The Korea Herald

[J. Bradford DeLong] Trading in Trump’s lies

Feb 5, 2017

In a recent Vox essay outlining my thinking about US President Donald Trump’s emerging trade policy, I pointed out that a “bad” trade deal such as the North American Free Trade Agreement is responsible for only a vanishingly small fraction of lost US manufacturing jobs over the past 30 years. Just 0.1 percentage points of the 21.4 percentage-point decline in the employment share of manufacturing during this period is attributable to NAFTA, which was enacted in December 1993.A half-century ago, t
[David Ignatius] Trump must avoid making Iran his Bay of Pigs

Feb 5, 2017

By putting Iran “on notice” for its aggressive behavior, President Trump has taken aim at a country that‘s opposed by many US allies. But he has begun this confrontation without much preparation or strategic planning, continuing the haphazard pattern of his first two weeks in office. Iran is a convenient enemy for Trump. Israel and the Gulf Arab states share the administration’s antipathy toward Iran, and the regime‘s hard-liners gave Trump a pretext with a ballistic-missile test last weekend th
[The Nation] How can Asia answer the new Ugly Americanism?

Feb 5, 2017

Thanks to the belligerent statements and policies of Donald Trump, the Islamic State terrorist group will grow from strength to strength in coming weeks and months. The IS group no longer needs to conduct overt recruiting campaigns of its own. The global publicity about Trump’s ban on people from seven designated Muslim-majority countries entering the United States will serve that purpose for the jihadists. The president has delivered an unexpectedly grand “bonus” triumph in the war they’re wagi
[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Why millennials will reject Trump

Feb 5, 2017

The key political divide in the United States is not between parties or states; it is between generations. The millennial generation (those aged 18-35) voted heavily against Donald Trump and will form the backbone of resistance to his policies. Older Americans are divided, but Trump’s base lies among those above the age of 45. On issue after issue, younger voters will reject Trump, viewing him as a politician of the past, not the future.Of course, these are averages, not absolutes. Yet the numbe
[Jeffrey Robertson] Korea as Trump’s low-hanging fruit

Feb 5, 2017

Defense Secretary James Mattis reiterated one message on his visit to Seoul – the US is concerned about North Korea and is committed to the defense of South Korea. The message alleviated government fears and satiated public concerns. Fear and denial regarding Trump subsided. But while South Korea focused on the Mattis visit, Trump’s diplomacy on the global stage showed us that complacency is not an option.On Jan. 28, 2017, the first call between US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Min
[Other View] How to defeat Le Pen

Feb 5, 2017

Marine Le Pen could be France’s next president. Sure, her lead in some polls exaggerates her strength before the field narrows to two candidates -- but voters’ discontent with normal politics isn’t subsiding. For France’s sake, and Europe’s, Le Pen must be defeated. Her party’s blend of virulent xenophobia and economic statism makes Donald Trump seem moderate. But with her support still building, defeating her calls for more than a show of contempt. Her rivals need to understand why she’s so pop
[Robert B. Reich] Trump’s takeover of the truth

Feb 3, 2017

Donald Trump is such a consummate liar that in coming months and years our democracy will depend more than ever on the independent press -- finding the truth, reporting it and holding Trump accountable for his lies.　But Trump’s strategy is to denigrate and disparage the press in the public’s mind, convincing the public that it shouldn’t believe the press because it’s engaged in a conspiracy against him.Trump wants to use his tweets, rallies and videos to make himself the only credible source of
[Md. Shahidul Haque] Our duty to migrants and refugees

Feb 3, 2017

The indefinite ban on Syrian refugees imposed by the United States has cast a bright spotlight on one of the great challenges of our time. What should we do with the millions of refugees fleeing war and persecution around the world?The scale of today’s refugee crisis is staggering: Worldwide, an unprecedented 65 million people have been forced to flee from their homes; and, in 2016 alone, over 7,500 migrants – men, women, and children – died while desperately trying to reach safety, of which 5,0
[Other View] Sally Yates’s mistake

Feb 3, 2017

President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries is un-American, dangerous and probably illegal, and the public response has been heartening: marches at airports, lawsuits, judicial stays, even some Republican criticism. Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, however, went a step too far.Yates told Justice Department staff members on Monday not to defend the order in court. Hours later, she was fired.　President Donald Trump was justifi
[Los Angeles Times] How Trump created chaos with his unfair and inhumane order

Feb 2, 2017

The mere idea of President Trump’s executive order suspending the entry into the country of various visitors, migrants and refugees was bad enough, based as it was on the erroneous assertion that people from predominantly Muslim countries posed an escalated threat to the United States, and the contention — also without evidence — that existing vetting of arrivals from those countries was inadequate.In execution, it was a disaster, plunging US airports into chaos and displaying a shocking lack of
[The Sacramento Bee] Trump’s refugee order disgraceful, incompetent overreach

Feb 2, 2017

If any American value was served by President Donald Trump’s inhumane treatment of hundreds of ordinary people from Muslim-majority nations this weekend, we would like to know what it is.How sickening it was to watch Trump’s draconian executive order on refugees play out, indefinitely banning entry to Syrian refugees and suspending US travel for visa and, for a time, even green card holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.The estimated 375 travelers detained or prevented
[Johnathan Bernstein] Republicans must save this presidency. Now.

Feb 2, 2017

To begin with: This was not the Saturday Night Massacre. Donald Trump fired a holdover acting attorney general, who would have been gone soon anyway once Trump’s nominated choice is confirmed and sworn in, because she would not support a Trump policy in court. Richard Nixon, in October 1973, ordered his own attorney general to fire a special prosecutor who was investigating the president, his White House, and campaign staff; the attorney general resigned rather than fire the prosecutor, and then
[Bloomberg] A Trump-era guide to ignoring all that noise

Feb 2, 2017

The first 10 days of President Donald Trump’s administration were a blur. For Trump, chaos is a feature, not a bug. That means the rest of us could use some help sorting things out. With that in mind, here’s a guide to what not to focus on.“Watch what we do, not what we say,” Attorney General John Mitchell said in 1969 at the start of the Richard Nixon administration. That’s good advice for any presidency-watcher, especially in 2017. Trump talks or tweets all the time, often with little thought.
[Goh Sui Noi] Trade war will hurt both US and China

Feb 2, 2017

If Apple’s iPhone has been used often as an example of what might happen in a trade war between China and the United States, it is for good reason.The iconic US company shows how President Donald Trump’s proposed measures of raising tariffs against Chinese products and declaring China a currency manipulator might end up hurting both economic giants and others. All this, without quite achieving Trump’s objectives of bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US or balancing its trade with China.On t
[Other View] Like Garland, Gorsuch deserves Senate vote　

Feb 2, 2017

President Donald Trump has made some lamentable appointments in his brief tenure. Judge Neil Gorsuch is not one of them.　Gorsuch, who serves on the federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former Supreme Court clerk. Only 49 years old, he is genuinely well qualified and well within the mainstream of conservative intellectual thought.　This presents a dilemma for Senate Democrats. Their Republican colleagues shamefully trashed an important democratic nor