Last year I visited a friend of mine, journalist Raul Silva, in a working-class neighborhood of Cuernavaca. A popular destination for tourists and students of Spanish, the city, about 60 miles south of the Mexican capital, was on edge. Only a few weeks before, a drug gang had audaciously displayed its power, issuing a curfew one Friday night, warning that anyone out after 8 p.m. might be “mistaken

Viewpoints May 11, 2011

Obama pulls another Osama. He signs the orders. The operation succeeds. This time the target is another great enemy: the federal debt.Or so, at least, runs the national daydream.That Americans indulge themselves in such quirky fantasies reflects a desperation about reality. The reality is that in domestic affairs, President Barack Obama moves not like a leader who nailed Osama bin Laden, but like

Viewpoints May 11, 2011

The nation’s political parties are in a state of flux. Party leaderships are in serious disarray and analysts see the possibility of a major regrouping when parliamentary and presidential votes draw near. Popularity ratings fluctuate wildly while President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rate keeps sliding. The ruling Grand National Party’s by-election loss last month in Bundang, long considered a conser

Editorial May 10, 2011

While there is a near zero possibility that Kim Jong-il will accept President Lee’s offer of inviting the North Korean leader to the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul next March, which carries heavy preconditions, the gesture shows the government’s sincerity to bring the rogue regime to the international arena. President Lee also reminded Pyongyang of what it can expect from the international socie

Editorial May 10, 2011

President Obama should take full advantage of the opportunity provided by the death of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to reshape dramatically U.S. policy related to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.For a decade, this country has expended an inordinate amount of its resources, not to mention the more than 1,500 soldiers killed, to fight a war in Afghanistan that never promised to yield compara

Viewpoints May 10, 2011

Nguyen Van Giau sighs audibly and shifts in his chair when I ask him the dreaded question: Is Vietnam losing its inflation battle?It’s one the country’s central bank governor can barely go an hour without fielding these days. Such is life in a nation where consumer prices climbed almost 18 percent in April from a year earlier.Giau’s assurances that he’s committed to taming inflation aren’t resonat

Viewpoints May 10, 2011

BANGKOK ― The military skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia that have claimed more than two dozen lives, caused scores of injuries, and displaced tens of thousands of people since February are primarily attributable to domestic politics in both countries. Rooted in ancient enmities and the legacy of the colonial era, the fighting is damaging the entire region. So virulent is the dispute that e

Viewpoints May 10, 2011

There is something surreal about Pakistani officials’ reaction to the killing of Osama bin Laden.Their focus has been wholly on the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by the U.S. raid, rather than the fact that bin Laden was living well in their country. The army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, warned he would not tolerate any repeat of such covert action; the country’s foreign secretary, Salma

Viewpoints May 10, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak began his European tour meeting with German leaders Monday. With few pressing issues on hand, other than how to increase economic cooperation using the just-ratified Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement, Lee’s week-long trip through Germany, Denmark and France will be a respite from the headaches at home complicated by a by-election defeat, falling approval ratings and

Editorial May 9, 2011

Koreans love kimchi so much that they want global citizens to enjoy the unique side dish, which they do not hesitate to identify with the Korean culture itself. The people who make the world’s biggest ships, best color TV sets and cell phones, and increasingly reliable automobiles have wondered why Korean food had to be rated below Thai and Vietnamese, let alone Chinese or Japanese.So, they are th

Editorial May 9, 2011

The American mission in Afghanistan changed with two quick shots from a Navy SEAL last Sunday.The calls for reflection on the nature of the war on terror with the death of Osama bin Laden have merit. Al-Qaida and its leader were the reasons behind 100,000 U.S. troops facing daily dangers.In a world without bin Laden, the terror war could be as legitimately staged in Somalia, Yemen or Iran.Even bef

Viewpoints May 9, 2011

Even though the threat of a government shutdown is over for now, the federal services that Americans depend on are still at risk of disappearing.House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to reduce the deficit by gutting $375 billion from the federal government in the next 10 years would severely threaten the important work of the nation’s federal workforce.As would the recommendations put forth b

Viewpoints May 9, 2011