development, which culminated in successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles and, allegedly, a hydrogen bomb last year,

Feb. 9, 2018

[Yoon Young-kwan] From Pyeongchang to peace?

[Leonid Bershidsky] Playing ‘Back to the Future’ with World War II

What if World War II leaders suddenly reappeared? Attempts to answer that question have produced box office hits in Germany and, most recently, in Italy. I‘d love to see filmmakers from Russia, Spain, the UK and the US tackle the subject.　German writer Timur Vermes’s novel “Look Who’s Back,” published in 2012, started it all. Made into a movie in 2015, the story of Adolf Hitler’s miraculous reappearance in modern Germany made $25.3 million at the box office, the second best result among German f

Feb. 9, 2018

[Noah Smith] Trump‘s chain-immigration plan takes aim at Asia

“Chain migration.” It’s a term that’s on the lips of lots of people in the immigration debate. Stephen Miller, the Trump aide who has been the most forceful proponent of immigration restriction, uses the term constantly. Originally, “chain migration” referred to the repeated use of family-reunification immigration -- a man brings in his wife, who brings in her sister, who brings in her husband, who brings in his brother, and so on. Now, though, restrictionists have begun to use the term to refer

Feb. 8, 2018

[Noah Smith] Trump‘s chain-immigration plan takes aim at Asia

[James Stavridis] Six steps on the path to a Latin America strategy

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is a pragmatic Texan with plenty of experience in Latin America, gleaned over his decades in the oil business. As he wraps up a five-day tour of the vibrant world to the south, he would do well to remember the words of Jorge Ramos, the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued Univision journalist, who said of its contributions to literature: “It’s no coincidence that magic realism happens in Latin America, because for us dreams and aspirations are part of life.” Finding the

Feb. 8, 2018

[James Stavridis] Six steps on the path to a Latin America strategy

[Jongsoo Lee] America, North Korea must change their present course to avoid war

The United States and North Korea need to wake up to the reality that time is running out for a peaceful resolution to their nuclear standoff. Both must adjust their behavior if they are to avoid a war.Pyongyang must realize that, at present, it’s nuclear and missile program is making it more vulnerable to a US pre-emptive attack instead of strengthening its self-defense. If it’s nuclear and missile program is indeed for self-defense and it aspires to be a responsible nuclear power, as Kim Jong-

Feb. 8, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] The Berlin Wall is still standing

The Berlin Wall divided the city for 28 years, two months and 28 days starting Aug. 13, 1961. It ended on Nov. 9, 1989, when Guenter Schabowski, a top East German official, erroneously announced that crossing into West Berlin was now permitted. Now that the same amount of time -- 28 years, two months and 28 days -- has passed, it’s fitting that the next German government is expected to end the solidarity tax created to even out economic differences between both sides.　While there’s little sign o

Feb. 8, 2018

[J. Bradford DeLong] Donald Trump is playing to lose

America certainly has a different kind of president than what it is used to. What distinguishes Donald Trump from his predecessors is not just his temperament and generalized ignorance, but also his approach to policymaking.First, consider Bill Clinton, who in 1992 was, like Trump, elected without a majority of voters. Once in office, Clinton appealed to the left with fiscal-stimulus and health-care bills (both unsuccessful), but also tacked center with a pro-growth deficit-reduction bill. He ap

Feb. 8, 2018

[Barbara Catherine Richardson] The world coming together to PyeongChang

In 1988, Canada and South Korea hosted the Winter and Summer Olympics in the same year. That year, the Winter Olympics were hosted in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.There were “firsts.” It was the first year that freestyle skiing was introduced as an Olympic sport. A German athlete went on to Korea and became the first to win medals in both Olympics in the same year. There was heartbreak and inspiration. American speedskater Dan Jansen’s personal tragedy was one of the more poignant eve

Feb. 7, 2018

[Barbara Catherine Richardson] The world coming together to PyeongChang

[Andrew Sheng] What can we do about inequality?

In the last column, I asked why we were blind to inequality. The more important question is: What can we do about it?　Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King argued that “we must rapidly begin ... the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.” Otherwise, “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” All triplets are now manifested in the Trumpist debate in America.　Inequality has risen because of four fundamental forces -

Feb. 7, 2018

[Andrew Sheng] What can we do about inequality?

[David Rothkopf] How Trump beats Nixon

The political crisis now confronting the United States is not the worst since Watergate. It is the worst since the Civil War.　It is hard to escape the conclusion that President Donald Trump is waging a relentless, self-preservation-driven campaign to discredit the core of our justice establishment and to unseat anyone he sees as a threat.　This is not to minimize the damage Watergate did to America. Richard Nixon oversaw an illegal effort to gain electoral advantage and then covered it up. He pla

Feb. 7, 2018

[Komal Sri-Kumar] Falling stocks, rising yields aren‘t new normal

Investors in US equities and bonds headed for the doors on Friday, with the bearish sentiment extending to global markets as the new week began Monday. The immediate cause of the sell-off was the jobs report for January, which showed that average hourly wages rose at the fastest annual pace since 2009. 　But the rising pay was a false alarm. Workers were employed for fewer hours last month, reducing their weekly take-home pay compared with December, and significantly slowing the pace of increase

Feb. 7, 2018