The Korea Herald

[Robert B. Reich] Mitt Romney and his own party

There are two major theories about why Mitt Romney is dropping in the polls. One is that Romney is a lousy candidate, unable to connect with people or make his case. The other is that Americans are finally beginning to see how radical the GOP has become and are repudiating it.Most Republicans hold to the first view, for obvious reasons. And their long knives are already out.Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan called the Romney campaign “incompetent” and “a rolling calamity.” Republican guru Will

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2012

[Robert B. Reich] Mitt Romney and his own party

The ‘Vagina’ chronicles

NEW YORK ― Has there really been a sexual revolution? One of the themes that I explore in my new book, “Vagina: A New Biography,” is that the West’s supposedly sexually liberated societies, in which sexual images and content are available everywhere, have not really been all that liberating for women. Many of the reactions to my book tend to confirm that belief.Many responses were positive: the book is Publishers Weekly’s top science book of the fall. But the tone of some of the criticism ― from

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2012

[Masahiro Matsumura] Apathy and coming political earthquake in Japan

OSAKA ― Japan is now confronting challenges at home and abroad that are as serious as any it has had to face since World War II’s end. Yet the Japanese public is displaying remarkable apathy. The country’s two major political parties, the governing Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party recently chose their leaders, yet ordinary Japanese responded with a collective shrug. But Japan’s political system is unlikely to remain a matter of popular indifference for much longer.The D

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2012

[Masahiro Matsumura] Apathy and coming political earthquake in Japan

[David Ignatius] Beyond the Afghan dead end

WASHINGTON ― While the overlooked war in Afghanistan grinds on, a group of officials in Washington, Kabul and Islamabad are exploring a bare-bones strategy that would narrow each side’s demands to a set of minimum conditions for escaping the current diplomatic dead end. The aim is to create a pathway for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from a war that almost nobody sees as “winnable” by military force alone. The goal is a framework for political transition where each side’s demands are bo

Viewpoints Oct. 7, 2012

[David Ignatius] Beyond the Afghan dead end

Romney can win by doing one thing

PARIS ― Mitt Romney’s biggest problem in this race isn’t that he’s wealthy ― it’s that he lacks the sort of passion that can only be forged by trial and tribulation. It’s one thing to articulate the principles of free-market capitalism and limited government as the solution to the country’s current woes, but they have little effect when they can’t be strapped to an emotional rocket and delivered in surgical strikes straight through voters’ hearts.Politics will always be about connecting with peo

Viewpoints Oct. 7, 2012

America’s election and the global economy

STANFORD ― As America’s elections approach, with President Barack Obama slightly in front of his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, pollsters still rate the races for control of the presidency and the United States Senate too close to call, with the House of Representatives likely to remain in Republican hands. The differences between the candidates are considerable, and highly consequential for American economic policy and the global economy, although enactment of

Viewpoints Oct. 7, 2012

Why should regulators have to listen to you?

The U.S. Bill of Rights declares that no one may be deprived of life, liberty or property “without due process of law.” The core meaning of this provision is that the government cannot hurt you ― by taking away your freedom or what you own ― without giving you an opportunity to have your say. This right helps to define liberty under law. Public officials are fallible, and before they take action against you, they should hear you out to make sure that they have the facts straight. Human beings sh

Viewpoints Oct. 7, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Gamble on U.S. fiscal reform doomed to fail

NEWPORT BEACH ― It sounded like a really clever idea: Use a very public and sizeable threat to get bickering politicians to collaborate and compromise. Well, it has not worked so far, and the already-sizeable stakes just got bigger.No, I am not talking here about Europe’s debt crisis, decisive resolution of which still requires greater cooperation and shared responsibility, both within individual eurozone member states and between creditor and debtor countries. I am referring to the complex fisc

Viewpoints Oct. 7, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Gamble on U.S. fiscal reform doomed to fail

Swimming against global tide on reproductive rights

Costa Rican women are appealing to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to overturn a national law banning in-vitro fertilization.The state’s national ombudsman, Ofelia Taitelbaum, started the process, saying “people will understand that this is about rights” that are appropriate for “our times.”In the worldwide debate over abortion and women’s rights, this might seem like an unusual law. After all, in-vitro fertilization actually creates life. But Costa Rica is heavily Catholic; more than 7

Viewpoints Oct. 5, 2012

[J. Bradford DeLong] Stage three for the euro crisis?

BERKELEY ― The first two components of the euro crisis ― a banking crisis that resulted from excessive leverage in both the public and private sectors, followed by a sharp fall in confidence in eurozone governments ― have been addressed successfully, or at least partly so. But that leaves the third, longest-term, and most dangerous factor underlying the crisis: the structural imbalance between the eurozone’s north and south.First, the good news: The fear that Europe’s banks could collapse, with

Viewpoints Oct. 5, 2012

[J. Bradford DeLong] Stage three for the euro crisis?

What if we’re wrong in measuring Iran?

As the U.S. contemplates whether to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, intelligence community leaders should be asking themselves a question: What if we’re wrong?That question wasn’t asked ― or at least wasn’t answered ― in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, with devastating consequences. Before giving up on containment or deterrence polices and undertaking a “preventive war” against a nation that has not attacked the United States, we should be as certain as possible of the evidence.Iran today pre

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2012

[Lee Byong-chul] A nuclear-armed S. Korea?

South Korean officials have recently realized that the United States is likely to try to forbid them from enriching uranium and expanding their country’s missile range, rather than leave these issues on the diplomatic back burner. Indeed, recent discreet talks, in which the U.S. has disregarded South Korean efforts to supplement the controversial U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which expires in March 2014, suggest that there are reasons to be deeply worried about the alliance’s f

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2012

[Lee Byong-chul] A nuclear-armed S. Korea?

Other firms must learn from Sharp’s setback

Even a company with cutting-edge technology and a strong brand will founder if it makes a mistake in the selection and concentration of its business. The setback of Sharp Corp., dubbed a giant of liquid crystal display panels, is a warning for the Japanese manufacturing industry.Amid a financial crisis, Sharp has compiled a rehabilitation plan centering on cutting more than 10,000 jobs and selling its television factories abroad. Highly evaluating the plan, Sharp’s main financing banks have deci

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2012

Taiwan an export powerhouse of fraudsters

Long before the recent brouhaha over “Taiwanese laborers” in Australia, Taiwan has been the export powerhouse of fraudsters to the mainland and Southeast Asia. On Sept. 18, the Philippines deported 279 Taiwanese arrested in the country’s biggest crackdown on online fraud. They were accused of impersonating police, prosecutors and bank officials to convince victims in China and Taiwan to transfer money into accounts provided by the syndicate, the Associated Press reported.In an analysis published

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2012

[Andrew Sheng] Should Germany exit eurozone?

As we enter the fourth quarter of 2012, two influential commentators have questioned whether Germany should exit the eurozone. Earlier this month, George Soros argued that Germany must either lead or leave the eurozone. This week, Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf also considered the question and argued that Germany will have to pay a high price for her mercantilist policies. The fact that German Chancellor Merkel has come out openly to overrule the Bundesbank president on commitments to the

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2012

[Andrew Sheng] Should Germany exit eurozone?

Articles by Yu Kun-ha