The Korea Herald

[David Ignatius] Backstage brawl over a deal

Nov 24, 2013

WASHINGTON ― If there’s a fog of war, there can also be a fog of peace ― in which even the negotiators aren’t sure of the consequences of what they’ve done. Some of that murkiness surrounds the bargaining in Geneva to limit Iran’s nuclear program. There’s sharp disagreement among observers about the potential risks and benefits of this seeming breakthrough between Iran and the West after 34 years of hostility. A cautionary historical note comes from Sir Mark Sykes, who negotiated with his French
Climate change makes any disaster global

Nov 24, 2013

Historians may look back at Typhoon Haiyan as a turning point in disaster journalism and the politics of climate change. For the first time, an extreme-weather catastrophe in the tropics has shrugged off its “made in Asia” label and gone global.Coverage of storms, floods and droughts usually begins and ends with war-zone style reporting about dire conditions on the ground. The raw numbers of the dead are interwoven with tragic personal histories of survivors who have lost homes and loved ones. T
[Dominique Moisi] Europe’s anti-Europeans look to power

Nov 24, 2013

PARIS ― In 2005, two founding members of the European Union, France and the Netherlands, rejected by popular referendum the EU’s proposed constitutional treaty. Two far-right parties from these countries, the French National Front and the Dutch Freedom Party, have now formed an alliance ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2014. They hope to attract likeminded parties in other EU countries and form a parliamentary bloc powerful enough to slay “the monster of Europe,” as Geert Wilder
Syd Field gave writers a voice and studios a kit

Nov 24, 2013

“Syd Field died today,” I tell my son.“Who’s Syd Field?” he asks.“He came up with a theory that there was a formula that was used in every great screenplay, and if you followed that formula, then you could write a good screenplay.”“He made writing math?” My son squinched up his nose in disgust. Writing is a pleasure for my son and math is not. And there lies the rub with Syd Field.Here is the man who put the first book of film anatomy on the desks of every wannabe film maker. He showed us a diff
Chile versus Argentina in quality of life

Nov 24, 2013

BUENOS AIRES/SANTIAGO ― Economists often compare similar economies to isolate the impact of a particular difference. This approach provides a compelling picture of the role of specific factors in driving or undermining an economy’s success.For example, despite their common historical and cultural roots, North and South Korea are very different societies. The former has a considerably lower standard of living, owing to its communist government and centrally planned economy, which contrast sharply
[Joel Brinkley] Worldwide water shortages

Nov 22, 2013

Get ready for the water wars.Most of the world’s population takes water for granted, just like air ― two life-sustaining substances. After all, the human body is nearly two-thirds water.But a Hindustan Times blogger said that in India right now, as in so many other places around the globe, drinkable water has become such a “precious commodity” that it’s dragging the world into “water wars to follow the ones for the control of fuel oil.”Climate change is drying up lakes and rivers almost everywhe
Democrats should end quest for Kennedy’s camelot

Nov 22, 2013

When she was 22, the future Jacqueline Kennedy won a Vogue contest with an essay in which she dreamed of being “a sort of Overall Art Director of the Twentieth Century.” As first lady, she proved herself a genius at visual persuasion. She crafted her own image, refined her husband’s, re-created the White House’s, and even shaped America’s abroad.Her most evocative and enduring image-making came when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, 50 years ago this week. She art-directed the funeral’s pageantr
[Robert B. Reich] Henry Ford’s lesson for Walmart

Nov 21, 2013

Walmart just reported shrinking sales for a third straight quarter. What’s going on? Explained William S. Simon, the CEO of Walmart, referring to the company’s customers, “Their income is going down while food costs are not. Gas and energy prices, while they’re abating, I think they’re still eating up a big piece of the customer’s budget.”Walmart’s CEO gets it. Most of Walmart’s customers are still in the Great Recession, grappling with stagnant or declining pay. So, naturally, the company’s sal
U.S. plan for Libyan military training is a mistake

Nov 21, 2013

PARIS ― The U.S. has accepted a proposal by Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan to train as many as 7,000 conventional Libyan soldiers plus counterterrorist forces. What an exceedingly bad idea. This could put the Obama administration’s Hope-and-Change bus on the road to a potential new fiasco in Libya. Think Benghazi ― except everywhere.Speaking at the Reagan Presidential Library in California last week, the man who led the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, Admiral William McRaven of the U.S. Speci
[Ravi Velloor] Asia must prepare for the next horror to come

Nov 21, 2013

“Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; And universal Darkness buries All.”Thus concludes Alexander Pope’s The Dunciad.Written in the early 18th century, the three-book poem follows the progress of the goddess Dulness as her minions bring destruction, decay and bestiality to the land.Perhaps Dulness was in full cry over the predominantly Catholic Philippines last week. How else but allegory to make sense of the malevolent power that laid waste to several provinces in this Southeast Asian
China’s new family policy a beginning, not an end

Nov 21, 2013

China’s family planning policy is to be eased at long last. The Third Plenum resolution, released on Friday reveals that China is to allow families in which either of the parents is a single child to have a second child, together with other reform. The adjustment is considered to be a breakthrough in relaxing China’s family planning policy. However, this step should be a beginning, rather than the end, of family planning policy reform. Compared with the past overriding policy that required most
Welcoming the 3rd wave of Indonesian history

Nov 21, 2013

As the 2014 election nears, let us take a bird’s-eye view of the course of our history. The 2014 election is important not only because it signifies a power shift in government, but also because it serves as momentum for the third wave of Indonesian history.The first wave occurred from the 17th century to the mid-20th century, which I refer to as the process of “becoming Indonesia.” The second wave took place between proclamation of our independence in 1945 and today, as we have dealt with the i
[Editorial] Compensation disclosure

Nov 20, 2013

Loopholes in revised law need to be closed
[David Ignatius] Egypt looks for a way back

Nov 20, 2013

CAIRO ― Bassem Youssef, Egypt’s popular television comedian, expresses the irreverent confidence this country will need to regain stability. On air, he mocks the autocratic tendencies of both the Muslim Brotherhood leaders and the army generals who toppled them from power. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and his adoring supporters unfortunately seem to have lost the celebrated Egyptian sense of humor. Youssef presented a hilarious episode on Oct. 25 that showed footage of Sissi admonishing the nation
China’s bold reform plans don’t mean much yet

Nov 20, 2013

The world appeared to change on Nov. 15, the day bold and epochal reforms were unveiled that promised to overhaul one of the world’s biggest economies. Analysts, investors and historians alike rejoiced at the audacity of the plan.That was Japan. On Nov. 15, 2012, Shinzo Abe, then one month away from becoming prime minister, pledged “unlimited” stimulus and the kind of supply-side policies for which investors had long been clamoring. A year later, the buzz is gone, and not a single structural ref