Ukraine has almost as much agricultural land as France and Germany combined and will finally start allowing it to be bought and sold next year. This is Europe’s last farmland frontier, and the fight over it is going to be messy.About 17 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product comes from agriculture, the one sector where Ukraine punches above its weight on the global stage. It’s the world’s sixth-biggest wheat exporter, a top 10 supplier of corn and barley, the global

As tens of thousands of protesters marched down Hennessy Road toward government headquarters Sunday afternoon, chanting pro-democracy slogans and waving American flags, it was an exuberant celebration of this territory’s yearning for freedom.The protesters seemed mindless of the danger: Men and women, young and old, ninja-clad teenagers and moms with their kids, all joined in the 15th straight weekend of protest. A doctor at a local hospital, a 56-year-old schoolteacher and a 19-year-old g

Populism has become a defining feature of public life. It embraces a narrative of victimhood and grievance, pitting “people” against “elites.” US President Donald Trump’s protectionism and hostility toward immigrants are fueled by populist frustration on the political right. On the left, populism appears as resentment of the wealthy, and the Democratic Party’s presidential primary field is marked by proposals to penalize the rich. Compromise has become a dirty

A small squadron of drones -- and possibly cruise missiles -- penetrated Saudi Arabia’s air defenses on Saturday, laying waste to a significant, valuable portion of two of the world’s most essential oil processing facilities. Amid worries about the impact of the strikes on global oil markets and fears about broader military confrontations upending a region perennially vexed by crossed swords, ancient religious rifts, geopolitical maneuvering and greed, facts and conjecture began jock

For years, thriving cities in coastal regions of the US have become increasingly expensive to live in. As cities such as San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle became more attractive, thanks to booming knowledge industries and falling crime, rents soared.And for almost as long, people have been hotly debating what to do about the problem. Many have called for an increase in housing construction, especially by loosening zoning laws and reducing the ability of legal challenges to ha

Many people enjoy the “Terminator” film series because the action-packed futuristic science fiction films are fun to watch, thanks to breathtaking action, time travel and enthralling cutting-edge technologies. But there is much more to the series than such visual pleasures. “The Terminator” and its sequels also provide valuable lessons and “post-humanist” hindsight in this era of nuclear weapons that can annihilate human civilization in a flash. The movie espe

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who will retire this month, is that rare senior official in Donald Trumps Washington whose career and reputation don’t seem to have been tarnished by his dealings with the president. The explanation is simple: The low-key, Boston-Irish Marine maintained the distance and discipline of a professional military officer. He did not try to be Trump’s friend or confidant, and he stayed away from palace intrigue. The White House

“In some countries, working-class groups have proved to be the most nationalistic and jingoistic sector of the population,” wrote the highly esteemed sociologist and political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset -- 60 years ago last month.In his seminal article “Democracy and Working-Class Authoritarianism,” which appeared in the August 1959 issue of the American Sociological Review, Lipset observed that many in the working class were “in the forefront of the struggle a

What’s worse than billionaires who bribe government officials? The “Gangnam Left,” stock pickers may say.The term, and subject of a book by Chonbuk National University professor Kang Jun-man, is a dig at South Korea’s wealthy elite who advocate socialist policies, such as boosting the minimum wage and spending billions to create public-sector jobs. Some of these technocrats have found themselves in hot water recently: President Moon Jae-in’s recently appointed justi

Having met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three times -- all to great fanfare -- US President Donald Trump may still believe denuclearization is underway in the Hermit Kingdom. If so, he is probably the only one who does, given North Korea’s frequent missile tests and upgrades to its weapons. It is anyone’s guess what the Trump administration’s North Korea policy will look like in a year, but for now, both sides seem to have what they want. Trump has wrangled a loose stal

As the US Congress reconvenes this week after a six-week recess, the administration is mired in controversies, almost all of them set off by President Donald Trump. Trump’s behavior has been at its most peculiar since he took office, undoubtedly partly owing to panic over the 2020 election. He has more reason than most incumbent presidents to wish for reelection, as he is still facing several lawsuits. 　Perhaps the greatest political danger to Trump lies in the growing evidence that he has

The name of a social activist that I heard for the first time working as a journalist was Jeon Tae-il, a cutter employed by a small-time garment maker in Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon area. The 22-year-old man was little known even among workers in the corridors of the clothes factories, although he had led protests against extreme working conditions at his and other workplaces for some time. But he instantly became the symbol of labor movements in Korea when he set himself alight, waving the pri

In our everyday drudgery of overwhelming duties and innate thirst for praise, it is easy to fall into the pit of spontaneous buck-passing when things go south.And such a defensive mode quickly transpires into aggressive offense against the point of threat, plastered with the rationale of self-righteousness, when the stakes get higher.In such a progression, it is easy to get lost in the tit-for-tat and all the emotions, with the direct parties and spectators losing grasp of what it was really all

Recently, I came across a book by Lee Seog-yeon, a famous Korean lawyer and civil rights activist, entitled “Sima Qian’s Korea Travelogue.” Sima Qian was a legendary Chinese historian of the Han Dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) who wrote the celebrated book “Records of the Grand Historian,” compiling Chinese history covering approximately 2,000 years. In his intriguing book, Lee, the Korean lawyer, perceives and interprets modern Korea through the eyes of Sima Qian, who e

On my way to Seoul in late August, I was looking forward to a break from the Trump-induced hysteria of American politics. My hopes were dashed, however, as the hysteria over Cho Kuk, President Moon Jae-in’s nominee for minister of justice, spread. News about Cho and his family captivated the nation for weeks. In the end, the president decided to approve Cho’s nomination, Monday. The hysteria over Cho says as much about Korea as the hysteria over Donald Trump in the US. In both cases,