The Korea Herald

[Paul Donovan] What the euro means for Asia

Feb 24, 2012

The euro should not exist. In a perfect world (run by economists) the euro would never have been created. Sadly, however, the world is not perfect ― and it is run by politicians. The result is an entirely dysfunctional monetary union. The Spanish economy has youth unemployment approaching 50 percent. The Greek economy is in its fourth consecutive year of negative GDP growth and is likely to embark on a fifth year of negative growth later in 2012. Euro area countries have to share a common intere
United States’ two-faced approach to terrorism

Feb 23, 2012

Malcolm X said, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that “the chickens have come home to roost,” by which he meant that the violence of American interventionist foreign policy had come back to haunt the country.The exposure of a possible Iranian bomb-making cell in Thailand, and the coordinated attacks against Israeli targets in India and Georgia, remind us of the truth behind Malcom X’s remark. It may be no accident that the attacks occurred only days after U.S. officials conf
[Itamar Rabinovich] Iranian nuclear threat goes global

Feb 23, 2012

TEL AVIV ― The current drive to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal reflects two important, and interrelated, changes. From Israel’s perspective, these changes are to be welcomed, though its government must remain cautious about the country’s own role.The first change is the escalation of efforts by the United States and its Western allies to abort the Iranian regime’s nuclear quest. This was instigated in part by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s finding in November 2011 that
Korean football needs grassroots improvement

Feb 23, 2012

Korean football has been in a state of complacency for at least 10 years. Numerous examples of deceit and chicanery in Korean football have been unveiled recently. Korean football has neglected to develop infrastructure in communities and the K-league. Also, K-league players have been found to very frequently partake of match-fixing and illegal gambling. Moreover, the Korean Football Association has acted in ways that are entirely inscrutable to the general public. For instance, it recently repl
School debate shows deep divisions in Israel

Feb 23, 2012

A fight in Israel over a new university is a perfect metaphor illustrating the nation’s deep divisions ― a fault line that further isolates Israel and presents a continuing danger to the world.This month, an Israeli education council for the occupied West Bank declared a community college in a Jewish settlement to be a full-fledged university ― prompting several hundred Israeli college professors, including some of the state’s most renowned academics, to write an angry letter to the state’s educ
[Jeffrey Frankel] Could economic turnaround be Obama’s recovery?

Feb 23, 2012

CAMBRIDGE ― With November’s election in the United States fast approaching, the Republican candidates seeking to challenge President Barack Obama claim that his policies have done nothing to support recovery from the recession that he inherited in January 2009. If anything, they claim, his fiscal stimulus, the bank bailouts, and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s aggressive monetary policy made matters worse.Obama’s Democratic defenders counter that his policies staved off a second Gre
Virginia shoots itself in the foot on handguns

Feb 23, 2012

Virginia is for lovers -- of guns. Last week that state‘s Senate, newly under Republican control after a GOP election surge in November, overturned a 20-year-old law that barred residents from buying more than one handgun a month. Why? Apparently because in Virginia, deadly firearms are like Lay’s potato chips -- you can‘t stop at just one.Virginia’s refusal to close the notorious “gun-show loophole” has long been criticized by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who frets that relatively tough re
School debate shows deep divisions in Israel

Feb 23, 2012

A fight in Israel over a new university is a perfect metaphor illustrating the nation‘s deep divisions -- a fault line that further isolates Israel and presents a continuing danger to the world.This month, an Israeli education council for the occupied West Bank declared a community college in a Jewish settlement to be a full-fledged university -- prompting several hundred Israeli college professors, including some of the state’s most renowned academics, to write an angry letter to the state‘s ed
Good terrorism and bad terrorism

Feb 23, 2012

Malcolm X said, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that “the chickens have come home to roost,” by which he meant that the violence of American interventionist foreign policy had come back to haunt the country.The exposure of a possible Iranian bomb-making cell in Thailand, and the coordinated attacks against Israeli targets in India and Georgia, remind us of the truth behind Malcom X’s remark. It may be no accident that the attacks occurred only days after U.S. officials conf
Harvard Liberal-Arts Failure Is Wall Street Gain

Feb 23, 2012

In recent years, many top universities have tried to guide their students into careers other than finance. In 2008, Drew Gilpin Faust, the president of Harvard University, went so far as to give a speech to graduating seniors asking them to stand fast against Wall Street’s “all but irresistible recruiting juggernaut.” Tufts University is paying the student loans of graduates who go into public service. The efforts seem to be failing. In December, the New York Times’ Catherine Rampell asked Harva
Obama’s Recovery?

Feb 23, 2012

With November’s election in the United States fast approaching, the Republican candidates seeking to challenge President Barack Obama claim that his policies have done nothing to support recovery from the recession that he inherited in January 2009. If anything, they claim, his fiscal stimulus, the bank bailouts, and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s aggressive monetary policy made matters worse.Obama’s Democratic defenders counter that his policies staved off a second Great Depressio
In Iraq, occupation by another name

Feb 23, 2012

Two recent reports appearing on the same day last week in The New York Times and The Washington Post illustrate U.S. intentions in Iraq. What they reveal is that despite the heralded “end” of U.S. participation in the war there, U.S. policy continues to depend on our security apparatus to influence Iraq, at the expense of Iraqis‘ sovereignty and dignity.The Times report informed us that the U.S. State Department decided to cut the U.S. embassy staff by 50 percent from its current 16,000 personne
The Iranian Nuclear Threat Goes Global

Feb 23, 2012

The current drive to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal reflects two important, and interrelated, changes. From Israel’s perspective, these changes are to be welcomed, though its government must remain cautious about the country’s own role.The first change is the escalation of efforts by the United States and its Western allies to abort the Iranian regime’s nuclear quest. This was instigated in part by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s finding in November 2011 that Iran is ind
Ways to revitalize Korean football

Feb 23, 2012

Korean football has been in a state of complacency for at least 10 years. Numerous examples of deceit and chicanery in Korean football have been unveiled recently. Korean football has neglected to develop infrastructure in communities and the K-league. Also, K-league players have been found to very frequently partake of match-fixing and illegal gambling. Moreover, the Korean Football Association has acted in ways that are entirely inscrutable to the general public. For instance, it recently repl
Why Obama enjoys adulation among blacks

Feb 22, 2012

In his new book, “The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency,” Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy offers up the most sober (and sobering) assessment of Barack Obama’s grappling with race to date. The book looks at the big media events such as the controversy around Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates and the forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod. But it is arguably at its most trenchant where it is most humble.An example of this occurs ea