The Korea Herald

How to fight unhealthy air pollution? Eat your broccoli

Jul 20, 2014

If you live in a region with lots of air pollution, you might not always breathe easy. So it might help to sit back, relax and enjoy a helping or two of broccoli.Better yet, have a stiff cup of broccoli-sprout tea.It might not be the advice you expect to protect yourself from pollution.But a study that Thomas Kensler and his team began at Johns Hopkins University and completed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that a molecule generated during broccoli consumption, and with
[David Ignatius] U.S. foreign policy shortcomings

Jul 18, 2014

WASHINGTON ― When Attorney General Eric Holder says that the Islamic State that has taken root in Iraq and Syria poses a “deadly” threat, and that he has “extreme, extreme concern” about its bomb makers, that sounds like an emergency. Yet the Obama administration hasn’t settled on a coordinated, aggressive response that might prevent this inferno from spreading. The delay in framing a credible plan for stopping the Islamic State is part of a larger worry about President Obama’s foreign policy. E
The German-American breakup

Jul 18, 2014

When President Barack Obama spoke in July 2008 in Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate, he told a rapturous German audience that peace and progress “require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.” It was supposed to be the opposite of George W. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy, which alienated the Federal Republic of Germany and much of Europe. Yet six years later, relations between Washington and Berlin are more mistrustful than ever.The main problem
A more stable world requires more stable policies

Jul 17, 2014

The world is lately an unstable mess, as crazily off balance as at anytime in the past three and a half decades, says a recent front-page story in The Wall Street Journal, and it’s clearly, frighteningly true.Look at the Middle East and you see bloody conflict in Iraq and Syria and escalating missile exchanges between Israel andHamas. Look at Eastern Europe and you see Ukraine trying to defend itself from pro-Russian rebels. Look at Asia and you see China telling its neighbors that their territo
[Kim Kyung-ho] A regime isolated from history

Jul 17, 2014

The arrival of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at a South Korean port last week irked North Korea, which has recently mixed a show of force with some conciliatory gestures in an apparent bid to break out of its growing isolation. The 97,000-ton USS George Washington is now participating in a joint drill with South Korean naval ships, which will be followed by a trilateral search and rescue exercise with Japan in waters south of Jejudo Island next week.Pyongyang denounced the moves as a “
[Salman Haidar] Pakistan hits back at domestic terrorists

Jul 17, 2014

A major operation by the Pakistani army has recently been conducted in the frontier areas bordering Afghanistan to try to control the militant groups that have so strongly established themselves there. The frontier region has long been a haven for numerous groups of local and imported armed militants; they have been there for ages, seemingly a law unto themselves outside the reach of the regular administration, but recently they have become bold and confident enough to challenge the Pakistani st
All the lessons learned from this year’s World Cup

Jul 17, 2014

The FIFA World Cup 2014 brought joy to football lovers across the world and sadness to losers, especially those in the host country, Brazil. It also brought with it lessons on how to truly enjoy a sporting event.Going through blogs dedicated to the FIFA World Cup 2014, I must say that the one on the World Economic Forum’s website won much of my attention. Before each match, the blog would carry a comparison between the two competing countries in four key metrics: gender equality, technological r
What’s next for Indonesia

Jul 17, 2014

Indonesia went to the polls last Wednesday to elect a new president, ending what was a roller coaster of a campaign marked by character assassination, titanic debates and see-sawing opinion polls.All the reputable polling houses point to a victory for the furniture manufacturer-turned-governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”).His rival, the ex-General Prabowo Subianto, has naturally refused to concede.Nonetheless, the narrow margin (projections have shown Jokowi winning by 4 percent to 6 perce
[Hwang Jang-jin] More respect for nonhumans

Jul 16, 2014

An alien species has invaded polluted rivers. The unsightly creature fouls water, taints the landscape and crowds out native rivals. When dead and ruptured, it emits toxic gas that suffocates fish.These claims are still under debate, or at least not yet proven, but they constitute a recent environmentalist narrative and popular impression about the fast-spreading invertebrate Pectinatella magnifica, commonly known as a bryozoan, or moss animal.The primitive, gelatinous masses they form began to
Global climate change in a microcosm

Jul 16, 2014

If you were looking for a place to contemplate global climate change in a microcosm ― climate change writ small ― you could do worse than to consider my humble corner of the world.In some respects, this area is a laboratory for the competing climate and energy tensions that are developing worldwide, pointing toward catastrophes that appear to be more or less inevitable.I drive often through the heart of this laboratory. At one end of the trip, the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, and its 300,000 r
[Chris Patten] History of liberty from Beethoven to Beijing

Jul 16, 2014

LONDON ― On July 1, 17 years ago, I was sailing on Britain’s Royal Yacht away from Hong Kong where, at midnight the previous day, China assumed sovereignty under the terms of an international agreement with the United Kingdom (tabled at the United Nations) known as the Joint Declaration. That agreement guaranteed Hong Kong’s way of life for 50 years under Deng Xiaoping’s slogan “One country, two systems.” The rule of law and the freedoms associated with pluralism ― due process and the freedom of
In Ukraine, some good news on foreign policy

Jul 16, 2014

I’ve got some foreign policy good news. Really.Never mind that U.S. foreign policy appears irrelevant in Gaza, spineless in Syria, irresponsible in Iraq and grossly stupid in Germany (whoever OK’d our dumb spy efforts there should be fired).There is one important country where U.S. efforts may yet achieve a positive outcome. I’m talking about Ukraine, where Russia’s Vladimir Putin has just blinked in his efforts to dismantle the country ― in large part because Western sanctions (even mild ones)
The Blatterball diaries

Jul 16, 2014

LONDON ― The World Cup has concluded with its usual flourish, and much of the world, as usual, couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement of it all ― which is exactly the outcome that Sepp Blatter wants. Blatter, the president of FIFA, the Cup’s organizing body, wants the afterglow of an exciting month of play to blot out the corruption and backroom deals ― and, most recently, a ticket scandal ― that have roiled his tenure.Times were very different in 1998, when Blatter took up his role.
[Robert J. Fouser] Seoul as a global city?

Jul 15, 2014

In almost every ranking of important cities in the world, London, Paris, New York and Tokyo almost always appear in the top five, and always in the top 10. They are global centers of business and finance, art and design, media and publishing, fashion and trends. A similar ranking of cities 50 or 100 years ago would have revealed similar results. This leads to some interesting questions: What is it about the Big Four that makes their dominance so durable? What is the outlook for the future? What
Time to close Indonesia’s $21 billion cookie jar

Jul 15, 2014

As Indonesians head to the polls, the outside world is antsy about where the next president might take Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The nationalistic tone of the contest has investors fearing the pro-market reforms of outgoing Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will fall by the wayside.Question is, how will we know if the geopolitically vital country with the world’s biggest Muslim population is moving forward or lurching backward? It all may come down to one word: subsidies.The financial support Ind