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[Meghan Daum] ‘Friday’ on YouTube and 15 minutes of flame

ViewpointsMar 28, 2011

“We don’t hate you because you’re famous. You’re famous because we hate you.”So went one of countless tweets about Rebecca Black, the eighth-grader whose music video “Friday” ― a robotic ditty about waking up in the morning and enduring the drudgery of the school week before reaching exalted Friday ― has become a surprise hit on YouTube.On Tuesday night, Black performed on Jay Leno, and as of Wedn
[Joel Brinkley] Egyptian polls: The sooner, the better

ViewpointsMar 28, 2011

For the first time in history, Egyptians voted in a fully fair and free referendum on March 19. And while they celebrated this historic achievement, around the world, academics and human rights activists were bleating like stuck pigs.“There’s just not enough time for parties that haven’t existed before” to organize for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, lamented Robert Springborg,
[Michael Boskin] California economy in trouble

ViewpointsMar 27, 2011

STANFORD ― California has long been a harbinger of national and global trends (both wonderful and overindulgent), a birthplace of innovation in everything from technology and entertainment to lifestyles. The world’s most important technology companies still make their start ― and their headquarters ― in California: Apple, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Google, and Facebook, to name a few in the neighborhoo
[F. Stephen Larrabee] Turkish model hard sell to Arab world

ViewpointsMar 27, 2011

WASHINGTON ― The dramatic revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have acted as a catalyst for a broader Arab awakening that has fundamentally shaken the Middle East’s political order, which has been in place since the late 1970s. While it is too early to predict the final outcomes, several important regional implications are already beginning to emerge.First, the revolts are a double-edged sword for
[Editorial] Electoral divide

EditorialMar 25, 2011

No party in Korea truly represents the entire nation, as evidenced by the outcome of the 2008 parliamentary elections. The electoral divide along the boundary between Yeongnam and Honam was as clear-cut as it could be.In the elections, the ruling Grand National Party carried none of the 31 electoral districts in the southwest region of Honam. On the other hand, the main opposition Democratic Party
[Editorial] Cheonan memorial

EditorialMar 25, 2011

On March 26 one year ago, 46 South Korean naval crew members were killed when their warship sank in the sea off North Korea’s west coast. Fifty-eight survivors, when rescued, did not know what had ripped their Cheonan warship in two. It took a multinational investigation team two months to confirm that the corvette had fallen victim to a North Korean torpedo attack.There should be many questions t
Streamlining relief operations in Japan

ViewpointsMar 25, 2011

As more than 10 days have passed since the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, the government should quickly review its setup so that it can carry out its relief operations as efficiently and effectively as possible.The extent of the damage wrought by the March 11 quake dwarfs that of Japan’s last big disaster ― the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake ― and Pri
[Rebecca Solnit] Surprised by the Arab revolutions

ViewpointsMar 25, 2011

There were surprises in this year’s unfinished revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.Many in the West were surprised that the Arab world, which we have regularly been told is medieval, hierarchical and undemocratic, was full of young men and women using their cellphones, their Internet access and their bodies in streets and squares to foment change through direct democracy and popular power.And
[Editorial] Can election end the Thai political impasse?

ViewpointsMar 25, 2011

After they parted some years ago when his trusted sidekick left his Chart Thai Party for the much more attractive Thai Rak Thai Party, Banharn Silpa-acha said his ties with Newin Chidchob were over and done with. That was just over a decade ago. But over a recent dinner between the Bhumjai Thai and Chart Thai Pattana parties, the two political veterans basically kissed and made up as their henchme
[Editorial] Pygmies now in Pakistan leadership positions

ViewpointsMar 25, 2011

It is Pakistan Day on March 23. While it brings back to mind the promise that the nation showed 71 years ago, also puts into sharp relief the failings and the follies of the later as well as the present generations in not living up to that promise. It was a vibrant people then, charged with a mission that they fulfilled in mere seven years to the utter amazement of the world; now, it is a depresse
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] erstanding Japan’s crisis from economic standpoints

ViewpointsMar 25, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH ― As we all struggle to comprehend the economic and financial impact of Japan’s calamity, it is tempting to seek historical analogies for guidance. Indeed, many have been quick to cite the aftermath of the terrible 1995 Kobe earthquake. But, while that example provides some insights, it is too limited to understand what lies ahead for Japan, and excessive reliance on it could undermi
[Editorial] Moving backwards

EditorialMar 23, 2011

Questions are raised about the nation’s electoral watchdog’s move to lift a ban on corporate contributions to political parties. The National Election Commission has decided to submit a revision bill to the political funding law, which would allow corporations and other legal entities to donate to political parties.In a formality taken ahead of launching the legislation process, the commission inc
[Editorial] Screw tightened

EditorialMar 23, 2011

LIG Engineering & Construction has filed for court protection from creditors. The request for court receivership was all the more shocking to the housing industry, given that the homebuilder is affiliated with a chaebol.Of course, one main cause of financial trouble for the 47th largest homebuilder in terms of construction capacity was an increase in unsold apartments. Should the court grant prote
[David Ignatius] An allied intervention in Libya

ViewpointsMar 23, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Many Americans ― and Arabs, too, for that matter ― have a visceral sense that if there’s a war in the Middle East, the United States must be in the vanguard. I’m glad that’s not the case with the Libyan intervention. Americans should be happy to let France and Britain, who live in the neighborhood, take the lead. President Obama is turning a page, by letting other nations take the fir
[Dominique Moisi] Sarkozy does right by going to war

ViewpointsMar 23, 2011

PARIS ― In 2003, France, under President Jacques Chirac, took the lead in opposing America’s planned invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin’s flamboyant speech at the United Nations encapsulated the “spirit of resistance” against what proved to be a dangerous adventure. In 2011, under President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has again taken a highly visible stand