The first time I met Raghuram Rajan, the Indian economist couldn’t sit still. It was over coffee in Bangkok in November 2008, less than two months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. imploded and almost took the global financial system down with it. Rajan had become a big draw by then, having warned as early as 2005 that a crash was coming. On that day in Thailand, he had a more local crisis on his hands: The hotel’s WiFi was out. “I’ll be back ― I need to make a call and make sure the world eco

Which side is telling the truth, the ruling Saenuri Party or the main opposition Democratic United Party? The two parties are confronting each other over the allegations that former President Roh Moo-hyun made remarks gravely detrimental to national interests during his summit with Kim Jong-il on Oct. 3, 2007.The allegations were put forward by Chung Moon-hun, a Saenuri lawmaker who worked at Cheong Wa Dae as presidential secretary for unification affairs between 2009 and 2010.During a parliamen

Myanmar President Thein Sein’s visit to Seoul earlier this week highlighted the importance the Southeast Asian country attached to expanding its ties with South Korea. The Myanmar leader came here to reciprocate President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to Naypyidaw in May. The top leaders’ exchange of visits indicates deepening relations between the countries ― a development that must be painful to North Korea, as Myanmar has long been one of Pyongyang’s allies.Myanmar embarked on a path of political and

Hugo Chavez is something of a challenge to the worldview of many rich-country observers. His election victory this week has given him, health permitting, a new six-year term as Venezuela’s president. He’s the leading elected autocrat in Latin America and maybe the world. “Elected autocrat” is a confusing category. According to the model that prevailed for decades after 1945, there are really just two kinds of state: free and unfree. Democracy, good. Autocracy, bad. Chavez represents a third way,

Where is the ruling Saenuri Party headed? Looking at the suicidal in-party fighting, many supporters of the conservative party must be feeling that it is on the path to defeat in the December presidential election. One factor fueling the worsening conflicts is resentment among the party’s lawmakers who are not included in the campaign team for its presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye.The recent drop in Park’s approval ratings led a group of young lawmakers to demand an overhaul of the party’s l

As it is increasingly becoming clear that the Korean economy is headed for a prolonged period of slow growth due to the global economic slump, the nation should refocus on economic growth and make concerted efforts to keep the economy running. The nation’s economy is already under the influence of the sputtering global economy. In the World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund cut its growth estimate for Korea this year to 2.7 percent. Its previous forecast, announc

Mitt Romney’s winning performance in last week’s presidential debate has reinforced his campaign’s belief that this election parallels the one in 1980: In troubled times, Republicans inevitably defeat an unpopular Democratic president. While Romney gets to hit the reset button after President Barack Obama’s desultory display, he’d better not count on the 1980 analogy. Ronald Reagan’s victory over Jimmy Carter wasn’t inevitable; it was earned, with some help from outsiders. The environment was fa

Amid the usual hyperbolic conspiracy theories, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said something incisive in a televised address last week: that the West is waging economic “war” against Iran. He’s right, and the Iranian rial’s death spiral is the first clear sign that we’re on a path to victory. The 40 percent drop by the rial against the dollar since late September is a symptom of larger woes: oil exports are at 1 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million last year; quarterly oil revenue

Koreans have many things to be proud of. South Korea rose from the ashes of civil war to become an economically advanced democracy. Its companies (e.g., Hyundai, Samsung) and celebrities (e.g., Psy) stride on the world’s stage. However, outside observers are less enamored with a widespread cultural trait, termed “han,” which describes a keen sense of sadness, victimhood and injustice. As described by Korean-American sociologist Jon Huer, han can “be inflicted on the Korean people by a foreign po