Most Americans are unaware that the United States is already fighting a war with China that involves Taiwan. This war isn't yet being fought with weapons. Instead, it is a battle to control the world's most critical technology: the design and production of microchips -- on which virtually everything in our modern world depends. From microwaves to smartphones to cars, from the stock market to missiles -- our economy and military run on the tiny silicon chips that power computer systems.

Viewpoints Dec. 15, 2022

Soccer is undoubtedly the most popular sport among Koreans. Whenever World Cup season comes, many Koreans burn the midnight oil to watch the games with the Taeguk Warriors. Whenever a Korean player succeeds in a “goal-in,” shouts of joy burst out here and there from across apartment complexes in the middle of the night. At the ongoing World Cup in Qatar this year, the South Korean national soccer team did not fail the Korean people once again and performed quite well, reaching the ro

Viewpoints Dec. 14, 2022

The United States and its allies in Europe have spent the last 10 months turning the screws on the Russian economy in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. The Western coalition blocked Russia from accessing around half of its more than $600 billion in foreign reserves, disconnected multiple Russian banks from the global financial system, diversified away from Russian natural gas and banned the import of Russian coal. Now, Russian crude oil is being targeted. For the foreseeable

Viewpoints Dec. 9, 2022

The anti-quarantine protests that erupted across China last month highlight the gulf between the Chinese people and Communist Party leaders regarding the necessity of the strict zero-COVID policy. Given the obvious disconnect, it is worth examining how and why the authorities and the public have grown so far apart in their assessment of the policy’s costs and benefits. One important difference seems to be the value that the two sides assign to liberty. While the public may prioritize fre

Viewpoints Dec. 8, 2022

After more than a decade of US policy focused on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, arms negotiations have been shoved off center stage. The long-running dispute over nuclear weapons has been displaced by a more immediate drama -- the rapidly spreading uprising against the Iranian regime. "Our focus every day, and the world's focus, is what's happening in the streets of Iran," Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said last week. "We support what Iranians a

Viewpoints Dec. 7, 2022

Beneath the still-gleaming white dome, the US Capitol’s new generation of promising leaders are jockeying for position, staking their turf, marking their hydrants and swapping last-minute promises for next year’s power. Today we will mainly be speaking to just one category of our promising new leaders: The ones who want the American populace to know how proud they will be to lead the party of law-and-order. These new congressional leaders are proud to give strong, steadfast support t

Viewpoints Dec. 6, 2022

Buddhism was introduced to Korea through two paths: the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo and Baekje. In 372, the emperor of Former Qin, a Chinese dynasty, sent an envoy and monk to Goguryeo’s King Sosurim, with Buddhist statues and scriptures. Twelve years later in 384, the monk Marananta, born in Chota Lahore in north Pakistan, crossed the ocean to Baekje via Eastern Jin, another Chinese dynasty, to bring Buddhism to King Chimnyu of Baekje. It is said that when Marananta decided to lea

Viewpoints Dec. 6, 2022

Dec. 5 marks the 1,000th day since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing, vaccines and other interventions as well as natural infection, the world may be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. But the pandemic is still not over. China has posted record numbers of cases lately and concern is growing that the COVID-19 in China will not respond to “Zero COVID” policies of the past. The question: Is China ready? Vacci

Viewpoints Dec. 5, 2022

I once went to the village of Koreme in Iraqi Kurdistan and walked along a dirt road past a little brick school and a makeshift mosque to a dusty field of almond trees and high grass where all the males of the village -- age 13 to 43 -- had been taken in 1988 and told to squat, side by side. Iraqi soldiers then opened fire, and 27 Kurdish men and boys were killed. I spoke to one of the few survivors, who had hidden behind a tree with a bullet through his knee while his brother, nephew and neighb

Viewpoints Nov. 30, 2022

The timely release of a new film version of Erich Maria Remarque’s "All Quiet on the Western Front" offers a reminder of the close parallels between World War I and the current war between autocracies and democracies. The fighting now is in Ukraine, but, as in WWI, the broader war has several fronts: the energy front, the grain front and, less well noticed, the Western front. Across Western capitals, autocrat-backed lobbyists, enablers, fellow-travelers and “understanders&r

Viewpoints Nov. 15, 2022

The 2022 US midterm elections are just around the corner. The outcome of the election on November 8 is crucial for both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party because it will heavily influence the next presidential election in 2024. Therefore, election campaigns are rampant these days. On their front yard lawn, homeowners set up pickets bearing the names of senators and representatives they support. YouTube subscribers, too, encounter election campaign ads before they can watch the main s

Viewpoints Nov. 2, 2022

High inflation, rising interest rates, falling currencies and volatile energy prices, together with an economic slowdown and post-pandemic budget woes, may increase pressure on the ASEAN+3 -- the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, together with China, Japan and South Korea -- to scale back efforts to mitigate climate risk. While this policy shift may make fiscal sense, it is a mistake that could have grave repercussions for the region and ultimately lead to slower econom

Viewpoints Nov. 1, 2022

American voters seem poised to hand the Republican Party control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate as well, in November’s midterm elections. The same goes for many state races, where polls show Republicans gaining ground. Such an outcome could have profound consequences for American democracy, especially if it results in even greater degradation of the US electoral system. Given the large number of 2020 election deniers running for offices in 2022 and the enormous

Viewpoints Oct. 31, 2022

The world, we are often told, is now defined by great power competition, where states like China and Russia are either seeking to overthrow the “rules-based international order” or stealthily working within the system to change it to their benefit. The Biden administration’s foreign policy strategy is prefaced in large measure on the great power paradigm, and senior US officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken frequently invoke the theme during their remarks. Part of mai

Viewpoints Sept. 6, 2022

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, lies along the Dnieper River in southeastern Ukraine. After Russian forces brutally invaded Ukraine six months ago, they gained control of the nuclear facility early in the fighting. They based soldiers and heavy equipment there and have been using the plant as a defensive shield, lobbing shells from there and hoping Ukrainians would not risk hitting one of the six power units by counterattacking. But Russian officials say Ukraine has

Viewpoints Sept. 6, 2022