A global upheaval looms as Donald Trump strengthens his candidacy for the next US presidential elections. Ukraine and its European allies need to start considering the prospect that by the end of next year, they could face a US no longer invested in resisting Russia’s aggression. We should also start bracing ourselves for a geopolitical earthquake in Europe itself. In Spain, which holds national elections on July 23, and across the continent, far-right demagogues are in the ascendant. Prim

Spain’s general election Sunday matters not just for the country’s future but also for the future of Europe. A defeat for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would likely propel the extreme right-wing Vox party from back street demagogues to parliamentary power, and if, as is widely expected, Vox and the Popular Party (PP) enter into a coalition government, it will mark the end of Spain’s long aversion to far-right politicians, which has endured since the death of Generaliss

On my recent visit to South Korea and Japan, the topic of foreign migrant labor came up more than on any previous visit. An architect friend in South Korea said that construction would be almost impossible without foreign labor. A Japanese friend in Tokyo said that the service industry would face a severe shortage of workers without foreign labor. As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, interest in other long-standing issues has reasserted itself. In 2021, South Korea joined Japan as one of the few na

Summer 1973. The sights and sounds of excavations descended on Gyeongju, turning the entire city into a massive archaeological project. If a Korean movie studio ever decides to make its own version of “Indiana Jones,” they would not have to search much for opening-scene inspiration. The “comprehensive tourist development” of the ancient royal capital of Silla, a pet project of then President Park Chung-hee, triggered the cacophony. Famously called “the museum withou

John F. Kennedy once said, “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.” Indeed, no one can force us to change such a God-given situation. Having a good neighbor is crucial for having a peaceful life. On the contrary, a bad neighbor is like a recurring nightmare that you have to suffer and endure every day. Therefore, what kind of a neigh

In the wake of Donald Trump’s federal indictment, the former president remains legally eligible to run again -- even if he is convicted, and even (bizarrely) if he is incarcerated, which is unlikely to occur before the election. In a functioning, healthy democracy, Trump would be denied the Republican Party’s nomination. GOP elites would stand together to reject his candidacy and rally behind a nominee who is not facing criminal prosecution related to willful retention of classified

Speaking at this summer’s European Central Bank Forum in Portugal, Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s first deputy managing director, set out what she described as “Three Uncomfortable Truths for Monetary Policy.” But it was the speech itself that often made for awkward listening. Gopinath’s first truth was that “inflation is taking too long to get back to target” and that “sustained high inflation makes bringing down inflation more d

How well or badly is the US-China chip war going? After the Biden administration announced its industrial strategy to revitalize domestic manufacturing, create jobs, strengthen American supply chains and accelerate future industries, the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 will give as much as $280 billion over the next decade to support US semiconductor chip industry. Goodbye free markets, hello industrial policy. The outcome of the US-China rivalry hinges on the technology edge and how to use such t

One day, we may look back on 2023 as the year when it became apparent that the gigantic industry of raising animals for food was heading the same way as the industry that for most of the 20th century dominated how we record and store images. Is this year the equivalent, for animal production, of 1989, when the first digital camera aimed at the general public was launched? There are signs that it might be, starting with the Israeli Ministry of Health’s approval, in April, of a dairy produc

In the wake of Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance can take a well-deserved victory lap. I commanded troops from both nations in Afghanistan, and Swedish forces in the Libyan campaign of 2011. The countries have professional and motivated personnel equipped with superb technology systems, from advanced fighter jets to stealthy naval corvettes. This spells trouble for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military, already much d

At long last, European countries have begun to grapple with their colonial legacies. In the Netherlands, the government has issued an apology for the country’s role in the global slave trade, and the king has “asked for forgiveness.” The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has urged Denmark to “address the negative impacts” of its colonization of Greenland. And in the United Kingdom, media outlets, the Church of England, and cities

Despite differences on abortion and Ukraine, most members of the large Republican presidential field have generally followed former President Donald Trump’s lead in roundly condemning President Joe Biden. While some of that criticism is justified -- his difficulty in taming inflation, or his mishandling of Afghanistan, for example -- some is not. And the most dangerous example of mistaken Republican Party condemnation of Biden is the continuing assertion that the current administration i

Japan's discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant seems imminent. As the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the discharge plan meets safety standards, the only thing that remains is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision on the discharge date. Some Japanese media are predicting the release in August. The prospect that the Japanese government will push ahead with the release underscores the IAEA's final report. It is also a boon for

This week, almost every Ukrainian will be looking longingly toward Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. It is there, at the summit of NATO’s leaders, that our place in Europe and the West will begin to be decided. Although virtually all Ukrainians dream of NATO membership, the brutal fighting in which we have been forced to engage since Russia invaded our country nearly 18 months ago has taught us hard lessons in realism. So, we are well aware that making our NATO dream a reality will be

History will remember 2022 and 2023 as pivotal times when the US Supreme Court overturned two monumental legal precedents in America: women’s abortion rights and affirmative action. Conservatives say that times have changed now and we no longer need the two. However, liberals worry that America has become hopelessly conservative due to the justices appointed by former President Donald Trump. The 2022 decision of the US Supreme Court that reversed the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade case that dec