Proclaiming its fate to be strongly tied to Asia, the United States unveiled on Saturday detailed plans to build and strengthen its military presence in the region. Time will tell whether the growing U.S. presence becomes a positive force for the peace, development and prosperity of Asia, or simply heightens the tensions in a region already convoluted by an arms race.Asia is increasingly caught in the paradox of prosperity: as countries become more prosperous, they spend proportionally more of t

Viewpoints June 10, 2012

The ruling Saenuri Party has come up with a sweeping set of reform proposals to curtail privileges and benefits for lawmakers and hold them to higher ethical standards.The party said the package is designed to implement its pledges made for the April parliamentary election. It is desirable for a political party to try to put into practice its election promises to the public. The package contains six proposals, including scrapping lawmakers’ immunity from arrest, reforming their much criticized r

Editorial June 8, 2012

The controversy over the alleged pro-North Korea lawmakers of the left-wing United Progressive Party has escalated into a virulent ideological dispute between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party. The escalation was sparked by DUP Rep. Lim Soo-kyung, a former high-profile student activist who became a lawmaker on a proportional representation ticket. Lim recently insulted North Korean defectors in the South by calling them “traitors.” She apologized to the def

Editorial June 8, 2012

Bahrain is tiny ― an island kingdom off the Saudi coast with a half-million citizens and as many expatriate workers. It’s also a strategic spot that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet. And the turmoil there says a great deal about the sectarian forces at work in the Mideast and how conflagrations could be avoided with judicious leadership. This week, Bahrain’s government announced measures to ban a Shiite opposition party that has played a major role in anti- monarchy protests, apparently for minor techni

Viewpoints June 8, 2012

The question has to be asked: For how long will the Philippine government maintain its “strategic silence” vis-a-vis the civil conflict in Syria, which gets bloodier with each carnage reported, the latest being the killing of 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, in Houla on May 25? The death toll in the 14-month-old conflict is reported to have climbed past 10,000, but the Philippines continues to keep to a see-hear-and-speak-no-evil mode. In fact, it was the only one absent when the

Viewpoints June 8, 2012

As China is a large country with a rising influence on regional and world affairs, it is no surprise that China should have been in the spotlight at the three-day Asia Security Summit that concluded on Sunday in Singapore.Beijing hopes such regional platforms will promote dialogue and cooperation to safeguard regional peace and stability.Still some nations sought to use the Singapore forum, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, to try and sow seeds of discord and call for outside intervention i

Viewpoints June 8, 2012

Now that Mitt Romney is certain to be the Republican nominee for president, it’s time to examine his foreign-affairs policies and background.In short, he has no significant foreign policy experience. None at all. And his policy pronouncements have been disturbing.He called President Barack Obama “naive” for announcing plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan. Well, Romney is the one who is naive, and that’s the problem. Given all the dilemmas the U.S. faces worldwide, we don’t need another presid

Viewpoints June 7, 2012

When hundreds of policymakers, industrialists, researchers, academics and NGO representatives met in Seoul for the Global Green Growth Summit 2012 on May 10 and 11, it was no wonder that the Asian region was well represented ― not only because of the location, but also due to the region’s interest in energy developments.Positive developments, like the success of Korea’s green growth policy, contributed to that interest. Challenges, like the tragedy of Fukushima, served as a stark reminder of the

Viewpoints June 7, 2012

MADRID ― Economics, particularly economic theories, always yield in the end to political imperatives. That is why Europe’s fast-changing political landscape, reshaped by electoral insurrections in France and Greece against German-backed fiscal austerity, is bound to affect Europe’s economic policies as well.Such an imperative has been at work throughout Europe’s postwar history. Indeed, Europe’s shift from the modest customs union of the European Economic Community to the single market and commo

Viewpoints June 7, 2012

The 19th National Assembly started its term in office on May 30. But it has yet to hold an opening session, with the rival parties bickering over who will head each of the 18 committees.No one knows when the legislature will start its normal operations. The standoff may last more than a month, if past experience is any indication.Still, each lawmaker will be given, without interruption, a monthly payment of 12.24 million won and access to 200 perks ― ranging from free rides on state-owned means

Editorial June 6, 2012