The Korea Herald

[Ghassan Michel Rubeiz] Syrian people are entitled to shape their destiny

Aug 21, 2011

The Assad dynasty in Syria has miscalculated by applying overwhelming force to try to stop the five-month uprising there.After four decades of abuse of power in Syria, the rulers in Damascus are vulnerable, morally and politically. It is hard to imagine how the Assad family can continue much longer
[Ezra Klein] Is Texan Rick Perry too European to be next president of U.S.?

Aug 21, 2011

You wouldn’t think that the governor of Texas, the most conservative of the viable candidates in the Republican presidential field, would want to make the U.S. more like Europe. Unless, of course, you have read Rick Perry’s book. “Fed Up,” Perry’s 2010 cri de coeur (yes, that’s French), can be summe
[David Ignatius] A Gates team at the Pentagon

Aug 19, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Bob Gates left the Pentagon in early July, but the new national-security team that is taking over this summer is largely Gates’ creation ― reflecting the unusual influence of a Republican defense secretary in shaping the Obama administration’s personnel and policies. Gates’ recomme
[By William Pesek] S&P’s next target has Bob Marley on its mind

Aug 19, 2011

On a hot Friday evening in Osaka, Japan, street musician Jun Fukuda is channeling Bob Marley on a downtown bridge. Not the feel-good, party-hearty Marley, but the mortality-questioning ballad “Redemption Song.” As the 20-year-old belts out the lyrics “emancipate yourself from mental slavery” he scan
[Editorial] History shows danger of politics left adrift

Aug 19, 2011

How strongly do you feel Japan’s peace and affluence have been achieved at the expense of the many lives lost in the series of wars this nation fought during the Showa era?This question was asked in an opinion survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun by mail in January and February. An overwhelming 8
[Amando Doronila] Sovereignty issues with China a test for President Aquino

Aug 19, 2011

China has launched its first aircraft carrier, signaling its growing naval power that’s likely to increase tensions between Beijing and smaller Asian maritime states, including the Philippines, over territorial claims on islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).The 67,000-ton, 302-meter
[Andrew Sheng] Controls on capital flows: From heresy to orthodoxy

Aug 19, 2011

On Sept. 1, 2011, it would be 13 years to the day when Malaysia first introduced capital controls to stem the effects of the Asian financial crisis on the domestic economy. In 1998, it was heresy to introduce controls on capital flows, since it was International Monetary Fund orthodoxy to liberalize
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] ECB’s role in eurozone endgame

Aug 18, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH ― Central bank purists are confused. How can the European Central Bank, a Germanic institution, now be in the business of buying government bonds issued by five of its 17 members? Why is this monetary authority acting like a fiscal agency? Isn’t the ECB supposed to be a politically ind
[Michael O’Hanlon] The United States still has a promising future

Aug 18, 2011

Amid all the talk of gloom and doom in the United States, with the stock market’s near-crash and the renewed threat of a double-dip recession, it is worth pausing to remember that the United States remains the greatest country on Earth. It is also the country with the most promising future. I make t
[Edward Glaeser] Targets for future spending cuts

Aug 18, 2011

There is a time to spend and a time to cut and we are now in an age of austerity. Even since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S.’s “AAA” credit rating earlier this month, some Keynesians still favor more spending. They say the threat that the economy will dip back into recession calls for more pub
[Uri Dromi] Voice of protest in Israel says enough is enough

Aug 18, 2011

For the last few weeks, Israel has been experiencing an unprecedented phenomenon: Hundreds of thousands of people are rallying in the streets, demanding social justice. The numbers are mind-boggling: 300,000 Israelis is the equivalent of 18 million Americans. And this is not a one-shot rally. The pr
[William D. Cohan] Ending the moral rot on Wall Street (Part 3)

Aug 18, 2011

The following is the last installment of a three-part article on Wall Street corruption and remedies for it. ― Ed.Since 1970, when financial companies began selling shares to the public, the industry has ensnared the rest of us in repeated crises of its own making. There was the crash of 1987 and th
[Nouriel Roubini] Market-oriented economy doomed?

Aug 17, 2011

NEW YORK ― The massive volatility and sharp equity-price correction now hitting global financial markets signal that most advanced economies are on the brink of a double-dip recession. A financial and economic crisis caused by too much private-sector debt and leverage led to a massive re-leveraging
[William Pesek] Economic suicide is only a scandal or two away

Aug 17, 2011

The Philippines can be a scandalmonger’s paradise. At this very moment, editors are pressed to decide which controversy goes on the front page: the suicide story, the car scam, Chopper-gate or the asylum follies. Each of them sells newspapers and each is linked to a central figure: Gloria Arroyo, wh
[Nina Khrushcheva] Democracy and walls of August

Aug 17, 2011

MOSCOW ― History’s milestones are rarely so neatly arrayed as they are this summer. Fifty years ago this month, the Berlin Wall was born. After some hesitation, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union’s leader, allowed his East German counterpart, Walter Ulbricht, to erect a barrier between East and Wes