The Korea Herald

[Omar Ashour] What do Egypt’s generals want?

Feb 3, 2012

CAIRO ― “Whatever the majority in the People’s Assembly, they are very welcome, because they won’t have the ability to impose anything that the people don’t want.” Thus declared General Mukhtar al-Mulla, a member of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).Al-Mulla’s message was that the Islamists’ victory in Egypt’s recent election gives them neither executive power nor control of the framing of a new constitution. But General Sami Anan, Chief of Staff and the SCAF’s deputy hea
Buffett rule fixes a non-existent problem

Feb 3, 2012

Although Warren Buffett may be a stellar investor, his entry into the world of federal tax policy has brought forth nothing but bad ideas based on flawed information and misleading demagoguery. Let’s review the record. In his State of the Union address last week, President Barack Obama called for enactment of the so-called Buffett rule, saying it wasn’t fair that a rich person pays a lower tax rate than Buffett’s secretary. In a bald act of political theater, Obama invited Buffett’s secretary to
Restoring U.S. presence in the Philippines

Feb 3, 2012

Twenty years after they left their military bases here, the American forces may be back in bigger numbers. Philippine defence and military officials have confirmed a Washington Post report last week that Manila and Washington are negotiating a deal that would increase cooperation between the two militaries, owing to the tension in the West Philippine Sea over the disputed Spratlys as well as other considerations. Although Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the terms of any accord would still
Japan needs to rewrite strategy for Russia

Feb 3, 2012

The East Asia situation is changing significantly, with China emerging as an economic and military power and North Korea becoming even more enigmatic with its transition in power.Despite their separation by sea, at this juncture it would be in the national interest of both Japan and Russia to deepen cooperation.Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and visiting Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov agreed in talks Saturday (Jan. 28) to increase bilateral relations in the security, energy, economy
Will Taiwan’s parliament be one of the worst?

Feb 3, 2012

Taiwan’s first four-year Legislative Yuan will open on Feb. 1. Altogether 113 parliamentarians will be meeting for four years rather than three, as in the past, to tackle the increasingly tough job of legislating for the common good of the electorate. The lineup is 64 for the Kuomintang, 40 for the Democratic Progressive Party, three each for the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the People First Party, and as many independents. The ruling Kuomintang has a majority of seven in the new legislature.The
Twitter users protest as Web bows to rogues

Feb 2, 2012

Twitter Inc. needs an Arab Spring. In the past 12 months, the micro-blogging social-networking service played a role in changing the world, 140 characters at a time. From Egypt to Libya to Syria and beyond, Twitter helped activists thwart censorship dragnets, connect with the similarly aggrieved and put underperforming leaders on the defensive. Well, that was then. This will be remembered as the year Twitter sold its corporate soul at a time when the world needs genuine transparency and the tool
[Robert Reich] Who’s bearing economic risks?

Feb 2, 2012

As Newt Gingrich lashes out at “liberal elites,” Mitt Romney is casting the 2012 campaign as “free enterprise on trial” ― and Romney defines free enterprise as achieving success through “risk-taking.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue, defending Romney, explains “this economy is about risk. If you don’t take risk, you can’t have success.”But who do they think is bearing the economic risks? The higher you go in today’s economy, the easier it is to make a pile of money without taking
Globalization ― survival of the phoniest

Feb 2, 2012

As increased globalization forces countries to pretend that they like playing with all the other kids in the playground despite fearing they’ll have their toys stolen, never has there been more blatant self-interest cloaked in the phony pretext of outreach or do-goodery. Nowadays, a country is expected to appear both broke and overtly generous ― otherwise, you’re just a jerk.Take Canada, for example. Canada used to be run by nanny-state leftists more concerned with looking like Boy Scouts to the
Racial segregation on the decline in the U.S.

Feb 2, 2012

Even as two-thirds of Americans now say that there are strong conflicts between rich and poor, another great American division is slowly healing. As National African-American History Month begins tomorrow (Feb. 1), we should celebrate the decline of racial segregation in America for the fourth consecutive decade. While there are far too many children ― of all races ― who are raised in the midst of poverty and desperation, the lessening of segregation reminds us that our nation continues to have
[J. Bradford DeLong] Neville Chamberlain was right

Feb 2, 2012

BERKELEY ― Neville Chamberlain is remembered today as the British prime minister who, as an avatar of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, helped to usher Europe into World War II. But, earlier in that fateful decade, relatively soon after the start of the Great Depression, the British economy was rapidly returning to its previous level of output, thanks to Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain’s reliance on fiscal stimulus to restore the price level to its pre-depression tra
Krugman take on $12 trillion question rings true

Feb 1, 2012

A fiery debate has broken out over an issue many thought had long been settled: Japan’s economy is sliding toward irrelevance. The freshest evidence, reported earlier this week, is the first annual trade deficit in 31 years. It means, at the very least, that the huge pool of domestic savings that Japan uses to finance its staggering national debt might instead start going to support a trade deficit, an ominous sign. Not necessarily a problem, says Eamonn Fingleton, a long-time observer who recen
A Gingrich presidency?

Feb 1, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that if Mitt Romney won the South Carolina primary, the Republican presidential race would be over and he would be the nominee. But Romney didn’t win, and that means it’s time to consider the unthinkable: What would life under President Gingrich be like?It’s an easy question to answer because Gingrich has spent much of his campaign listing all the things he wants to do ― not only in his first term or his first 100 days but in his first eight hours.A Gingrich presid
Historian-in-chief Gingrich can’t shake his past

Feb 1, 2012

I was driving when I heard the latest Republican front-runner intoning that “the centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” He went on from there, but I was already grinning from ear to ear. Newt Gingrich had me at Alinsky. What excites me is not the preposterousness of the statement. No, there isn’t actually any conflict between the idea that America stands alone and the outlook of the proudly independent inventor of community org
[Joel Brinkley] Possibly, there is hope for a North Korean thaw

Feb 1, 2012

Don’t give up on Kim Jong-un, the cherubic naif who is North Korea’s new supreme leader.For weeks now, North Korea’s establishment has been prostrating itself at his feet, while prosecuting a frenzied campaign to show his people that this young man with the chubby cheeks is a god-like leader, just like his father and grandfather before him. A few weeks ago, the state’s official media improbably credited him with presiding over North Korea’s nuclear-weapons tests, which began in 2006 ― when Kim w
Women’s bodies ― from Eden to a garden

Jan 31, 2012

From age 16 to age 20, a woman’s body is a temple. From 21 to 45, it’s an amusement park. From 45 on, it’s a terrarium.I know this because every morning I now take a capsule with 4.6 billion strains of supposedly beneficial flora to help establish the equilibrium in my digestive tract. There are only 7 billion people on the planet. Every morning I’m swallowing half my own universe.And I’m not the only one. Every person I meet who is even in the least bit neurotic about his or her ― it’s usually