The Korea Herald

[David Ignatius] Islamic radicals pose threat in Egypt

Feb 18, 2011

CAIRO ― For much of the past 30 years, the shadowy Muslim Brotherhood was almost a raison d’etre for the regime of President Hosni Mubarak: Egypt needed a strong authoritarian regime, the argument went, or it would be hijacked by Islamic radicals. That bugaboo went out the window with Mubarak’s ouster just over a week ago. It’s easy now, in the afterglow of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, to
[Cai Fang] China faces challenge of development mode

Feb 18, 2011

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held in mid-October, put forward a proposal for the 12th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development over the next five years, once again highlighting the importance of transforming the country’s economic development mode. It also called for governments at various levels to shift their economic
[Editorial] Egypt’s uprising may one day extend to China

Feb 18, 2011

While the resignation of Egypt’s authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak may have only set the course for the difficult transition to democracy for Egypt, Feb. 11 will be remembered as the day the people triumphed.The transition of the Middle Eastern heavyweight and trendsetter, an important ally of the U.S. and one of the world’s greatest military powers, will have repercussions throughout the worl
[Xiao Gang] Euro’s destiny tied to the future of globalization

Feb 18, 2011

In the wake of Europe’s woes, more and more voices from European countries and beyond have been calling for the euro to be abandoned. Surveys in France show that more than 35 percent of the respondents desire the reintroduction of the French franc, and in Germany there are strong voices calling for the return of the Deutschmark.From historic, economic, political and global perspectives, the destin
No breaktrough in inter-Korean dialogue

Feb 17, 2011

Low-level, preliminary military talks between North and South Korea at the Panmunjom truce village collapsed on Feb. 9 when the North Korean delegation abruptly stormed out. It had been hoped that the talks, intended as a preparatory step for high-level inter-Korea military talks, would lay a foundation for lowering the tension on the Korean Peninsula. But the collapse of the talks has underlined
Obama’s 2012 budget has been tamed too much

Feb 17, 2011

President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2012 landed with a thud Monday, laying out short- and long-term tax and spending plans that disappointed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The proposal was a remarkably tame response to Washington’s fiscal problems, not the bold statement about belt-tightening that the White House had suggested was coming. Yet the biggest shortcoming is that it all but
[Doyle McManus] Mission not yet accomplished

Feb 17, 2011

“Mission Accomplished” read the hauntingly familiar phrase from Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim when the first word came that President Hosni Mubarak might step down. Ghonim delivered the words by Twitter, unlike George W. Bush, who had them printed on a banner. But in both cases, they were premature.As Richard Haas, a former top State Department official who now heads the private Council on Foreign
[Joel Brinkley] Revisionist history doesn’t hold up

Feb 17, 2011

As the saying goes, success has many fathers. George W. Bush is not one of them.The former president’s aides and other neocons are mounting a furious effort right now to make the case that Bush’s pro-democracy campaign during his second term led inexorably to the uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak out of office last week.Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a canard. I know. I was there. I
[Dick Polman] GOP cutting Obama slack over Egypt

Feb 17, 2011

Hey, check out some of the nice things that people have said lately about Barack Obama:“The president, I think, is handling this (Egypt) situation well, under the most difficult kind of circumstances.”“I really have no fault with the president, Obama, the way he’s handled this process.”“I think the administration, our administration, has handled this tense situation pretty well.”“We ought to speak
[Ann Mettler] Europe’s competitiveness shell game

Feb 17, 2011

BRUSSELS ― For seasoned observers of Europe’s economy, the most recent European Union summit delivered a bizarre sense of dj vu. Little more than a decade ago, European leaders announced to great fanfare the “Lisbon Agenda,” a policy blueprint to make Europe “the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world.” The new “Competitiveness Pact,” proposed at the EU summit by France and Germany
Castro’s playbook is different from Mubarak’s

Feb 16, 2011

Somewhere in Havana, Fidel Castro is probably laughing out loud to see Hosni Mubarak lose his grip on power after 30 years of undisputed leadership. In Castro’s eyes, no doubt, the octogenarian Mr. Mubarak brought a world of trouble on himself by trying to mollify Western critics through the creation of a phony democracy that would give his regime a veneer of respectability.Mr. Mubarak was never a
Don’t hinder EPA from regulating emissions

Feb 16, 2011

Temperatures in Wisconsin are expected to rise by midcentury by an annual average of 6 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists and others in state government. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record based on global surface temperature. It was also the wett
[Marifeli Perez-Stable] Education is the key to success

Feb 16, 2011

Is the United States in decline? Twenty-five years ago Americans feared Japan would make us No. 2, but then in the 1990s our economy boomed and Japan’s stagnated. Now the fears have returned.China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies are roaring ahead. China, our closest competitor, holds more than 20 percent of the $4.3 billion in U.S. Treasury securities purchased by foreigners.Deficit re
[Joel Brinkley] Keeping up the pressure on dictators

Feb 16, 2011

In Russia two weeks ago, President Dmitry Medvedev unveiled a 33-foot-tall marble statute of Boris Yeltsin, who, as Russia’s first president, helped bring democracy to the former communist state.In Tunisia right now, I would like to see the interim government erect a marble statue, at least 33 feet tall, of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old Tunisian vendor who immolated himself outside a governmen
[Joshua Muravchik] Revolution germ will spread in the Arab World

Feb 16, 2011

Few bets are safer today than that we will see more uprisings in the Middle East in 2011, though maybe not everywhere. One of the ironies of revolution is that it is hardest to do where it is needed most. Hosni Mubarak was a dictator, but his rule was neither absolute nor bloodthirsty.Revolutions often produce something worse than they replace. But in the case of Egypt the nature of the protests g