In my early years as an activist, I thought social change was about calling out all the ways that people in power were wrecking the world. Finding my voice meant telling other people what they were doing wrong, as loudly and self-righteously as possible. I came of age in the mid-1990s, an era where the activist atmosphere had profound similarities to today. I recognize the “tear it down” energy of our moment, the critique-resist-defund-dismantle worldview. I brought my own version

At their recent meeting in Bali on July 15-16, G20 finance ministers reaffirmed their commitment to coordinated action to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and better prepare for the next global health emergency. A central topic was the creation of a new financial intermediary fund (FIF) to address pandemic preparedness and response (PPR), under the trusteeship of the World Bank and with the World Health Organization playing a central technical and coordinating role. The goal is to clos

In April 1909, New York Highlanders‘ first baseman Hal Chase was hospitalized with smallpox near the team’s spring training site in Georgia. The rest of the squad -- which would be renamed the Yankees in 1913 -- took an overnight train to Richmond, Virginia, where they were scheduled to play an exhibition game against a minor league team before the regular season started. But first, the players would need to undergo medical examinations to make sure they were not infected with the d

The island of Baengnyeongdo sits at the entrance to the Korea Bay, the northern extension of the Yellow Sea. “We are 203 kilometers from Seoul City Hall, 180 kilometers from Pyongyang and 177 kilometers from Shandong Peninsula,” my tour guide said. Probably, the island’s location -- and the turbulent waters off its shores -- inspired ancient storytellers to weave the popular tale of filial daughter Sim Cheong. Luck eluded me on a recent Sunday morning when I climbed up a coas

I recently visited the beaches of Normandy and was awestruck at the scale of what took place there 78 years ago. The sheer horror it must have been is hard to capture in words, but the scars are still visible. Dozens of massive craters dot the fields. The landscape is interspersed with German fortifications reinforced with concrete two meters thick. Huge tangles of metal debris, part of the harbor constructions used to ferry in half a million troops and cargo, are still casually strewn across t

Recently, two pieces of international news have pleased and excited the people of Korea. One was about a Korean-American mathematician, June Huh, who received the prestigious Fields Medal, and the other was about a South Korean pianist, Lim Yun-chan, who won the Gold Medal in the famous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Both winners are young: Huh is 39 and Lim is 18, which made him the youngest gold medalist in the history of the Van Cliburn competition. Huh is the first Korea-born

Is the West losing Latin America? During the Cold War, this question was feverishly discussed in Washington, and beyond. Now, the return of great-power competition and the potential revival of spheres of influence -- together with the recent wave of left-wing electoral victories in the region -- are giving it renewed salience. For the West, the looming specter of hot conflict with authoritarian regimes, from Russia to China, has again highlighted Latin America’s importance as a partner. A

After the recent wave of conservative judgments from the Supreme Court on abortion, gun control and environmental regulation, many Americans are looking for alternatives to the courts for ways to enact democratic change. Yet, in the past several years, many state lawmakers -- often Republicans -- have systematically attempted to restrict other traditional paths for political participation. Some of these shifts have received widespread attention, particularly a slew of new state laws that were i

US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia is proving to be more than a little controversial. After taking a tough, supposedly principled stand against the kingdom at the beginning of his administration, Biden is now set to adopt a more conciliatory approach. This about-face has riled critics, but there are good reasons to welcome the shift. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden called Saudi Arabia a “pariah.” Once in the White House, Biden diplomatically ostracized

One of the pleasures of a visit to South Korea is noticing changes in the language of public and commercial signs, which linguists refer to as the “linguistic landscape.” The rapid pace of change in the country means similarly rapid changes in the linguistic landscape. Some of the changes come from official directives in language policy, but most come from bottom-up changes in how society views language. Like elsewhere, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the pace of change as businesses s

In the specter of Shinzo Abe’s shocking assassination, the party to which he dedicated his life secured a resounding victory in Sunday’s upper house election. Now Fumio Kishida, Abe’s sometimes rival, long-serving foreign minister and now successor, must use his mandate to secure what Abe could never: the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s long-held goal of constitutional reform. The 75-year-old constitution, written by the occupying American army and forbidding Japan t

Today, the Middle East no longer stands out amid what’s happening in the rest of the world. In our nearest neighbor, a former prime minister was assassinated in broad daylight. A demagogue former president is ready to announce he is running in the next election as the incumbent sees his approval ratings drop to the lowest point ever in the US. A prime minister resigns after lying about rowdy parties during COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK. And a mentally and physically sick Russian president

Is today’s energy crisis as serious as similar previous ones -- particularly the 1970s oil shocks? That question is being asked around the world, with consumers hit by high prices, businesses worried about energy supplies, political leaders and central bankers struggling with inflation, and countries confronting balance-of-payments pressures. So, yes, this energy crisis is as serious. In fact, today’s crisis is potentially worse. In the 1970s, only oil was involved, whereas this cri

During the Trump era, the world anxiously watched America as it rapidly polarized, sharply divided by two radically different, mutually antagonistic groups. America was not always like this. The United States used to be a country of diversity, from which the strength and greatness of America stems. As Donald Trump marched into the White House, however, those good old days were over, and to the world’s disappointment, America was transformed into a country of division. As a result, on Jan

Red flags will just hang like limp noodles if their flag-wavers go AWOL on breezeless days. Left unattended, those red bits of cloth will signal no warning alert, send no sense of alarm that urgent action is needed to save lives. And the same goes for even our best-intentioned red flag laws -- such as the one the US Congress just approved, touching off a burst of belated bipartisan self-congratulation. Red flag laws can prove every bit as limp and useless as those bits of cloth, if the laws are