The Korea Herald

[Shashi Tharoor] India at the U.N. Security Council

Jan 14, 2011

NEW DELHI ― Indian diplomacy began 2011 with election to the chair of the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Committee, a body of some importance to the country (and one which many thought India might not be asked to lead, given its strong feelings on the issue). Coming in the wake of India’s record margin of victory in the race for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, this news confirms India’s stan
[Editorial] Japan’s new adults must think, act globally

Jan 14, 2011

Today (Jan. 10) marks Coming-of-Age Day, when 1.24 million people born in 1990 start a new chapter in their life. We hope they will take a firm first step into adulthood while retaining their self-awareness and recognizing their responsibility as adults.Nevertheless, many of them will be apprehensive about what their future holds amid the job market’s “ultra-ice age” caused by the protracted anemi
[Editorial] Procedural diplomacy

Jan 14, 2011

During his preview of Indonesia’s 2011 foreign policy, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa rightly highlighted the demanding schedule of the next 12 months. As chair of ASEAN for 2011, Indonesia will host more than 300 meetings at various levels. The meetings will cover various areas of cooperation of the 10-member grouping, including trade, investment and defense. Mingled among the multiple ASEAN
[Editorial] Taiwan should lead the way in adopting electric vehicles

Jan 14, 2011

You might have noticed a new brand of car called “Luxgen” on Taiwan’s roads. Luxgen was founded by Taiwan’s biggest carmaker, Yulon, as a separate, indigenous Taiwanese auto company in 2009. Luxgen (the name is a combination of the words, “Luxury” and “Genius”) is doing very well. The company’s website claims that Luxgen is now number six in the Taiwanese market. Yulon is, of course, just one of s
[Chen Weihua] Double standards of Western companies

Jan 14, 2011

For months, the West has been attacking China for tightening control of its rare earth exports. The assault is likely to escalate, as China recently announced it would slash its rare earth export quota by 37 percent for the first half of 2011. China is also introducing more stringent environmental standards for the rare earth industry, which are likely to send many small businesses in the industry
Local bellwether elections in Osaka and Aichi

Jan 13, 2011

The results of coming local elections in Osaka and Aichi prefectures could have a great impact on the shape of Japan’s local government. The people concerned need to carefully watch and consider the moves of two men ― Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura. Hashimoto has the idea of dissolving the Osaka city and integrating the Osaka city and prefectural governments into a met
[Kevin Horrigan] Selective wussification

Jan 13, 2011

For eight years, Ed Rendell was governor of Pennsylvania. The eight years before that, he was mayor of Philadelphia. In all that time, he never got the national attention he’s received in his last two weeks as governor, since unburdening himself about what he called “the wussification of America.”He was upset that the NFL postponed the Dec. 26 game between his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and the v
[David Ignatius] Cries Americans choose to ignore

Jan 13, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Did our angry political culture help motivate Jared Lee Loughner on what authorities say was his mad shooting spree? Maybe, but a more troubling question for me is why nobody stopped this often incoherent, irrational young man on his long path to the rampage in Tucson. I don’t just mean the people who sold Loughner his Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol last November, or the people at a Wa
[Greogry Rodriguez] Image of Americans in post-American era

Jan 13, 2011

The ugly American ― the stereotypically brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling traveler abroad ― is dead. He’s gone the way of global U.S. hegemony, the strong dollar and mid-20th century American naivete.Thirty years ago, the streets of major European capitals were awash with wide-eyed, culturally entitled, middle-class American tourists who were members of the first generation to take advantage of fore
[Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz] CIA needs sunlight, and Tinners case might shine some on it

Jan 13, 2011

By its nature, an intelligence service is antithetical to the transparency and accountability that are hallmarks of a democracy. When the Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947, diplomat Dean Acheson wrote, “I had the gravest forebodings about this organization and warned the president that as set up neither he, the National Security Council, nor anyone else would be in a position to know
[Joel Brinkley Back to ‘normal’ in the Middle East

Jan 13, 2011

Life is returning to normal in Israel and the Palestinian territories, now that the latest round of peace talks is dead.Militants in Gaza are firing dozens of missiles into Israel once again, forcing Israelis to dive into bomb shelters. Israel is responding with air strikes.Israelis are building new West Bank settlements at a furious pace ― 2,000 new homes under construction right now and 13,000 m
2011 promises to be year of electric car

Jan 12, 2011

This year can be the year in which electric cars make headway in attracting a large number of customers who want to buy a vehicle that has no gas emmissions over a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels. But many problems must be overcome before electric cars become a transportation mainstay. Nissan kicked off fierce competition in electric car sales with the December launch of the Leaf, a five-door ha
Tobacco companies behind the smoke screen

Jan 12, 2011

Cigarette makers do a lot more than shred tobacco and roll it up in thin sheets of paper. A December report by the surgeon general’s office outlined a host of changes that tobacco companies have made over the years to render smoking easier to start and harder to quit. For instance, vents and other filter designs make the smoke feel less harsh even though it does the same damage. A bigger, quicker
[Mike Matz] A gift of wilderness

Jan 12, 2011

When most Americans hear the words “public lands” they think of our national parks or national forests or perhaps even our national wildlife refuges. Yet, what might surprise them is that the largest category of our publicly owned land is administered by a little-known agency, the Bureau of Land Management, with a big mandate ― taking care of 400,000 square miles, an area nearly four times the siz
[Erik Berglof] Emerging Europe’s reform for growth

Jan 12, 2011

LONDON ― After the 1997-98 financial crisis, policymakers in Asia’s major emerging markets ― South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and even Indonesia ― vowed “never again” to be humiliated by international capital markets. They set out to address the structural weaknesses that had brought their systems down.Many countries in emerging Europe had similar near-death experiences in the recent global crisis