Faced with Russian nuclear threats during the Cold War, the strategist Herman Kahn calibrated a macabre ladder of escalation with 44 different rungs ranging from “Ostensible Crisis” to “Spasm or Insensate War.” In the era of cyberwarfare that is now dawning, the rules of the game have not yet been established with such coldblooded precision. That is why this period of Russian-American relations is so tricky. The strategic framework that could provide stability has not been set. Russian hackers

Viewpoints Sept. 20, 2016

On the surface, China seems to be fulfilling its obligations as a member of the international community and a key player in dealing with North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile provocations. The Beijing government departed from its usual tepid attitude by joining the international community’s condemnation of the North after it detonated its fifth nuclear bomb Sept. 9.A permanent member of the UN Security Council, China agreed to a statement which called for the council to take “further signific

Editorial Sept. 19, 2016

South Gyeongsang Gov. Hong Joon-pyo is well known for his self-righteousness and freewheeling style. He often draws public attention for his irreverent behavior and controversial remarks. So it hardly comes as a surprise that he refuses to resign as governor despite a court ruling earlier this month that found him guilty of taking illegal political funds. To make matters worse, while handing out an 18-month prison term, the court did not take him into custody, citing his status as a serving gove

Editorial Sept. 19, 2016

Moms and dads have their special day. So do grandparents.It may seem a bit odd to some, but single people have their own week to celebrate, and it starts Sunday. The Buckeye Singles Council began National Singles Week in Ohio in the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their contributions to society. The Census Bureau reports that the week is widely observed during the third full week of September as “Unmarried and Single Americans Week.” It is a recognition that many unmarri

Viewpoints Sept. 19, 2016

Last month, 18 people in the Gopalganj district of India’s Bihar state died after consuming illicit alcohol, highlighting — once again — the peculiar relationship between morality and tragedy in India. The victims were poisoned because this April, in a fit of moralism, Bihar adopted a draconian law prohibiting the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol. It is far from the first such ban that has ended badly.In a country where the national hero is the saintly Mahatma Gandhi, who considered

Viewpoints Sept. 19, 2016

With the cauldron at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro extinguished, fans and critics alike are revisiting the perennial Olympic question: To whom is this enormously oversized effort to host the games really worth? One beneficiary that was prominently featured in Rio is the world of global security and surveillance.Olympic delegations and high-profile guests clearly want to be assured that the host has control over security. The organizers are equally as eager to demonstrate that they have t

Viewpoints Sept. 19, 2016

This year’s parliamentary audit, which will mark the first conducted under the 20th National Assembly, is scheduled to begin Sept. 26 for a three-week run.Wordy warfare between the ruling and opposition parties will likely intensify over the issue of the US and Korean governments’ accord to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense on the peninsula and North Korea’s fifth nuclear test earlier this month.Rival parties have also been at loggerheads over whether to question Woo Byung-woo, a pr

Editorial Sept. 18, 2016

After the five-day Chuseok holiday, the local economy and financial markets will face significant external influence from the US in the form of a decision to be publicized here Sept. 22. If the US Federal Reserve keeps its base rate untouched again during the gathering of the Federal Open Market Committee, slated for Sept. 20-21, South Korea’s policymakers might be given more time to boost the economy in the fourth quarter.Some foreign investment banks even predict the Bank of Korea could choose

Editorial Sept. 18, 2016

Stalin, in the first decade of Soviet power, backed the idea of “socialism in one country,” meaning that, until conditions ripened, socialism was for the USSR alone. When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared, in July 2014, his intention to build an “illiberal democracy,” it was widely assumed that he was creating “illiberalism in one country.” Now, Orban and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and puppet master of the country’s government (thou

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2016

It’s hard to learn your ABCs when all you can see on the page are blurry squiggles. That’s the problem that hundreds of thousands of American children face as they start school with undiagnosed vision problems. Fortunately, helping them needn‘t be expensive or complicated. It’s just a matter of getting parents, schools and vision professionals to work better together.Most kids’ vision checkups are the kind that involve reading pyramids of letters and numbers from 6 meters away. But these often f

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2016

“There’s going to be a global shaming campaign.” -- Professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, on an international plan to rein in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, Sept. 11, 2016, the Washington Post.　Earlier this month, North Korea celebrated the 68th anniversary of its regime with an underground nuclear blast, its fifth since 2006. A few days before that, the North launched a round of medium-range ballistic missile tests toward Japan.　The responses have been predictably

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2016