Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has achieved something none of his predecessors managed: Winning a parliamentary majority, obviating the need to form a coalition. Whether he knows how to capitalize on this unprecedented victory will be evident from his next steps.According to preliminary results from Sunday’s snap election, Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People grouping looks set to not only win 122 seats under the party list system, but a further 125 seats under the first-past-t

Viewpoints July 24, 2019

Now that Christine Lagarde has announced her resignation as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, German chancellor Angela Merkel says Europeans “again” have a “claim” to fill what is arguably the world’s most important economic job. Merkel is invoking a decades-old political deal, which gives Europe the IMF leadership in return for allowing Americans to run the World Bank.If global leaders want the IMF to achieve its mission of ensuring internationa

Viewpoints July 23, 2019

In 1960, South Korea had a total fertility rate of more than six children per woman, high enough to cause a population explosion. But as the country developed, this number dropped decade by decade:A country needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 -- a little more than one child per parent -- to maintain long-term population stability. South Korea’s fertility is now about half that number. And it’s still falling. The country’s statistics office reported that in 2018, the fertility r

Viewpoints July 21, 2019

As he has so many times since bursting onto the presidential stage in 2015, Donald Trump played the race card Sunday. He launched nearly three dozen broadsides on Twitter throughout the day, but a trio of his tweets stood out because they demonstrated how casually he likes to uncork his venom and how unwilling the Republican Party is to contain him.Trump was targeting four new Democratic congresswomen of color (nicknamed the “Squad”) who have become ubiquitous advocates for progressi

Viewpoints July 17, 2019

To outsiders, it may seem like the deepening rift between Japan and South Korea has blown up out of a clear blue sky.For all the wrangling over the legacy of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula, which ended in 1945, there’s far more on paper to join than to separate them. Both are Northeast Asian democracies that have close military and economic ties to the US; potent exports of electronics, cars and cultural products; and a love of seafood and beef.After decades whe

Viewpoints July 15, 2019

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been increasing signs that the Trump administration -- and particularly the president himself -- is moderating its position on North Korea’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. Gone are the adamant statements that the US will only accept complete, immediate and irreversible denuclearization. Instead, we’ve seen a symbolic but historic meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un at the Demilitarized Zone, more flattering rhetoric about the North Korean di

Viewpoints July 15, 2019

Argentina’s foreign minister fought back tears. President Maurico Macri called it “the most important agreement ever signed in our history.” Latin America’s biggest economy would soon be “reborn,” predicted a top aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who likewise heralded the “great day.”The June 28 deal between the European Union and Mercosur was a breakthrough. Who knew that even as China and the US played chicken with international trade,

Viewpoints July 10, 2019

Hyundai Motor expects to enter the US pickup market soon with what’s likely to be an American-made vehicle aimed at luring buyers who aren’t traditional truck owners, an executive said Monday.“It’ll be a very versatile vehicle,” Michael O’Brien, vice president of product, corporate and digital planning for Hyundai’s US unit, said in an interview. “That has the promise of creating a whole new class of buyers.” The South Korean automaker won&rs

Mobility July 9, 2019

Softbank Group’s Vision Fund has invested its $100 billion cash pile in 75 unicorns around the world. Not a single one is from Japan, its own backyard.That may be because the pickings are slim: While the US has 179 unicorns (private startups valued over $1 billion), China 93 and India 18, Japan has just two, according to CB Insights. How can a country that pioneered the Walkman and android robots fail to produce more valuable startups? The explanation may be somewhat arcane, but helps get

Viewpoints July 7, 2019

Is there any method to Donald Trump’s madness on trade?Politicians and investors are all struggling to make sense of the US president’s tendency to stop, go and reverse course in his dealings with China and Europe. Financial traders went to sleep Monday basking in the glow of a trade truce with Beijing. They woke up Tuesday to news that the Americans had expanded a list of European products that may be whacked by tariffs (under the guise of the long-running state subsidy dispute betw

Viewpoints July 4, 2019

It is clearer than ever that the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 made high tax states less competitive with low tax states. But instead of using this moment to reflect on how taxes influence behavior, politicians in places such as Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are inexplicably doubling-down by threatening to raise taxes on their citizens even more. Until politicians start to understand the benefits of economic incentives and an equitable tax system, expect these high-tax states

Viewpoints July 1, 2019

When President Donald Trump arrives at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka on Friday, many of his peers will want to discuss bilateral crises with him: China’s Xi Jinping about their trade spat, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the purchase of Russian missile-defense systems and Japan’s Shinzo Abe about Trump’s bizarre notion about ending their bilateral defense pact. They will also want to hear from him about a crisis that affects them all: the confrontation with Iran.Tha

Viewpoints June 27, 2019

If we are living through historic events, would we know?In 1965, Arthur Danto, a philosopher at Columbia University, argued that it is impossible to tell, when you’re in the midst of things, whether an event is going to be deemed “historic” by future historians. If something happens -- Russia successfully reclaims Crimea, for example, or Pete Buttigieg declares that he’s running for president -- its ultimate significance will be determined by causal chains that cannot pos

Viewpoints June 17, 2019

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has, outwardly at least, been one of the world’s most stable and predictable regimes -- an assertive authoritarian government propped up by a mix of repression and acquiescence at home.So it’s only natural that some of the country’s leading analytical minds are looking to life after Putin is scheduled to depart in 2024: The present is too depressing to discuss.The Free Russia Foundation, a Washington-based th

Viewpoints June 6, 2019