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The New York Times, June 13, 2010
In this age of Amazon recommendations and Kindle downloads, I still rely on the old-fashioned services of a book buyer. My personal book buyer has an uncanny ability to anticipate my tastes. He has introduced me to out-of-print novelists, obscure playwrights and classic philosophy tracts. I’ve enjoyed nearly all of his choices, though quite a few remain stacked in my bookshelf, still unread.
The Art of Extraction
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 23, 2009
The teacher assembles a collection of chocolate-chip cookies and toothpicks. This is how the elementary school children are supposed to learn about the costs associated with coal mining. Each cookie is a mining property. The students each receive $19 in play money, which they use to buy these properties. They examine the cookies closely to determine which ones to buy. They map their cookies. They buy mining equipment in the form of paperclips and toothpicks. Each minute spent extracting a chocolate chip costs $1. The chips that they do not surreptitiously eat can be sold for $2 apiece. When they are finished, the students must restore their property to its original condition using only their tools, a process that also costs money. Only after this labor can they determine their profits — and the costs of the mining process.
Postcard from...Banja Luka
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 23, 2009
Mladen Miljanović,
who won the prestigious Bell Award in 2007 as the best young visual artist in
Bosnia Herzegovina, grew up during the wars that split apart
From Arms to Art (with Melissa Tuckey)
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 16, 2009
The
Interview with Daniel Heyman
Foreign Policy In Focus, October 17, 2008
Daniel Heyman is a
visual artist from
Postcard from Sarajevo
Foreign Policy In Focus, May 5, 2008
During the nearly
four-year siege of
Memorializing Iraq
Foreign Policy In Focus, March 19, 2008
Some of the most
famous monuments have never been built. Vladimir Tatlin’s monument to the Third
International, a tilted spiral that was to have been larger than the
The Art of Anti-War
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 21, 2007
At the Istanbul Biennale, antiwar artists shock and awe, but why is their work so alluring?
Headbangers Against Genocide
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 4, 2007
Thousands of young people with long hair and studded tongues pay good money several dozen times a year to listen to lectures about genocide. Well, “lecture” is perhaps not the best way to describe Serj Tankian's delivery. The tall lanky Tankian, who has cascades of curly hair and looks like the long-lost offspring of Frank Zappa and Cher, is a natural on stage. But when he grabs the microphone, he is more likely to shout than to talk.
An Interview with Mary Coble
Critical
Dispatches, February 28, 2006
Mary Coble puts her body on the line. In the young performance artist's piece Note to Self, she collected over 100 names of murdered GLBT victims of hate crimes. On September 2 at Conner Contemporary Art in Washington, DC, these names were inscribed on her body with a tattoo needle without ink. The names appeared on her skin outlined in her own blood. Two months later, at Artists Space in New York, she performed Binding Ritual: Daily Routine, in which she covered her breast with duct tape, then ripped the tape off, over and over for an hour. Currently on display at the American University museum, in an exhibit organized by Provisions, Mary Coble's photographs Blurring Boundaries depict scenes from these performances as well as other images that challenge conventional notions of gender.
Interview with Deborah
Faye Lawrence
Critical
Dispatches, October 2005
As a young artist, my first approach to collage was formal. I was pasting down shapes and objects to solve design problems. But I realized almost immediately that I could be selective about my image choices, and it served my longing to assert psychological meaning. Chiefly, I was cutting out a lot of pictures of women, and someone who wrote for the university newspaper promptly called my work "feminist." Though at the time I was really just making collages that expressed my frustration about recalcitrant boyfriends, I was comfortable with the label. Voila! I was politicized.
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"Can Japan Say No to Washington?"
TomDispatch, March 4, 2010
For a country with a pacifist constitution,
"An Arms Race in Northeast Asia?"
Asian Perspective, Winter 2009
In the early 1990s, in the wake of the
Obama Takes a Bow?
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 20, 2009
Critics of the Obama administration were delighted at the
images from the president's recent trip to
Obama: Visit Hiroshima (with Alexis Dudden)
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 11, 2009
President Obama has talked a lot about ridding the world of nuclear weapons. He won a Nobel Peace prize largely on the strength of those words. Now, he needs to translate words into actions and vindicate the Nobel committee’s decision. When he goes to
Revolution in Japan
Asia Chronicle, August 29, 2009
Japan
Japan: On Trial 60 Years Later
Inter Press Service, March 26, 2009
Although
it concluded more than 60 years ago, the Tokyo War Crimes Trial is still a live
issue today - in
Thinking Big in Crisis Time
Inter Press Service, March 12, 2009
Japan
Japan: The Price of Normalcy
Japan Focus, January 10, 2009
In the early 1990s, the Japanese military adopted a cute mascot by the name of Prince Pickles. He’s a little guy with a big head and big eyes who lives in a tranquil country bordering on some pretty dangerous territory. In three action-packed comic books aimed at young people, Prince Pickles overcomes his naïve belief that a land at peace needs no army. He enlists in his own country’s forces to defend against the predations of the neighboring Evil Empire. He endures intensive training. He helps with disaster relief. He goes on peacekeeping missions. And of course, after these mini-heroic efforts, Prince Pickles gets the girl, his comrade-in-arms Miss Parsley.
Burma's New Charter: Radical Change or Fig Leaf?
Inter Press Service, October 14, 2008
After a drafting process of more than 15 years,
East Asia's History Wars Rage On
Inter Press Service, September 18, 2008
Talking Peace, Preparing for War
Inter Press Service, April 14, 2008
Fergana's Violent Reputation 'Inaccurate' -- Analysts
Inter Press Service, March 29, 2008
The
Pacific and Not-So-Pacific Oceans
Inter Press Service, March 7, 2008
The
seas both divide and unite
Asia's Hidden Arms Race
TomDispatch, February 12, 2008
Read all about it! Diplomats remain upbeat about solving the
nuclear stand-off with
Tectonic Upheavals Await Ruling LDP
Inter Press Service, January 20, 2008
The Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled
Eyeing Burma
Inter Press Service, January 18, 2008
When the world’s two
most populous countries held a summit this month in
The Paradox of East Asian Peace
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 13, 2007
At the center of
The Shadow of Vietnam
Internationale Politik, Winter 2007
In Iraq, the
United States has vainly tried to escape its shadow—the shadow of Vietnam. No
matter how strenuously the Bush administration has tried to outrun the legacy
of the Vietnam War—the ignominious defeat, the stains on the US reputation, the
subsequent constraints on the exercise of US power—it has discovered that this
shadow exerts as much influence as any other fact on the ground. Vietnam simply
refuses to go away.
India Returning to the Global Stage
Inter Press Service, June 21, 2007
Before the age of colonialism, India was a world power. Now, like China, it is returning to the global stage. With economic growth topping 9 percent in 2007, an acknowledged nuclear capability, and a growing role in international relations, this South Asian country has attained the status of an emerging power.
South-East Asia: Democratic Deficit Growing
Inter Press Service, June 13, 2007
Last year’s coup in Thailand, continued extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, limitations on religious freedom in Malaysia -- South-east Asian democracies are not exactly flourishing these days.
After Slow Start, Japan Engages Central Asia
Inter Press Service, May 2, 2007
Japan was slow to realise the strategic importance of Central Asia, but
has since engaged all five countries in the region, both bilaterally
and multilaterally, and now plays a balancing force there.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it took Tokyo three years to
open embassies in Central Asia. Several more years passed before former
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto inaugurated a new “Silk Road”
diplomacy.
Covering the Mekong
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 29, 2006
The Mekong River--which translates to the "mother of all rivers"--starts in the mountains of Tibet, flows through China's Yunnan province and then into Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It's an extraordinary region, home to 250 million people and some of the most dynamic and troubling developments in the world.
Burma: More Uncertainty Lies Ahead
Inter Press Service, November 8, 2006
North Korea Tops Abe's Agenda
Inter Press Service, October 24, 2006
Many
foreign policy challenges lie ahead for Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe,
but his most pressing concern is much closer at hand: North Korea, especially
in the wake of its declaration of a nuclear test on Oct.9.
Since then, Japan has been lobbying for strong United
Nations-backed sanctions and implemented even stronger unilateral measures.
This has now acquired urgency in Japan's foreign policy environment, where
officials were looking at China as an economic competitor and potential
military challenge, and questions about Tokyo's support for U.S. policies in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Sun Rises Again
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 2, 2006
Japan is softening its opposition to the use of military force, and the Bush administration couldn't be happier.
Sixty-one years ago this Sunday, the United States dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, on Aug. 9, the United States dropped another one on Nagasaki. Ever since, the Japanese have been committed to nuclear abolition and a pacifist constitution.
But North Korea's recent fireworks—seven missiles launched on July 4—have illuminated a different Japan. In its desire to become a “normal” country and counter potential attacks from countries like North Korea, Japan is rapidly changing its constitution, its principles, and its military capabilities.Racism vs. Sexism in Japan
Munhwa Ilbo, June 6, 2006
Everyone is talking about the revival of the Japanese economy. For the last four years, the economy has been steadily growing. Toyota is hiring, consumers are spending, and the Koizumi government is consequently enjoying high approval ratings.
No Politics as Usual in East Asia
ZNet,
March 27, 2004
Taiwan and South Korea share a good deal in common. They both suffered
under Japanese colonialism. They both built prosperous economies within
the space of only a couple generations. They are both relatively new to
democracy, having shrugged off authoritarian dictatorships within the last 15
years. They rely on U.S. weapons and military guarantees. And they
both have very complex relations with their other, non-democratic cousins, mainland
China and North Korea.
U.S. Grand Strategy in Asia
ZNet,
February 16, 2004
It doesn't have any oil. Its economy has practically bottomed out. The population is a mere 22 million, a significant portion of whom are malnourished. Why on earth is the United States so fixated on regime change in North Korea? The answer lies in Washington's grand strategy toward East Asia, which in turn can only be understood against the backdrop of the region's recent history.
Gunboat Globalization: The Intersection of Economics and Security in East Asia
Social Justice, vol. 27, no. 4 (2000)
In September 1999, the United States offered North Korae a deal: dollars for disarmament. In exchange for North KOrea freezing its missile deelopment program, the U.S. would lift the economic sanctions that have prevented trade between the two countreis for the past 50 years.
The Northeast Asian Arc of Crisis
Peacework, October 1999
It was a hot day near the border between North and South Korea. Hundreds of us stood on both sides of an ice wall that towered over our heads.
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Review: Crude Oil
Middle East Reads, February 27, 2010
It has become a staple of newspaper articles about lottery winners that, more often than not, their huge windfalls cause more grief than glamour. The lucky few frequently overspend themselves into bankruptcy, watch their families descend into nasty conflicts, and endure endless requests for money and gifts from people they don’t know.
Review: Guardians of the Revolution
Yes Magazine, December 15, 2009
Of all the relationships between the
Review: Sergio Fabbrini
International Politik, Winter 2009
The election of Barack Obama seems to have healed transatlantic relations. Even the disagreements—for instance, on the war in Afghanistan—now seem manageable. Was it really so easy to get Europe and the United States back on the same map?
Review: The Future of Global Relations
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 19, 2009
The end of the Cold War ushered in a new period of unipolar
American power. In this country, liberals and conservatives alike celebrated
the triumph of market democracies under the leadership of the
Review: Securing Japan
The Journal of Asia Studies, August 2009
Grand strategy is all the rage in
Review: Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 15, 2008
The
Review: A Thousand Hills
Foreign Policy In Focus, October 15, 2008
A little over a decade after a terrifying genocide left a million people
dead,
Writers from the Other Asia
The Nation, September 18, 2006
According to the official North Korean version, the Americans were the culprits. In October 1950, the first year of the Korean War, American soldiers massacred tens of thousands of innocent people in the North Korean city of Sinchon. In perhaps the most horrifying incident, US soldiers led 900 residents, including 300 women and children, into an air-raid shelter. After the victims passed three days in thirst and fear, the GIs poured gasoline into the dark, confined space and threw in a match.
Review of Tim Beal, The Struggle Against American Power
Korean Quarterly, Winter 2006
Amid all of the accusations and counter-accusations between the United States and North Korea, it can be refreshing to step to the sidelines to get another perspective on the conflict. Tim Beal is a lecturer in international business at the University of Wellington in New Zealand. He has followed Korean issues for some time and has visited North Korea. And just as New Zealand has had the courage to challenge US power on military questions, so has Tim Beal fearlessly tackled US policy and press coverage head on. His new book is a salutary antidote to the heated rhetoric and conventional analysis that typifies US perspectives on North Korea.
Review of Julie Mertus, Bait and Switch
New Politics, Winter 2005
Idealists and pragmatists have long fought over the soul of U.S. foreign policy. The shimmering ideal of the "city on the hill" has competed with a tough-nosed, "let's get the job done" ethos -- Jefferson vs. Hamilton, Wilson vs. Lodge -- since the founding of the republic.
top of pageReview of Kyung Moon Hwang, Beyond Birth
Journal of Asian Studies, August 2005
The sons of concubines built modern Korea. Although somewhat exaggerated, this sentence -- which sounds more like a slur than a historian's observation -- captures the main argument in Kyung Moon Hwang's important new book.
Review of Bradley Martin, Under the Loving Care of
the Fatherly Leader
Korean
Quarterly, Spring 2005
It is often said that North Korea is the most puzzling country in the world.
It is a difficult place to visit. The few journalists who make it there don’t
have the freedom to interview anyone they want. The archives are not open to
scholars.
This doesn’t mean, however, that no information is available on North Korea.
It just requires a little bit more digging and interpreting. For the last three
decades, veteran journalist Bradley Martin has been compiling his notes from
four trips to North Korea, patient scrutiny of official publications, and interviews
with numerous defectors. His book Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader,
an immense and detailed examination of North Korean history and politics, integrates
much of the recent scholarship on the country and adds some new pieces to the
puzzle.
Review of Sheldon Danziger, Gary Sandefur and Daniel Weinberg, eds., Confronting Poverty
Commonweal, June 16, 1995
In its war on poverty, America is sunk in a quagmire much deeper than anything Vietnam ever offered. No peace beckons just around the corner, no dignified retreats are possible.
Review
of Paul Hockenos, Free to Hate:
The Rise of the Right in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and
Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg, eds., Encounters with the Contemporary
Radical Right
Z Magazine, June 1994
On a recent taxi ride in Budapest, the driver turned to me and, after inquiring about my health and complaining about the traffic, offered his unvarnished opinions about Gypsies. It was the usual litany of unpleasant stereotypes involving the lack of a Protestant work ethic, an inattention to personal hygiene, and a predilection for taking from the pockets of upstanding Hungarian citizens.
The taxi driver's racism did not surprise me. His views, after all, are echoed throughout Hungarian society, from barroom discussions to parliamentary debates. What was surprising, however, was his eagerness to express his opinion. There was no embarrassment, no euphemistic language, no reticence. He aired his views as naturally as though they concerned the weather or the local sports team.
Review of Walker Connor, EthnonationalismCommonweal, April 8, 1994
Until recently it had been an article of faith among political scientists that nationalism was on the decline. Economic growth, technological advances, and geopolitical necessities, it was argued, were pushing the peoples of the world toward a recognition of commonalities rather than of differences.
Review of Michael Burawoy and Janos Lukacs, The Radiant Past
Christianity and Crisis, December 14, 1992
When the Berlin Wall collapsed, few East German workers mourned its passing.
Review of Merton Peck and Thomas Richardson, eds., What Is to Be Done?
Commonweal, March 27, 1992
As it sinks further into recession, losing considerable ground to Europe and Asia, the United States still maintains a comparative advantage in one dubious category: faulty economic models.
Review of Robert Schaeffer, Warpaths
Peace Magazine September/October 1991
Nationalism and self-determination are often represented in international relations as moral opposites. Nationalists are portrayed as inflamers of ugly prejudices, advocates of imaginary ethnic homogeneity. From neo-Nazis and rampaging skinheads to apparatchiks and redneck patriots, nationalists appear under various banners, wrap themselves in assorted flags and use the rallying cry of "nation" to mask their own self-serving agenda. Self-determination, on the other hand, has a noble ring: the politically downtrodden struggling for basic democratic rights through unavoidable military force (El Salvador's FMLN/FDR), delicate political negotiations (Poland's Solidarity) or sheer moral authority (India's anti-colonial movement). Instead of working on behalf of any given interest group, such movements target social injustice and shape their struggles according to enlightened political principles.
Review of Martin Mayer's The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery
Commonweal, June 1, 1991
Although its roots extend back into
previous administrations, the savings and loan crisis perfectly
encapsulates all the venality, hypocrisy, and naivete of the Reagan
years.
Review of Paul Krugman's The Age of Diminished Expectations
Commonweal, May 3, 1991
Review of Fred Halliday, From Kabul to Managua
Z Magazine, May 1990
The newspapers have been awash in banner headlines, the Cold War pundits aglow with East-West optimism and the Bush administration adrift in a sea of self-satisfaction.
Review of Stephen F. Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel, Voices of Glasnost
Z Magazine, April 1990
Back when Mikhail Gorbachev was just another party face and Western analysts still considered "Soviet reform" a contradiction in terms, Princeton Sovietologist Stephen Cohen was a rare dissenting voice.
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"China's Military Spending: Hard Rise or Soft Threat" (with Sean Chen)
Asian Perspective, Winter 2009
The rapid growth of
The G-2 Paradox
Asia Chronicle, May 22, 2009
Future historians will view the Bush administration’s assertion of unilateral
China/US: Rivals, Partners in Asia
Inter Press Service, December 17, 2008
With the Six-Party Talks to denuclearise
Book Review: A Floating City of Peasants
Foreign Policy In Focus, October 28, 2008
One of the most
profound migrations in history is taking place today. Cities are swelling all
over the world with the influx of farmers and peasants. But it is in
Surrounding China's String of Pearls
Mother Jones, September 26, 2008
In 1919, the English geographer Halford Mackinder argued
that control of the "Eurasian heartland" was the key to world
domination. Mackinder believed that
Wenchuan as Eco-City (with Emanuel Pastreich)
Foreign Policy In Focus, May 30, 2008
A devastating earthquake leveled the Chinese town of
The Big Yam
The Nation, January 31, 2008
Headquarters was worried. Complaints were flooding in from the Chinese countryside about the quality of the new Haier washing machines. The water pipes were defective, the peasants told the Chinese manufacturer. But when the Haier team went to investigate, they were surprised to discover that the pipes were not broken or poorly fitted. Rather, they were clogged with yam skins. The peasants had been washing their dinner ingredients, not their clothes. An American manufacturer might have lectured the consumers about the proper uses of a washing machine. Haier's CEO, Zhang Ruimin, decided instead to design a machine with wider pipes that could wash both clothes and large root vegetables. He called it the Big Yam, and the machine became a big seller in the Chinese countryside.
"Big Red Checkbook"
The Nation, October 18, 2007
"The glory of Our Empire shines on this universe with brilliance," a ruler once declared in a letter to courtiers in London. "Not one single person or country is excluded from Our kindness and benevolence." He had good reason to be pleased. His country sat astride the global economy. His army was large, his domains vast. He believed his country to be the center of the world, and a good chunk of the world agreed.
"China Remains Question Mark for Japan, U.S."
Inter Press Service, April 27, 2007
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first visit to the United States comes at a time of great uncertainty for both Japan and Asia. The North Korean nuclear crisis remains suspended between crisis and resolution. The free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea, still unratified, will have an unclear impact on the rest of East Asia.
China the Indispensable?
Foreign Policy In Focus, March 9, 2007
China is everywhere you turn: the label on your sweater, every second item on the shelf at Wal-Mart, the computer on which you read this essay, the weather satellite zapped out of the sky in January by a ballistic missile. Unlike Britney Spears, however, China is not merely ubiquitous. It is an essential part of the international community.
So, for instance, in the most recent agreement to freeze North Korea's nuclear program, China proved indispensable as the host and facilitator of the talks. Officials of the U.S. Treasury will readily admit that China's purchase of bonds is indispensable in keeping the U.S. economy afloat. The representatives of 48 Africa nations, who gathered last fall in Beijing, believe that Chinese investments in the continent are indispensable for economic development. Then there's China's rising trade with Latin America, its new activism at the United Nations, and its efforts at regional multilateralism through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in central Asia.China Nurtures Good Neighbor Policy in Asia
Inter Press Service, December 14, 2006
China has embarked on a vigorous policy of engagement with regional institutions in Asia. From the steppes of Central Asia to the resource-rich waters of Southeast Asia, Beijing has implemented its own version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's ‘good neighbour policy’.
China and the Uses of Uncertainty
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 13, 2006
The regional status quo in Northeast Asia appears to have self-destructed over the last few years. North Korea has announced that it possesses nuclear weapons and, with its most recent test, may have kicked down the door to the nuclear club. Japan has already stepped out from under its “peace constitution,” and it is no longer quite so taboo for Japanese politicians to discuss a preemptive strike option or even a formal nuclear capability. The U.S.-South Korean security alliance is beginning to fray at the edges as Seoul prepares to strike off in a more independent direction. China has embraced multilateralism, has significantly encroached on U.S. economic and diplomatic influence in the region, and has even participated as an observer (for the first time in June 2006) in a large-scale joint military exercise in the Asia Pacific conducted by the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
China: What's the Big Mystery?
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 4, 2006
The latest recruitment brochure from the Central Intelligence Agency, which beckons the uninitiated to “be a part of a mission that's larger than all of us,” opens to reveal an image of the red-roofed entrance to Beijing's Forbidden City. From an oversized portrait on the ancient wall, Chairman Mao and his Mona Lisa smile behold the vast granite expanse of Tiananmen Square. The Cold War is over, and the Soviet Union is gone. The cloak-and-dagger games of Berlin and Prague have been replaced by business and tourism. But China—land of ancient secrets, autocratic leaders, and memories of suppressed uprisings—still holds out the promise of world-historical struggle that can help the CIA meet its recruitment goals.
Shifting Gears, China Wins Influence in Southeast Asia
Inter Press Service, April 20, 2006
As the world’s most populous country and the fourth largest economy, China has undeniable global influence. Chinese President Hu Jintao’s meeting this week in Washington with U.S. President George W. Bush, their fifth in little over a year, further underscores Beijing’s central role on the global stage.
China’s growing influence is felt perhaps most strongly, however, closer to home in South-east Asia.
The End of Anonymity
ZNet,
November 17, 2005
The Internet is a great place for anonymity. A woman can go into a chat
room on the Web and pretend to be a man. A teenager can pretend to be a lawyer
and give out free legal advice. A blogger with a pseudonym can dispense inside
gossip about the government or Hollywood or the corporate world.
But anonymity is a much more precious commodity these days on the Internet.
Just ask Chinese journalist Shi Tao.
Taiwan: No farewell to arms, but sales
slow
Asia Times
On-Line, May 8, 2004
Three years after the United States approved one of its largest arms packages
for Taiwan, few of the weapons have reached the island. The centerpiece of the
2001 deal - eight diesel submarines - hasn't gotten past the design stage. Most
recently, Washington and Taipei concluded a deal on two long-range early-warning
radars that were promised way back in 1999. Boeing and Lockheed still are believed
to be bidding.
One China, Two Headaches?
American Prospect,
March 2004
Backing both the favorite and the underdog in a boxing match might win points for evenhandedness, but it would leave sports fans scratching their heads. In the battle of affections between China and Taiwan, though, the Bush administration has done just that.
Washington woos and boos Beijing
Asia Times On-Line,
March 3, 2004
Call it the "wooing and booing" strategy. Washington is reaching out to Beijing on such issues as North Korea's nuclear program and the "war on terrorism". At the same time, the administration of President George W Bush is blaming China for America's trade deficit and gearing up to slam Beijing on human rights at the United Nations this month. Many conservative supporters of the administration, a key constituency in this United States election year, are not satisfied with the even-handed approach and would prefer a great deal more booing than wooing.
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Pax Ottomanica
TomDispatch, June 13, 2010
The future is no longer in plastics, as the businessman
in the 1967 film
If a multinational corporation doesn’t shoehorn China into its business plan, it courts the ridicule of its peers and the outrage of its shareholders. The language of choice for ambitious undergraduates is Mandarin. Apocalyptic futurologists are fixated on an eventual global war between China and the United States. China even occupies valuable real estate in the imaginations of our fabulists. Much of the action of Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age, for example, takes place in a future neo-Confucian China, while the crew members of the space ship on the cult TV show Firefly mix Chinese curse words into their dialogue.
Why doesn’t Turkey have a comparable grip on American visions of the future?Postcard from...Tirana
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 16, 2009
No, it's not a joke. Albanians think highly enough of George
W. Bush to name a café after him. There's even a
Postcard from...Dublin
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 8, 2009
The signs are everywhere, all over
Turkey: Uniter or Divider?
Turkish Policy Quarterly, Winter 2007
Postcard from...Brussels
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 28, 2008
A Return to Diversity in the Balkans?
The American Prospect, December 13, 2007
Southeastern Europe is bracing for one final aftershock from the break-up of former Yugoslavia. The largely Albanian enclave of Kosovo is poised to declare its independence from Serbia after multi-party talks failed to reach a compromise by the UN deadline of December 10.
"Postcard from Sofia"
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 14, 2007
You can find anti-Turkish and anti-Roma slogans spray-painted on the walls of Sofia, in Bulgaria, just as you can elsewhere in the Balkans. But in Bulgaria, the slogan has moved up a level to appear on the side of cars.
"Postcard from Istanbul"
Foreign Policy In Focus, September 10, 2007
As the call to prayers in Istanbul gets louder – thanks to more sophisticated amplifying systems – the number and size of Turkish flags have grown in proportion. This is the fundamental conflict in Turkey today. On one side are the secularists, the heirs of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. On the other side are the Islamists, who are divided into moderate and fundamentalist factions.
"Long Anchored in the West, Turkey Looks East"
Inter Press Service, March 31, 2007
Although only 4 percent of its territory lies in Europe, Turkey has long been anchored in the West. But with full membership in the European Union on hold, the Middle East the focus of global attention, and both China and India on the rise, Turkey has begun to turn to the East.
Europe as Number One
ZNet,
May 26, 2005
According to a recent poll, most of the world wants Europe to be more influential
in global affairs than the United States. Conducted by GlobeScan and the Program
on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) - http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/europe/040605/html/new_4_06_05.html
-- the poll reveals that citizens in twenty out of twenty-three countries prefer
the "kinder, gentler" European approach to foreign policy. In only
six countries do the majority of citizens assess the U.S. role in the world as
positive. Not only Europe is viewed as a more palatable alternative. Even China
gets a higher positive rating than the United States.
Goodbye Uncle Sam, Hello Team Europe
Alternet, April 14, 2005
Over a curry dinner in Geneva, a South Korean friend confessed to being not entirely
thrilled with her European experience. Sure, she had a well-paying job for one
of the many international organizations that keep Geneva prosperous, bustling,
and awash in dull conferences, but it all lacked a certain something. Europeans
no longer believe in anything, she complained -- not like the Americans, who
have the oomph and the moral clarity to "get the job done."
What "job" was she talking about? We most definitely were not getting the job done in Iraq, I pointed out. In recent years, it's Europe not the United States that's been on the right side of the major foreign policy issues of our time, be it Europe's objections to the Iraq War or its diplomatic approach toward resolving the conflicts with Iran and North Korea -- an approach that is far more likely to succeed than American military oomph. As for taking care of their own people, the social system in Europe -- the kind that ensured the job security, high-quality education, crime-free streets, and comparative lack of poverty that friend so clearly admired in Switzerland -- was clearly superior to anything the average American could hope for.
Grapes, Not Golf
ZNet,
July 27, 2004
Boris Fras is the Jose Bove of Slovenia. He hasn’t attacked any McDonalds with sledgehammers. Nor has he made it into the headlines for destroying genetically modified crops. But in his vineyards and among his olive trees along the Adriatic Coast, Boris Fras is waging the same battle as his farming comrade-in-arms in France.
New and Improved Europe?
Munhwa
Ilbo, June 29, 2004 (in Korean and English)
On May 1, the European Union nearly doubled its membership and barely anyone seemed to notice. Although ten countries joined the EU, adding 34 percent more territory and 28 percent more people to the now 25-state structure, news coverage was relatively scant. The world’s attention has been focused on Iraq and the run-up to the U.S. elections. Even Europeans – at least those already in the European Union – did not seem to rate Enlargement Day as especially significant. Yet, E-Day has enormous implications, positive and negative, for those on the edge of Europe and for regions further away such as East Asia.
Trans-Atlantic Food Fight
American Prospect,
May 1, 2003
At the Sunday market at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, the produce proudly announces its origins. There are bananas from Martinique, olives from Spain, artichokes from Brittany and broccoli from Saint-Malo, the place names written just above the prices. Signs tell which family dairies the cheeses come from and whether the lamb grazed on salty coastal grasses. The provenance of the wine on display is even more precisely noted. The open-air markets in France are a good place to understand terroir , the French belief that local conditions such as soil and weather produce distinctive tastes.
The New Eurocentrism
New Politics, Winter 1991
Sandwiched between the Eurotop 20 and the Euromusic report on EuroMTV came a commercial for Robert Maxwell's latest addition to his media empire, The European. The first paper to focus specifically on the various countries of the new Europe, Maxwell's venture promised the substance and panache of USA Today, albeit with a different continental drift.
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Postcard from Rome
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 25, 2008
Within walking
distance of downtown
Are We All North Koreans Now?
TomDispatch, June 17, 2008
Gas prices are above $4 a gallon; global food prices surged 39% last year; and an environmental disaster looms as carbon emissions continue to spiral upward. The global economy appears on the verge of a TKO, a triple whammy from energy, agriculture, and climate-change trends. Right now you may be grumbling about the extra bucks you're shelling out at the pump and the grocery store; but, unless policymakers begin to address all three of these trends as one major crisis, it could get a whole lot worse.
Global Tastes
Alphabet City, September 2007
Courtiers once collected special flavors for the famous banquets of the Roman emperors “in every corner of the Empire from the Parthian frontier to the Straits of Gibraltar." The Chinese emperors, too, demanded a succession of unusual and exotic treats from distant lands opened up by the Silk Road. Today, this tradition still lives on, fitfully, in North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s requests for Czech beer and Italian pizza.
Eat Local, Think Global
Minuteman op-ed, January 24, 2007
Or so argue eat-local advocates. They make a powerful case. "Eating local" definitely helps small farmers and redirects U.S. agriculture toward a smaller and more sustainable future. It dramatically cuts the "food miles" that our broccoli and apples travel to get to our table and thus reduces our energy use. And it restores flavor to our meals.
The Challenge Facing Local Food
Salon, January 18, 2007
On October 3, with the fall semester in full swing, the dining hall at
Georgetown Law School was packed with students slumped over bookbags
and laptops. Squeezed among their plates and papers were tabletop
displays announcing that the day's meal was part of an "Eat Local
Challenge" that required the school's chef to create a meal of
ingredients entirely sourced, grown, or raised within 150 miles of his
kitchen. Between bites, the future lawyers peered at the signs with
amix of curiosity and indignation. Reducing food-shipping
miles and supporting small farms was all good and fine -- but what
ever happened to Taco Tuesday?
Bringing a Living Wage to the Farm
AlterNet, July 12, 2006
Poverty wages for farmworkers were the problem. As Dick Nogaj figured it, blueberries were the answer. On vacation in southwest Florida in 1997, Nogaj and his wife Florence heard about a hunger strike by migrant workers in Immokalee, an agricultural town 35 miles inland from Ft. Myers. The Nogajs immediately drove to Immokalee. They were appalled at how hard the tomato and citrus pickers worked and how little they got in return. The average farmworker in the area, according to researchers at the University of Florida, brings home from the fields an annual income of between $6,500 and $7,000.
Chemical Farm
AlterNet, November 22, 2006
Imagine having to go to a doctor for a prescription to buy the ingredients for dinner. It's not such a farfetched scenario. From testosterone and tetracycline to zeranol and genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, enough chemicals circulate in our animal products to stock a medicine cabinet. Because our meat and dairy are still over the counter, though, Americans remain largely oblivious to the intrusions of the pharmaceutical industry into our kitchens.
The Soul of the New Fast Food
AlterNet, October 20,
2005
I've just ordered the Mixed Message salad at McDonald's. That's the Caesar salad of mostly iceberg lettuce, a couple grape tomatoes, a sprinkle of shredded parmesan, croutons, and a generous slab of fried chicken strips. The salad part is not bad for me, particularly since I opt for the low fat vinaigrette, courtesy of Paul Newman. The fried chicken strips, however, remind me that I'm in a fast food restaurant.
The Legacy of Lee Kyung Hae
AlterNet, August 29,
2005
The South Korean farmer snaps a cucumber in two to show me the drops of moisture that bead to the surface around the break. "If you put it back together and wait a minute, then it will stick together," Yang Yoon Seok says. Sure enough, he easily rejoins the severed halves and the cucumber is once again whole. He shakes it around in the air, and, like magic, the vegetable remains intact. "It's not magic," he tells me. "It's organic."
The Evolution of Frankenfoods?
AlterNet, July 18,
2005
Avoid "dead water," the website advises, or else risk cardiovascular
disease. According to Nanotechnology Limited, dead water is distilled or purified
water that lacks minerals the body needs. The Chinese company claims that its
product "nano water," currently available in Hong Kong supermarkets,
is not only pure but has enhanced properties that fight inflammation, cancer
and even aging itself. Thanks to a "nanometer high-energy water activator," this
superwater has smaller molecule clusters that enable more direct absorption by
the body.
Whether these claims are true or not -- scientists that I directed to the website
pronounced it "hilarious" and "completely bogus" while company
officials declined comment -- "nano water" is piggybacking on one of
the most heralded scientific advances of our generation.
Food and Communism
ZNet,
July 8, 2005
Soviet food was lousy. I'm not talking Russian cooking, which has always had its tasty dishes. I'm also not talking about the meals that people would serve you at home in the Soviet Union, prepared from ingredients that they managed to pull from who knew where. No, I mean the food served in Soviet restaurants. From the flashiest hotel to the lowliest cafeteria, it was just plain bad.
The Restaurant Theory of Reform
Munhwa
Ilbo, June 21, 2005 (in Korean and English)
When I lived in Moscow in 1985, in the first year of the Gorbachev era, it was hard to get a decent meal. I waited on line with my friends for hours just to eat a mediocre pizza with a sour tomato at its center. It was not the same everywhere in the Soviet bloc. In 1985, I also spent a month in Hungary, eating delicious fish soups and apple strudel, and drinking excellent red wines.
Back in the 1980s, the quality of restaurants in the Soviet bloc was a major indicator of the pace of economic reform. The Hungarians were way ahead of the rest, having launched their market experiments in the 1970s. Poland was a few steps behind with both its economic reforms and the quality of its restaurants. And Russia – along with Romania – was at the back of the pack: tough meat, canned vegetables, and unappetizing centralized planning.
Beyond Korean Barbecue
AlterNet, June 10, 2005
North Korea has 1) boasted of having nuclear weapons; 2) threatened to turn its
neighbors into a "sea of fire"; 3) traded in illegal drugs and counterfeit
currency; or 4) been enjoying a gourmet revival.
If you snorted at the last choice, think again.
Recent visitors to the "hermit kingdom" report that good food is no
longer limited to government functions or the occasional hotel eatery. A new
raft of restaurants -- from Korean barbecue to fast-food hamburgers -- cater
to foreigners and locals alike.
Korean Food, Korean Identity
APARC Working Paper,
Stanford University, February 2005
The food situations in North and South Korea, on the face of
it, could not be more different. The collapse of the heavily mechanized
agricultural system in the North, coupled with a longstanding ideological
orientation toward self-sufficiency, has produced an acute food crisis that
has lasted for at least a decade. In the South, integration into the
global economy has brought Korean products to the world market and flooded
stores at home with international brands. There is hunger in the North. There
is abundance in the South. While North Koreans try to supplement their
meager diets with plants eaten only during a famine, South Koreans are bombarded
with messages to increase their caloric intake from such diverse sources
as instant ramen, hamburgers, and sugary soft drinks.
At a deeper level, however, the two Koreas are facing the same two problems:
how to maintain agricultural production under what are widely considered to
be conditions of comparative disadvantage and how to maintain a particular
Korean food culture in the face of homogenizing pressures from the outside. In
other words, despite their relative differences, both Koreas face the same
general dilemma at the points of production and consumption. They are
small, and the global market is huge.
In the Jelly Belly of the Beast
ZNet,
January 23, 2005
On the tour of the Jelly Belly candy factory, the guide proudly shows visitors the art gallery. These are portraits of famous people made out of thousands of jelly beans. There is Princess Diana and Elvis Presley. There is Margaret Thatcher and the Pope. And then there are the politicians: Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
When I ask the tour guide why there are only portraits of Republican presidents and no Democrats, she shrugs and says that the head of the company makes the decisions.
Super-Size Me, Tokyo Style
Alternet, December
17, 2004
It looked like they were giving away food.
The crowd was practically euphoric at the recent opening of Costco's third Tokyo-area store along the bay in Yokohama. The aisles were filled with shoppers who marveled at the almost cartoonish quantities of produce and formed polite lines in front of the more popular food samples. Customers were checking out the non-food items, the cookbooks and clothes and even the shiny new snowmobile, but when it came to filling their shopping carts, they reached for the enormous frozen pizzas and bags of onions.
Asia Holds the Key to the Future of GM Food
YaleGlobal
Online, December 2, 2004
The transatlantic brawl between the United States and Europe is attracting much of the media's interest in genetically modified (GM) food. Indeed, billions of dollars in sales, the genetic fate of food crops, and the future safety of the world's digestive systems all hinge on this debate between Euroskeptics and American technophiles. Ultimately, however, Asia is where the new techno-food will live or die.
The World in a Seed
Alternet September 25, 2004
William Woys Weaver is the horticultural equivalent of the book memorizers of "Fahrenheit 451." The characters of Ray Bradbury's novel seared the texts of forbidden books into their memories to save them from the fires of a police state. William Weaver and his fellow seed savers are preserving fruits and vegetables against the homogenizing pressures of agribusiness.
The Organic Alternative: Slovenia, the European
Union, and the Debate over Sustainable Agriculture
Food
First, Summer 2004
Slovenia might seem like the merest thorn in the side of agribusiness. It is a small, mountainous country on the western edge of the Balkans, half-covered in forest and without much arable land. Only 6 percent of the population of 2 million is involved in agriculture. The average farm is only 5.5 hectares, a far cry from the U.S. average of approximately 176 hectares or even the European Union (EU) average of 18 hectares. But Slovenia, which became a member of the EU in May 2004, may have an outsized impact on European agriculture.
Fat and Foreign Policy
Munhwa
Ilbo, May 25, 2004 (in Korean and English)
Americans are fat. Visitors to the United States are often astonished by the serving sizes at restaurants and the waist sizes of clothing in department stores. One-third of the U.S. population is obese, two-thirds are overweight, and the Journal of International Obesity warns of an epidemic.
Fat Chance
TomPaine.com, April
20, 2004
It’s all about you. Your mid-afternoon candy bars. Your wallowing in all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets like a pig in mud. Your inability to just say no to that supersized French Fries, that Massive Gulp of soda, that waste paper basket full of popcorn at the gigaplex.
The personal responsibility movement, which has brought us such lumps of coal as abstinence pacts and zero tolerance of drugs even for medical purposes, is now attacking the food we eat. Correction: attacking us for the food we eat. And the worst part is, they want to take away our ability to fight back.
Steeped in Tradition
Vegetarian
Times, April 2004
In the chaos of modern life, Asian-style teahouses provide a refuge from the press of traffic, the cacophony of cell phones and the stress of multitasking. Unlike their British tearoom counterparts where taking afternoon tea becomes a ceremony of eating scones, an Asian teahouse offers an interlude of tranquil tea-sipping and small Asian-style snacks in a serene atmosphere. This is good news for the stressed-out people who seek calming influences in life.
Burmese, if you Please
Vegetarian
Times, February 2004
When Aung Myint's family took over a doughnut shop several years ago in College Park, Maryland, they continued to sell crullers and jelly-filled doughnuts even as the cognoscenti crowded around the few tables to eat ginger salad and yellow beans with thousand-layer pancakes. "We weren't sure if Burmese food would work," Aung Myint says in the family's still-popular and now doughnut-free Mandalay restaurant. Half the people you meet don?t even know where Burma is.
Terrorist Potatoes
TomPaine.com, January
6, 2004
Terrorists are targeting our pigs and potatoes. So argues the U.S. government, which has been putting our money where its fears are. The Bush administration has spent billions of dollars to prevent foreign agents from introducing diseases into livestock and crops. From Holsteins to hamburgers, though, our food supply doesn't seem any the safer for it.
Fields of Battle
TomPaine.com, October
27, 2003
On the strength of two wars and a barrage of patriotic propaganda, George Bush once looked invulnerable on foreign policy issues. Today, as stability eludes Iraq and Afghanistan and crisis continues to dog the Korean peninsula, the world seems less willing to go along with the president's reelection plans. And on the horizon looms a bread-and-butter issue of foreign policy that may prove even more vexing for the administration and politically advantageous for the Democrats: the global politics of agriculture. Start sweating, George.
Korean Vegetarian Cooking
Vegetarian
Times, August 2003
It all started with a handful of mugwort and 20 cloves of garlic. Several thousand years ago, legend has it, a she-bear survived on this holy food for 20 days, became transformed into a woman and bore the first Korean child. From the very beginning of Korean history, vegetarianism has been intimately connected to physical and spiritual transformations, and to this day, garlic and wild plants play vital roles in Korean cooking.
Seeds of Conflict
TomPaine.com, June
3, 2003
The Bush administration is behaving like an alpha male in its conflicts with Europe, bellowing and beating its chest to scare the competition. And in letting testosterone determine policy, Washington is out to spread its seed as widely as possible. By pushing genetically modified (GM) seed and produce, the United States wants to remake the world's food supply from the ground up and decisively control market share in key agricultural commodities. Europe stands in the way.
Seoul Food
Washingtonian,
April 2003
Korean food is hot, and we're not just talking pepper. Long overshadowed by its Japanese and Chinese cousins, Korean cuisine is coming into its own, and Washington is one of the first US cities to catch the wave.
Some Americans have enjoyed Korean barbecue. Many know about kimchee the term refers not simply to pickled cabbage but to many varieties of fermented vegetables, fruits, and seafood. We might have encountered gochu jang the essential ingredient of Korean red-pepper paste and so tend to believe that all Korean food is hot and spicy.
Diversity Comes to the Meat We Eat
Newsday, July 29, 2002
America celebrates diversity, but you wouldn’t know it by the meat we eat. Americans are surprisingly picky about what animals and what cuts of animals grace our tables. We are fixated on the Big Three: beef, chicken and pork. True, our preferences among the three are changing. Chicken overtook pig in 1996 and continues to make considerable headway against cow. But there are no serious competitors on the horizon. Seafood is way back in the pack. Even lamb, which is hardly exotic, is consumed at 1/50th the rate of pork.
The Politics of Dog
American Prospect,
June 2002
The line dividing acceptable from unacceptable meat is sometimes a fine one. While vegetarians naturally reject meat of all kinds, th e rest of America maintains some form of double standard -- chicken but not crow, beef but not horse, venisonbut not reindeer, lamb but not mutton, legs and wings and rumps but no thearts or lungs or tongues. Some Americans are adventurous meat eaters who will cross the line and enthusiastically tuck into possum, ostrich, or alligator. One line in America, however, is inviolable. Anonymous livestock and wildlife are fair game, but pets are a different matter, and dog in particular remains the most potent meat taboo. Whenever I mention to my friends that I have eaten -- and enjoyed -- dog stew, they look at me with the sort of horror reserved for hangmen and white supremacists.
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Engaging Pyongyang on Human Rights
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 20, 2008
In the evolving
Anti-Socialist Realism
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 17, 2006
It's the rare musical that addresses massive human rights violations. Cabaret chronicles the rise of Nazism, and Les Miserables presents a tableau of poverty and injustice in mid-19th century France. But since their subject matters are sufficiently remote in history and virtually all of the abuses take place off-stage, these musicals produce only mild frissons in the audience without edging over the line into the truly macabre.
In contrast, the horrors graphically described in the new and controversial musical Yoduk Story are occurring today in North Korea. Through song and dance, Yoduk Story depicts the conditions inside a prison camp that is, by all accounts, still functioning. The plot is, if not ripped from the headlines, drawn from stories buried in the unfortunately more obscure recesses of current newspapers. A high-ranking North Korean family suffers a political fall from grace and ends up in the gulag. There the family members are tortured, raped, and ultimately shot. It's certainly not feel-good entertainment. The musical caters more to Korea's tragic sensibility than to the happy endings that American audiences crave like sweets.North Korea and the Politics of Famine
Foreign Policy in Focus, September 18, 2006
Access to food is a basic human right. For several decades, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) prided itself on meeting the food needs of its population, although it has little arable land. Like many socialist countries, North Korea emphasized this success—along with high literacy rates, an equitable health care system, and guaranteed jobs for all—as proof that it upheld human rights, that its record in fact exceeded that of Western countries. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, a deteriorating economy and a steep rise in the cost of energy, followed in mid-decade by a series of natural disasters, undercut North Korea's capacity to feed its population. The public distribution system collapsed, and famine ensued. Pyongyang appealed to its neighbors and then the world at large for help.
Cartoon Fundamentalists
ZNet,
March 6, 2006
The recent brouhaha over the Mohammed cartoons seems, on the surface, to pit liberals against fundamentalists. On the one side are the defenders of such liberal values as free speech and freedom of the press. On the other side are an intolerant bunch of extremists who refuse to budge an inch from their position. Liberals might not like the cartoons depicting Mohammed, but they support the free and open "marketplace of ideas." Fundamentalists want to censor all ideas they do not like.
"To Link or Not to Link: The Human Rights
Question in North Korea,"
Foreign Policy in Focus, December
19, 2005
Though it would be difficult to find anyone in the United States who would praise North Korea for its dismal human rights record, this consensus of opinion by no means extends to practical foreign policy. In other words, there is broad agreement on what is wrong in North Korea, from the political labor camps to the lack of basic freedoms of speech and assembly, but little agreement on what to do about it or who should be doing it.
The Forgotten Lessons of Helsinki: Human
Rights and U.S.-North Korean Relations
World Policy
Journal, Fall 2004
In the movie Lost in Translation, an aging Hollywood actor and a young American woman are thrown together in Tokyo. The city is to them a bewildering, alien landscape. We see Japanese culture through their eyes, and much of what they see appears grotesque or absurd. More clueless than ugly, these Americans are able to view Japanese culture only through the prism of their own narrow experience.
If Japanese society can remain baffling to educated American travelers after decades of cultural exchanges, after all the sushi restaurants, the translations of Tanizaki and Murakami, the fascination with Japanese art forms both traditional (flower arranging) and trivial (Pokemon) in the United States, it is not surprising that the considerably more remote North Korean society can seem impenetrable. Yet however much our superficial view of Japan, which we tend to see in terms of timeless tradition (the elegiac) or hypermodern anomie (the comic), is to be regretted, our relations with Japan are friendly. Our relations with a possibly nuclear-armed North Korea are not. In this instance, the stakes are too high to allow a simplistic vision of North Korea as "totalitarian" to define policy.
Human Rights in North Korea
Munhwa
Ilbo, April 20, 2004 (in Korean and English)
When I visited the Soviet Union and Poland in the 1980s, I brought along
the names and phone numbers of political dissidents. I carefully translated
this information into code just in case the police searched my bags and read
my notebooks. When I visited North Korea in the late 1990s, I did not bring any phone
numbers. Because I didn't have any contact information for political dissidents.
Because there weren't any North Korean dissidents, at least not any public
dissidents. The same is true today, as far as anyone knows.
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Starting Where North Korea Is38 North, May 2, 2010
Social workers are fond of saying that they must start where
their clients are. This basic principle of social work is not theoretical. It
comes from decades of practice. Simply telling people what they should do
rarely translates into their actually doing “the right thing.” So instead,
social workers have turned the tables by beginning not with the desired
endpoint, as determined by the social work profession, but with the client’s
articulated fears and concerns.
North Korea: Diplomats vs. Journalists
Asia Chronicle, November 4, 2009
At the recent off-the-record meeting between
After the Sunshine Generation
Asia Chronicle, August 21, 2009
The “sunshine generation” is coming to an end. In
Asia's Axis of Evil?
Asia Chronicle, July 24, 2009
The two pariahs of
Asia Chronicle, July 16, 2009
When I was a boy, I devoured the great work of escape fiction, Papillon, which chronicled the astonishing life of Henri Charriere. The French courts sent Charriere to a series of penal colonies off the coast of
Japan-ROK Relations on the Rocks
Asia Chronicle, July 3, 2009
Japan
Playing the Hawk with North Korea
Inter Press Service, July 3, 2009
If the Obama administration needed a rogue nation to demonstrate its foreign policy resolve, central casting couldn’t have supplied a better candidate than
The Obama-Lee Summit: Dangerous Consensus
Asia Chronicle, June 19, 2009
The pundits and publics breathed a sigh of relief after the recent summit: President Barack Obama and President Lee Myung-bak get along.
Outsourcing North Korea Policy
Asia Chronicle, June 11, 2009
The
Korean Tragedies
Asia Chronicle, May 22, 2009
North Korea
North Korea and Malign Neglect
Asia Chronicle, May 14, 2009
The Obama administration has started off on the wrong foot with
North Korea's Sunshine Policy
Korea Herald, April 20, 2009
North Korea
What's Up with North Korea?
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 5, 2009
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why
A Need for Restraint over North Korea's Satellite
Boston Globe, April 5, 2009
When
Ploushares Into Swords: The Economic and Geopolitical Implications of South Korean Military Spending
Korea Economic Institute, February 18, 2009
North Korea Sends Message: Don't Ignore Us
Progressive Media Project, February 18, 2009
Just as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was arriving in
TomDispatch, November 13, 2008
As Barack Obama assembles his foreign policy team, he appears to be drawing from two primary sources: the
South Korea: Still Dreaming of Regionalism
Inter Press Service, October 3, 2008
North-east Asia is a critically important locus of geopolitics, but it lacks a regional security structure.
North Korea, Japan, and the Abduction Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins
Japan Focus, July 2, 2008
In the 1960s, a subculture of Americans became obsessed with alien abductions. Their ur-narrative revolved around the experience of Betty and Barney Hill, a sober, middle-aged, interracial couple who told of being taken from their car one night in 1961 and subjected to medical investigation by extraterrestrials with small bodies and large foreheads. They were not the type to fabulize simply to draw attention to themselves, so their story attracted interest beyond the usual UFO fans. Gradually others came forward with similar tales.
What Lee Can Learn from BushKorea Times, April 15, 2008
On the occasion of their first summit, George W. Bush should have a private, one-on-one, conservative-to-conservative chat with Lee Myung-bak.
Hardliners Target Detente with North Korea (with Suzy Kim)
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 11, 2008
The Bush administration’s approach to
A Green Bulldozer?
Korea Times, January 8, 2008
South Korea's new president underwent his own personal green revolution when he became mayor of Seoul. In charge of major construction projects at Hyundai for three decades, Lee Myung-bak reversed himself in the new millennium. He made rivers spring from concrete and grass grow where there had once been only cars.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex
Japan Focus, October 24 , 2007
The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a veritable Rorschach test for those who follow developments on the Korean peninsula. Everyone who looks at the special economic zone located in North Korea just north of the DMZ sees something very different. And these interpretations often reveal more about the viewer than the viewed.
Korea Times, October 5, 2007
When two young boys square off in the school playground, they will often appeal to higher powers. “My big brother can beat up your big brother!” they cry out as a scare tactic. Even if the two kids don’t come to blows, one will still try to impress the other by claiming that his elder brother is stronger, richer, or more successful.
The two Koreas have been locked in this playground dynamic for decades. In the Korean War, the patrons of both sides -- the United States and China -- fought each other to a standstill.
Korea Times, September 22, 2007
Northeast Asia is a high voltage environment. In other words, an enormous gap in power separates the strongest and the weakest countries currently negotiating in the six-party process. Over the last two decades, this gap in power has sustained the Cold War in the region. It has both justified the maintenance of the huge U.S. military presence and pushed North Korea to develop nuclear weapons to equalize the situation.
Three Hard Truths
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 17, 2007
After finally receiving $24 million in frozen assets, North Korea shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon in July. The optimists cautiously celebrated the move as the first step toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the eventual establishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Pyongyang. The pessimists drolly pointed out that we’re back to where we were in 2002, except that now North Korea has a whole lot more nuclear material and possibly a bomb to boot.
Screening North Korea
Foreign Policy In Focus, June 12, 2007
The North Korean film projectionist is thinking back on her earlier life. When she was younger, she tells the camera, she dreamed of acting. She wanted to play a heroic role on the screen. Her eyes take on a wistful look. And there is a hint of pain in her voice. In any other country, this would be an ordinary show of emotion. In North Korea, however, the ordinary is extraordinary, for outsiders catch a glimpse of it so very rarely.
Promising Start with North Korea
Seattle Post Intelligencer, February 16, 2007
After an intense round of six-sided talks, negotiators are bringing home a deal on North Korea's nuclear program. Of course the plan has flaws. It's only the first step in stuffing North Korea's nuclear genie back into the bottle and ending six decades of hostility between Washington and Pyongyang. It's too early for champagne or a photo op for the president on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.
North Korean Nuclear Agreement: Annotated
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 14, 2007
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the United States and North Korea bridged their differences and produced a preliminary agreement to resolve their outstanding conflicts. The accord is not exactly a declaration of love. It’s not even a bunch of roses and big box of chocolates. But it’s the friendliest the two countries have gotten in the last six years. The February 13 agreement freezes North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil. The agreement is interesting as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does. Here’s a provision-by-provision analysis.
George and Jong
TomPaine.com, January 29, 2007
They don’t look alike. One is tall and thin, the other short and pot-bellied. If they ever meet for a summit, they could pose for photos as the Blues Brothers of international relations. But it’s not likely that George W. Bush and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will face the cameras together any time soon. It’s too bad. Clasping hands, they would probably see into each other’s souls and discover a secret affinity.
Sanctions and War on the Korean Peninsula
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 17, 2007
The risk of war on the Korean peninsula remains high, and the U.S. government is raising it higher by opening an economic front. In September 2005, one day after regional negotiations produced an agreement with the potential to defuse North Korean-U.S. tensions, the U.S. government charged North Korea with counterfeiting $100 bills. Calling this alleged North Korean effort a direct attack on U.S. sovereignty and technically an act of war, Washington imposed an ever-tightening and ever-widening web of financial restrictions on the country.
North Korea Returns to the Negotiating Table
Foreign Policy In Focus, November 1, 2006
North Korea's decision to return to the negotiating table is a win-win-win situation, at least temporarily. The United States, China, and even North Korea gain from the announcement. However, the boost given to each country—a modest “October surprise” for the Bush administration, a diplomatic achievement for China, and a stronger negotiating position for North Korea—will not carry over into the negotiations themselves. A decision to talk, after all, does not translate automatically into a decision to compromise.
Yodok Story and the Bomb
Munhwa Ilbo, October 17, 2006
The controversial musical Yodok Story played for
three nights in the Washington, DC area.
I saw a performance only a couple days before Pyongyang announced its
nuclear test.
Pyongyang 1, Bush 0
Foreign Policy In Focus, October 10, 2006
Five years ago, when George W. Bush took office, North Korea didn't claim membership in the nuclear club. Its plutonium reprocessing facilities were frozen. It was even willing to negotiate away its missile program. Instead of pursuing the diplomatic route, the Bush administration tried to ignore Pyongyang. Then came the schoolyard taunts such as lumping North Korea together with Iraq and Iran in an “axis of evil.” When indifference and insult failed to move the isolated East Asian country, the administration accused North Korea of enriching uranium, which led to the unraveling of the 1994 Agreed Framework and the reigniting of a major crisis. To top it off, Washington began to squeeze Pyongyang economically with sanctions.
Roh, Bush Should Trade Tinted Glasses at the Summit
Korea Times, September 13, 2006
The U.S. and South Korean presidents look at North Korea so differently that it almost seems as if they wear different glasses. George Bush’s glasses are tinted with fear. Roh Moo-hyun, on the other hand, wears glasses that are colored with hope.
When the two presidents meet in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, they should do
more than shake hands and exchange words. They should trade glasses.
American Apples, Korean Oranges
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 17, 2006
The
United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have enjoyed a close alliance for
more than a half century. When South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun met with
George W. Bush in November 2005, an official White House statement summed up
the relationship between the two countries: “The two leaders agreed that the
alliance not only stands against threats but also for the promotion of the
common values of democracy, market economy, freedom, and human rights in Asia
and around the world.” In other words, South Korea and the United States
contend that they stand together not only for strategic military reasons but
also because of a strong overlap in economic and political philosophies.
"Roaring Mouse vs. Squeaking Lion"
Foreign Policy In Focus, August 1, 2006
North Korea's missile launches in early July created a stir in the U.S. media. Journalists went to great lengths to warn the American public of the North Korean threat, even to the point of predicting, hyperbolically, the outbreak of World War III. The Bush administration, however, has been rather cautious in its response. White House spokesman Tony Snow immediately dismissed the way the U.S. media had blown the missile launches out of proportion and reminded reporters that the government was working to calm the situation.
The average reader cannot be blamed for being confused at the discrepancy between the press reports and the U.S. government response. The Bush administration hyped Iraq's imaginary weapons of mass destruction on the eve of invasion in 2003 and has emphasized the threat that Iran's rather minimal nuclear program poses to the world community. But when it comes to North Korea, Bush has been comparatively—and uncharacteristically—silent. North Korea, after all, claims to have nuclear weapons and the capability to deliver them. It seems to have what Iraq didn't have and what Iran has yet to acquire.
"Negotiating Space with North Korea"
Boston Globe, July 6, 2006
EVEN THOUGH North Korea's long-range missile turned out to be a dud, Pyongyang has nevertheless achieved its aim by getting the world's attention. Governments around the world have rushed to condemn Pyongyang. Japan and the United States want to bring the full weight of the United Nations against the country. North Korea, meanwhile, has argued that it would consider comprehensive sanctions an act of war. It's threatening a nuclear strike if attacked.
North Korean Fireworks?
Foreign Policy In Focus, June 30, 2006
No foreigner, with the possible exception of Simon Cowell, can get the attention of Americans like North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. In the middle of June, the North Korea government began preparations to launch a long-range rocket. Though Pyongyang's intentions were far from clear—even to the point of whether it would go through with the test—some otherwise level-headed people went ballistic. William Perry, the architect of the better-late-than-never engagement policy of the Clinton administration, recommended that the Bush administration take out the missile site with a preemptive attack. The epitome of sober politics, Walter Mondale, seconded the motion. It was up to Dick Cheney, no friend of North Korea, to urge that calmer heads should prevail.
Time to Lift North Korea's Quarantine
YaleGlobal Online, June 8, 2006
The US has put North Korea under quarantine. Pyongyang stands accused of a multitude of crimes, from missile exports and drug smuggling to counterfeiting and money laundering. North Korea has long relied on illicit activities to acquire what it has had difficulty obtaining through legitimate means. Yet isolating Pyongyang from the global economy could prove counterproductive.
The Contradictions of Kaesong
ZNet, May 30, 2006
I admit that the issue of North Korea has scrambled my political
compass. Ordinarily, I oppose nuclear power as an expensive, even
dangerous source of energy. But I support civilian nuclear power plants
in North Korea as part of a deal to end the current standoff. Usually I
oppose engaging countries that have horrific human rights records. But
I support engaging North Korea because I don't see any feasible
alternative.
And I'm not a big fan of export processing zones that are competitive
because of cheap workforces and unregulated workplaces. But the two
Koreas have created such a zone -the Kaesong Industrial District - that
is a critical part of their slow-motion reunification efforts.
"Sovereignty Matters"
ZNet,
March 31, 2006
It is a relatively poor country, but the people who live there are proud
of their long history and rich culture. Aside from mining, there are few
profitable enterprises, though recently casinos have begun to attract outsiders.
Nevertheless, the country's government values its independence and uniqueness.
Even more important than self-sufficiency, which has eroded over the years,
the country stresses its sovereignty. And it is suspicious of any actions
or laws that might abridge that sovereignty.
The above description could apply to North Korea. But I'm really thinking of
Indian Country. There's a reason why I'm making the comparison between these
two disparate places. But first: a bit of background on the importance of sovereignty
for Native Americans.
Uses of Ambiguity: September 19 Agreement
with North Korea
Foreign Policy in Focus, October
1, 2005
On September 19, North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program. As part of the same agreement, which followed the latest round of the Six Party Talks, the United States pledged not to attack or invade North Korea, to coexist peacefully with the country, and to work toward normalized relations. The United States and other parties to the agreement—China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea—offered to put together an energy package for North Korea.
While this agreement represents the triumph of diplomacy over military confrontation—and an important U.S. shift toward negotiating with a country previously declared beyond negotiations—it doesn't represent a victory of clarity over ambiguity. In fact, the differences of opinion that marked the confrontation prior to the agreement remain largely untouched. No specific commitments have been nailed down; no deadlines have been identified. Both the United States and North Korea have issued their own independent interpretations of the agreement and, not surprisingly, they do not see eye to eye.
Atoms for Peace
The
Providence Journal, August 17, 2005
Those crazy North Koreans. They’ve promised in principle to give up their
nuclear weapons, but they insist on generating nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
With Pyongyang and Washington at loggerheads over this point, the Six-Party
Talks have taken a recess after two weeks of promising discussions. U.S. and
North Korean negotiators met at least ten times for face-to-face palaver. The
North Koreans even took the Americans out for dinner. But in the end the U.S.
side declared that it didn’t trust North Korea to restrict its nuclear
ambitions to the civilian sector. What part of “no nukes” do the
North Koreans not understand?
But maybe the North Koreans aren’t so crazy after all.
Korea's Slow-Motion Unification
Boston
Globe, June 9, 2005
Something extraordinary is happening in Korea, and Washington appears to be
paying no attention. The two Koreas have plunged headlong in to unknown territory:
reunification. For 50 years, aside from the occasional defector, it was impossible
to cross the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula.
Dealing with the Powers in Pyongyang
Ft.
Worth Star-Telegram , February 16, 2005
North Korea's public declaration of nuclear status does not definitively prove that it possesses nuclear weapons. What's clear is that Pyongyang expects no changes in Bush administration policy.
The announcement and North Korea's decision to stop participating in the international negotiations with the United States and its neighbors known as "six-party talks" was designed to shock Washington into a more conciliatory position. Don't count on it.
Caught in the Muddle: Round Two of Bush vs. North Korea
Foreign Policy in Focus, February
10, 2005
Hope springs eternal among foreign policy analysts that the Bush administration, in its new post-election configuration, will finally get serious about the North Korean nuclear crisis. According to the most optimistic assessment, the new appointments at the State Department -- Condoleeza Rice, Robert Zoellick, Christopher Hill – will leaven the administration’s hard-line policy with a measure of pragmatism. This more realistic diplomacy will attract North Korea back to the Six-Party Talks. Then the new team of U.S. negotiators will take over, having devised a magic formula of carrots and sticks that will persuade Pyongyang to shut down and then eliminate its plutonium facili ties as well as its not-yet-unacknowledged highly enriched uranium program.
This scenario is remotely possible.
North Korean Surprises
Munhwa
Ilbo, December 7, 2004 (in Korean and English)
U.S. pundits and policymakers routinely label North Korea unpredictable. Yes, Pyongyang has sprung a number of surprises on the world. It launched a rocket over Japan in 1998. It pursued a secret uranium enrichment program. It has sent boats and submarines on mysterious missions to South Korea and Japan.
But once you study the North Korean system, these surprises begin to acquire a certain logic. North Korea launched the Taepodong in 1998 in order to grab the attention of the United States and advance implementation of the Agreed Framework. It pursued the uranium enrichment program because it wanted a nuclear deterrent, or at least the appearance of such a deterrent, to prevent an attack by its enemies. It sends out spy missions because the United States and South Korea do the same, and Pyongyang believes that espionage is an equal opportunity game.
U.S.-ROK Relations after the Elections
ZNet,
November 26, 2004
The results of the recent U.S. elections, on the face of it, do not look good for US-South Korean relations. Since 2001, when President Bush snubbed President Kim Dae Jung in their first face-to-face meeting, ties between Washington and Seoul have gone from bad to worse. In the comparatively tranquil days of the late 1990s, the most controversial elements of the bilateral relationship were the terms of the Status of Forces Agreement and Seoul's desire to have a more independent military. Today, the two countries are butting heads on practically every issue under the sun.
Untangling the Knot: The Future of U.S.-South
Korean Security Relations
Foreign Policy
in Focus, October 2004
In its crudest form, geopolitics is a zero-sum game. The United States recognizes Mainland China and breaks official ties with Taiwan; Washington leans toward Karachi and away from New Delhi. A gain along one axis is offset by a loss along a second. But diplomacy is usually too complex an amalgam of relationships to evaluate so starkly on a balance sheet, and there are often opportunities for simultaneous improvements with mutually antagonistic countries. Take, for example, the surprising improvement in U.S. relations with both China and Taiwan over the last three years. Alas, the flip side to win-win diplomacy is lose-lose diplomacy. Since 2000, when U.S. relations with both halves of the Korean peninsula seemed to be on the upswing, Washington has managed to unravel its rudimentary relationship with Pyongyang while simultaneously tangling its ties with Seoul.
The Democrats and North Korea
Munhwa
Ilbo, August 3, 2004 (in Korean and English)
The Republicans should receive a Dubious Achievement award for managing to destroy U.S. relations simultaneously with both Koreas. The damage may well be irreversible. Still, many Korea-watchers around the world - as well as South Koreans, and, it is said, even Kim Jong Il himself - believe that a change of regime in Washington, DC will restore harmony to U.S. relations with the peninsula.
Warning: Do not put too much hope in the Democrats.
The Spirit of Kwangju
ZNet,
June 15, 2004
It happened nearly 25 years ago, but the old woman's grief was still raw. We were queued up to lay flowers on the ceremonial table with its pyramids of fruit and platters of pounded rice cake. At the head of the line was a group of victims' mothers, clad in white. Each lay a single flower on the table, added a pinch of incense to the smoking urn, and bowed slightly before retiring to the side. But this particular woman didn't move on. Instead, she broke out in a scream. "My son is dead and the government can do nothing about that now!"
Bring Our Troops Home -- From Korea
Foreign
Policy in Focus, June 6, 2004
The vortex of Korean politics can make even Donald Rumsfeld sound like the most radical Korean peace activist. "After the cold war,” he declared on June 3, “U.S. forces have been stationed in South Korea for too long." The occasion was the announcement of the largest U.S. troop reductions from the Korean peninsula since the Korean War armistice, which took place 51 years ago this month. The Pentagon is withdrawing one-third of its forces from South Korea and sending a portion of them to Iraq.
Next Stop: Pyongyang?
TomPaine.com,
May 10, 2004
There is no Vaclav Havel of North Korea. Don't expect to turn up a Solidarity-like
trade union or a Democracy Wall movement on your next visit to Pyongyang. Nor,
as far as anyone can tell, is a North Korean version of Boris Yeltsin or even
Mikhail Gorbachev waiting in the wings to shake up the ruling party. Leader
Kim Jong Il is pushing ahead with economic reform, and the number of cell phones—to
quote one index of change—has gone from zero to 20,000 in the last few
years. But as you might imagine from its woeful lack of political diversity,
North Korea's human rights situation remains dismal—prison camps, summary
executions and virtually no freedom of speech, assembly or press.
It's Our Party (and We'll Cheer If We Want
To)
Foreign
Policy in Focus, April 30, 2004
Imagine if nearly three-quarters of the U.S. Congress were thrown out on its
collective ear and replaced by a new generation of 30 and 40-somethings, many
of them considerably more progressive than John Kerry. Imagine if the number
of women in Congress doubled. Imagine a new labor party securing ten seats and
a pivotal minority position.
A fantasy? Not for South Koreans.
Between Kim Jong II and a Hard Place
Foreign
Policy in Focus, February 27, 2004
Some presidential candidates have extramarital affairs they hope won't come
to light before the elections. Other candidates fear that a past financial
indiscretion will be revealed just before Americans go to the polls.
George W. Bush has Kim Jong II.
The Bush team is desperate for North Korea's nuclear program to simply go away
and not blow up in their (and everyone else's) faces before November.
U.S. must abandon hard-line stance in
talks with North Korea
Progressive
Media Project, February 19, 2004
You can lead two parties to a negotiating table, but you can't make them compromise. As the United States and North Korea head into six-party negotiations on Feb. 25, both countries find themselves boxed into a diplomatic corner. These hardening positions make a robust agreement unlikely even though such a deal is in the long-term interest of both parties.
Second Act
The American
Prospect, February 2004
The Bush administration has been at times dangerously ambiguous in its policy toward North Korea. Now Congress is attempting to clarify matters with a bill that is certain to fuel the ongoing conflict. With a second round of six-party talks likely for early 2004 and North Korea's nuclear program chugging along, the upcoming debate on Capitol Hill over a new bill, the new North Korea Freedom Act, may well be pivotal in pushing U.S. policy toward either engagement or increased confrontation. The stakes are huge. Even if the current conflict doesn't escalate into a shooting war, failure to bar North Korea from the nuclear club could set a poor precedent for non-proliferation and seriously damage the President's prospects for reelection.
Regime Change in North Korea?
ZNet,
December 25, 2003
There is broad agreement across the political spectrum: the Bush administration screwed up on North Korea. The Agreed Framework lies in tatters. This diplomatic achievement of the 1990s froze North Korea's plutonium processing program in exchange for various economic and political incentives.
North Korea: a Different Kind of Regime Change
Global
Beat Syndicate, December 2, 2003
For the last year, the Bush administration has spoken with a forked tongue on North Korean policy. The president's pragmatists want to negotiate a solution to the current nuclear stand-off; his hardliners crave Korean War II. According to Washington gossip, the pragmatists have bested the hardliners and the administration is ready to deal.
The Peculiar Pragmatism of Pyongyang
The Progressive, October 2003
I met Mr. Yoon at my hotel in Pyongyang in the spring of
1999. With his lightly accented English and well-tailored suit,
he seemed indistinguishable from the other South Korean businessmen
prospecting for deals in the North. What should have clued me in,
though, was that the other businessmen at the Potonggang Hotel –
an Australian working with the North Korean military on a gold mining
project, a Sri Lankan working for a German clothing company –
seemed to be avoiding the South Korean. Pyongyang is such a
challenging place to do business that English-speakers will gravitate
toward each other, regardless of nationality or ideology.
Yoon didn’t seem to be bothered. He gave me his name card,
which listed two affiliations: Pyounghwa Motors and KumGangSan.
“Look me up the next time you’re in Seoul,” he said.
What the North Koreans are really after
The
American Prospect On-Line, October 23, 2003
Conflict-resolution professionals often say that to break a deadlock requires parties to shift from "positions" to "interests." For the past year, the United States and North Korea have repeated their positions ad nauseum. The United States wants North Korea to give up its nuclear program; North Korea wants a guarantee that the United States won't pull an Iraq and bomb Pyongyang. These positions couldn't be any clearer -- or a resolution any more elusive.
The Tug of War
Foreign
Policy in Focus, October 22, 2003
The tug of war between the hawks and doves over North Korea policy continues within the Bush administration. In the latest move, the administration has unveiled its new, flexible negotiating position with Pyongyang: a willingness to provide security guarantees. Examined more carefully, however, this new dovish position appears to have the wing prints of the hawks all over it.
North Korea: Hexagonal headache
Asia Times,
September 6, 2003
"It is a testament to the absurdly low expectations attached to the diplomatic abilities of both North Korea and the United States that pundits have avoided the obvious conclusion concerning the recently concluded six-party talks in Beijing.
They were a disaster.
Here's the rub, though: the hardliners in Washington got exactly what they wanted and may get hoisted by their own hubris as a result."
The Fire Next Time
TomPaine.com, September
3, 2003
With the exception of perhaps a handful of hardliners in the Bush administration, no one wants Korean War II. Washington, dangerously overextended militarily, knows such a war would be devastating in both human and political terms. Pyongyang, dangerously underequipped militarily, knows war would be suicidal. Yet both sides are inching toward the very war that they and everyone else would like to avoid. If anything, the recently concluded Six-Party talks have brought this conflict only closer.
Six Countries in Search of a Solution
Foreign Policy
in Focus, August 26, 2003
War so far has not returned to the Korean peninsula. Negotiators from six countries--North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States--are about to sit down in Beijing to keep it that way. In a world dominated by military "solutions" to obdurate problems, even the muted vote for diplomacy represented by the upcoming Six-Party Talks should be cause for celebration.
But few are optimistic about this latest attempt to solve the current Korean crisis. Most pundits believe that the best possible outcome of the August 27-29 meetings would be a time and a date for the next parley. If one of the six doesn't storm out, the meeting will be a success. The United States has refused to offer any inducements; North Korea has not diminished its harsh rhetoric toward the United States. Japan, meanwhile, has insisted on introducing the issue of abductees, which may very well torpedo the discussions. Although South Korea, China, and Russia are eager for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, they are the least influential of the six.
50 years after Korean armistice, rhetoric of war
continues
Progressive
Media Project, July 23, 2003
Fifty years ago, a flimsy bandage was placed across the gaping woundsof the Korean War. The armistice agreement, signed on July 27, 1953,stopped the bloodletting but did not officially end the war. Today, North Korea is racing to develop a nuclear deterrent, and theUnited States is using economic and political levers to effect regimechange in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. Both sides areincrementally peeling back the bandage of armistice. War, once again, lurks right below the surface.
Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang
Foreign Policy
in Focus, July 2003
The streets of the capital are broad and the buildings monumental.
Inside the grand state offices, a power struggle rages among the political
elite, and the side that seems to have the upper hand is insulated, single-minded,
and shamelessly belligerent. This clique supports a military-first policy
that doesn't shrink from the first use of nuclear weapons, a stance that
strikes fear into allies and adversaries alike. Nor are these fears soothed
by the actions or rhetoric of the leader, a former playboy who owes his position
to an irregular political process and the legacy of a more statesmanlike
father.
Choose your capital: Pyongyang or Washington?
Eyes on Different Prizes
Foreign Policy
in Focus, May 12, 2003
Roh Moo-hyun is coming to Washington with a public and a private message. Publicly, the South Korean president will affirm his government's desire to strengthen its relationship with the United States and bring a peaceful end to the nuclear crisis with North Korea. The private message, which won't appear in any newspaper headlines, will be: "Mr. Bush, please don't screw things up for us."
From Gulf War II to Korean War II
Albany Times-Union, April 3, 2003
Is North Korea Next?
Foreign Policy in Focus, March 24, 2003
A serial invader is always looking over the horizon for the next target. The new U.S. rationale for invasion--the doctrine of "preventive war" that flies in the face of international law--justifies invasion anywhere, anytime. With the war launched in Iraq, the Bush administration appears to be laying the groundwork for its next move: an attack on North Korea.
South Korea Joins the Axis of Independence
Foreign Policy
in Focus, February 24, 2003
Roh Moo Hyun, the incoming South Korean president, is part of a trend that raises the hackles of the Bush administration. America now has another outspoken and uncowed "ally." Roh joins an axis of independence that includes France's Jacques Chirac and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder. With friends like these, the Bush team laments, who needs an axis of evil? What's bad for Bush, however, is a boon for the rest of the world and particularly for the Korean peninsula. Roh Moo Hyun is the world's best hope for avoiding war in East Asia.
America's North Korea Policy Is Not Working
San Diego Union-Tribune, February 6, 2003
The Time-Out Method Doesn't Work
Foreign
Policy in Focus, January 23, 2003
For the past two years, the Bush administration has treated North Korea like a child throwing a tantrum. Rather than charm a crying child with a piece of cake or apply a switch to its backside, the current child psychology approach is the "time out"--separate the child from the group until it calms down. Similarly, the Bush administration has hoped that isolating and ignoring North Korea will make it "come to its senses" and stop bothering the other kids in the playroom.
Responding to North Korea's Surprises
Foreign
Policy in Focus, October 24, 2002
For a supposedly changeless, monolithic state, North Korea shakes up the staid world of diplomacy with surprising frequency. In the past four months, Pyongyang has initiated dramatic economic changes, stunned Japan with its confession of abductions, appointed a Chinese-born tycoon to oversee its newest free-trade zone, and sent its first-ever boatload of athletes, musicians, and cheerleaders to South Korea to participate in the 2002 Asian games. In the latest stunner, North Korea revealed in early October to a visiting U.S. delegation that it has violated international agreements with a secret uranium enrichment program.
Bush Policy Undermines Progress on Korean Peninsula
Foreign Policy
in Focus, March 2002
President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in an axis of evil with Iran and Iraq is only the latest indication of Washington's new hard-line approach to Pyongyang. Since taking office, the Bush team has deliberately distanced itself from the Clinton administration's policy of engaging the former state of concern. Even North Korea's condemnation of the events of September 11 and its continued repudiation of terrorism have done little to repair the frayed ties. Relations between the U.S. and North Korea (DPRK) are deteriorating into a slow-motion catastrophe with unpredictable consequences for the region and the world. Until recently an oasis of increasing cooperation in a conflict-prone world, the Korean Peninsula has again become a dangerous place.
Korea
Foreign Policy
in Focus, January 2002
The Korean peninsula, colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945, was liberated and divided at virtually the same time. In the closing days of World War II, the Soviets moved in from the north and repatriated guerrilla leader Kim Il Sung as leader of the new communist state. After liberating the south, the U.S. worked behind the scenes to ensure the election of "our man in Seoul" Syngman Rhee. Nationalist attempts to reunite the peninsula, which seemed promising in the immediate postwar period, were foiled largely by Rhee's virulent anticommunism and U.S. skepticism. The dividing line at the 38th parallel was formalized in 1948 with the establishment of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). On both sides of the parallel, the regimes consolidated power through extensive purges.
Bush Faces Challenges on the Korean Peninsula
Foreign
Policy in Focus, March 2001 (with Karin Lee)
The Bush administration faces challenges from allies and adversaries alike in East Asia. The recent submarine incident and rising anti-bases sentiment in Okinawa have put the U.S.-Japan "special relationship" on rocky ground. The war of words with Beijing about human rights and its relations with Iraq suggests that the Bush team's downgrading of China to the status of a "strategic rival" has already accentuated lines of division in the region.
Bush Fumbles with Korea Policy
Progressive
Media Project, March 29, 2001
George Bush is on the verge of making a big foreign policy blunder.
Instead of running with the Clinton policy on North Korea, the Bush team
appears to be bobbling the hand-off. At risk is not simply the slow process
of detente between North Korea and the U.S. At their March 7 meeting, Bush
and South Korean president Kim Dae Jung could not resolve key differences,
leaving this key alliance too on shaky ground.
Progress on the Korean Peninsula
Foreign Policy
in Focus, December 2000
It was a striking juxtaposition, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il sitting side by side at a display of mass gymnastics in Pyongyang this last October. Spectacular and amazing, Albright called the coordinated movements of the 100,000 performers. When a picture of the August 1998 Taepodong rocket launch was displayed, Kim Jong Il confided that it would be his country's first and last such launch. The North Korean leader was a man with whom she could do business, Albright concluded at the end of her visit. The U.S. and North Korea, technically at war for over fifty years, had never before been on quite such cordial speaking terms.
Building Peace in Korea
Peace Magazine, Summer 2000
North Korea is on the verge of coming in from the cold, diplomatically speaking.
After 50 Years, It's Time to End the War
Birmingham News, June 25, 2000
With East Asia changing rapidly, the United States has fallen out of tempo with the times.
A New Era for the Korean Peninsula
Foreign Policy
in Focus, June 2000
After more than fifty years of conflict, the Korean Peninsula is poised for a dramatic breakthrough. The successful June summit between the leaders of North and South Korea is only the latest in a series of diplomatic advances. Over the past year, North Korea has been patching up relations with friends and adversaries alike. In South Korea, meanwhile, a strong political consensus continues to favor engagement with the north. The United States can play a critical role in hastening progress in Korea, if the Clinton administration can overcome cold war resistance in Congress, the Pentagon, and the State Department.
US North Korean Relations
Foreign Policy
in Focus, March 1999
North Korea is the United States's longest-standing adversary. The U.S. helped to divide the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, then waged war against North Korea in the 1950s. It has maintained economic sanctions against Pyongyang for nearly fifty years. In this post-cold war era, North Korea remains a useful demon. The Pentagon has inflated the North Korean threat in order to rationalize its desire for a missile defense system, to justify a capacity to fight two wars simultaneously, and to explain the need to maintain 37,000 troops in South Korea (and 100,000 troops in Asia overall).
North Korea and the Politics of Engagement
Peace Review 11:3, 1999
In its policy toward Norea Korea, the U.S. government has vacillated between extremes. During the early 1990s, the U.S. nearly went to war with North KOrea over its nuclear program. Then, after stepping away from the brink in 994, U.S. policy swung to the side of engagement.
_______________________________________________________
Why Yugoslavia Still Matters
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 6, 2009
Strategic Dialogue with Edward Herman
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 6, 2009
In his apologia for Serbian war crimes, Edward Herman displays a well-trained eye for media analysis and a remarkable blindness to everything else.
Postcard from...Ljubljana
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 25, 2008
The huge yellow banners on the façade of the building under
renovation contain short statements that could be part of an advertising
campaign or perhaps a conceptual art project. But the stories that are now
appearing on this building (pictured) and bus shelters throughout downtown
"Kyrgyzstan: Exporting the Tulip Revolution"
Inter Press Service, March 29, 2007
Two years ago, the 'Tulip Revolution' pushed Kyrgyzstan off the path of dictatorship. But the subsequent direction the small Central Asian country has taken, and whether the revolution can serve as a model for the region, remain controversial.
Containment Lite: US Policy toward Russia and
its Neighbors
Foreign
Policy in Focus, April 1999
If the U.S. government had wanted to destroy Russia from the inside out, it couldn't have devised a more effective policy than its so-called "strategic partnership." From aggressive foreign policy to misguided economic advice to undemocratic influence-peddling, the U.S. has ushered in a cold peace on the heels of the cold war. Containment remains the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Russia. But it is a "soft" containment. It is Containment Lite.
Restructuring East-Central European Economies
Foreign Policy in
Focus, December 1996
In 1990, after the collapse of its communist governments, East-Central Europe confronted a daunting challenge: to transform its stagnant economies as quickly as possible, with few resources and little experience. Although differing in many respects, the countries in the region suffered from many of the same problems. They carried (or would soon carry) large foreign debts, supported a huge number of unproductive state enterprises, could no longer rely on the trade network of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), and faced serious health and environmental problems. The U.S. along with key international funders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) offered a firmly stated and well-articulated panacea: structural adjustment.
U.S.-Russian Relations: Avoiding a Cold Peace
Foreign Policy
in Focus, November 1996
The end of the cold war left U.S.-Russian relations in a state of volatile ambiguity. Once implacable enemies, the two countries had to quickly work out new principles upon which to base their relationship. The result has been a tragicomedy of tepid cooperation, mild saber-rattling, and missed opportunities.
The Browning of RussiaCovert Action Quarterly, Spring 1996
Russian politics is a lot like interior decorating: It's all about color. For almost 75 years, Russia was painted different shades of Bolshevik crimson, from Stalin's blood red to Gorbachev's pinkish perestroika.
Unclenching the Iron Fist
Peace & Democracy News, Summer 1994
As Boris Yeltsin relates in his autobiography, the incident occurred at a construction site in Sverdlovsk during his first job as a foreman. One of the convicts reoutinely hired to fill out the workforce stormed into his office, demanding a restoration of the higher convict wages that the young Yeltsin had rescinded as one of his first initiatives. The Selling of the Russian President, 1993
Z Magazine, June 1993
Boris Yeltsin is currently being sold to the West as Russia's best hope for democracy. To better peddle hte product, commentators have scrambled for the most congenial comparison. George Washingotn? Alexander Kerensky? Peter the Great?
Poland After Solidarity
Peace & Democracy News, Winter 1992
In Solidarity's regional office in Warsaw, Mariusz Ambroziak fielded my questions like a penitent wrestling with his conscience in the confessional.
Yugoslavia and the Balkans
Z Magazine, January 1992
You couldn't ask for a starker contrast. France and Germany, not too long ago sworn enemies, have floated a proposal for a joint army within an integrated Europe. Croats and Serbs, who until recently shared the same language and country, have meanwhile plunged into a civil war that has defied numerous (14 and counting) ceasefires.
A Market, But What Kind?
Dollars and Sense, December 1991
If we want to know the economic future of the Soviet Union, we should simply look to the present travails of Eastern Europe: recession, unemployment, inflation, growing disparities in wealth.
Polish Aftershocks
Z Magazine, September 1991
It almost became a theocracy. It was on the verge of criminalizing abortion. It nearly elected a techno-fascist to its highest office.
Update on Eastern Europe
Peace & Democracy News, Summer 1991
The revolutions are over and the first free elections have come and gone. the conflict between Communists and anti-Communists has by and large given way to new struggles.
Eastern Europe's Troubled Transition
Commonweal, February 8, 1991
In the fall of 1989, Tadeusz Mazowiecki formed the first non-Communist government in Poland and Eastern Europe after nearly forty-five years of one-party states. For the better part of 1990, Prime Minister Mazowiecki remained the most respected politician in the country, drawing on the political capital of the Solidarity trade union movement to which he owed his position. Not only did he prove more popular than his parliamentary and ministerial colleagues, but he consistently outpolled his major opponent, Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.
Nonetheless, one year later, Mazowiecki placed third in the Polish presidential race.
Interview with Boris Kagarlitsky
Z Magazine, February 1991
In these chaotic days of Soviet decline, Moscow is both a depressing and an exhilarating place. Economic distribution and political administration have collapsed . Ethnic and territorial battles are being fought in the hingerlands; lines of political command no longer issue forth from the center.
European Left Dilemmas
Z Magazine, January 1991
The end of the Cold War in Europe and the still strong aftershocks of Anglo-American neo-conservoliberalism seem to have left Europe leftless.
Eastern Economic Outlook
Z Magazine, July/August 1990
It looks like an enormous open-air market, a Turkish bazaar on the Vistula. Vendors crowd the streets and squares of Warsaw, hawking everything from modest bundles of fresh dill to such luxuries as art books, stereo equipment, and designer sneakers.
Poland's Morbid Symptoms
Z Magazine, March 1990
Befor the Polish opposition became part of the Polish government, it hosted a more-or-less clandestine conference in Krakow in May 1989 on the topic of U.S. foreign policy.
Poland's Solidarity: Who is in Charge?
Z Magazine, January 1990
For many Polish intellectuals, a working vacation is just that: work. On Europe's migrant labor circuit, Polish medical students dig ditches in West Germany, Polish philosophers-to-be wash dishes in Sweden -- all for minimum wage.
Review of Zerograd
In These Times, December 1989
The first wave of cinematic perestroika swept the censors' shelves of virtually all banned movies and allowed Soviet directors greater freedom to tackle previously taboo subjects. If the new film Zerograd is any indication, Soviet filmmakers are now turning to a more artistically and potliically ambitions subject: perestroika itself.
The Market for Socialism Stays Strong in the New Poland
In These Times, September 27, 1989
Following their stunning leap into national government, Solidarity officials have filled the air with talk of markets and venture capital. Has Solidarity shucked its natural constituency and embraced raw capitalism?
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Obama Must Pick Gurneys over Guns
McClatchy-Tribune, October 15, 2009
We're close to our spending limit on the nation's credit
card. The bank bailout, the stimulus package, the Iraq War and the overall
military budget: each is costing more than $500 billion.
Afghanistan: NATO's Graveyard?
TomDispatch, September 29, 2009
Celebrating its 60th birthday this year, NATO is looking peaked and significantly worse for wear. Aggressive and ineffectual, the organization shows signs of premature senility. Despite the smiles and reassuring rhetoric at its annual summits, its internal politics have become fractious to the point of dysfunction. Perhaps like any sexagenarian in this age of health-care crises and economic malaise, the transatlantic alliance is simply anxious about its future.
The Risk of Military Keynesianism
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 9, 2009
The global economy
is taking a beating from the latest crisis. The
Tackling the Global Military Industrial Complex
War Times, December 2008
The headlines coming out of East Asia have been rather positive – compared to the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan, melting glaciers, and plummeting stock markets. The Six Party Talks have been making progress toward ending the confrontation between the United States and North Korea and denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Over the summer, North Korea provided a detailed accounting of its nuclear programs and even destroyed the cooling tower of its Yongbyon nuclear reactor. The Bush administration in turn announced that it was taking North Korea off the Trading with the Enemy Act list and the State Sponsor of Terrorism list. After a disagreement over verification, the two sides reached a compromise in October and negotiations are heading toward their third and final stage.
People Power vs. Military Power in East Asia
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 13, 2007
Push and Pull: East Asian Regional Security
CanKor,
April 19, 2004
The current crisis over North Korea's nuclear program takes place within a regional security context with an important push factor (US military policy toward the region) and an equally important pull factor (a "revolution in Asian military affairs").
U.S. Pushing Arms
Asia
Times On-Line, April 7, 2004
Secretary of State Colin Powell okayed the arms deal with a tap of a finger,
unveiling the State Department's new D-Trade, a fast, paperless process for
granting licenses to US military contractors for arms sales. After joking that
State had only recently junked its last vintage Wang computer, Powell pushed
one button to approve the sale of a pair of night-vision goggles to the United
Kingdom. US government oversight of the arms trade had officially entered the
virtual age.
The Military Industrial Porn Complex
Salon.com, March
30, 2004
Photo spreads of supersized weapons, sidebars of eye-popping stats, and prose of pumped-up power: What is happening to popular science magazines? It's not quite hardcore, like the descriptions of raw, sweaty military ops in Soldier of Fortune or the Marines' in-house organ, Leatherneck. The science magazines have more of a soft-core vibe. Over the last several years, several have turned themselves into military versions of a Victoria's Secrets catalog.
Globalization & Militarization
Foreign Policy
in Focus, February 2002
Weapons, from handguns to fighter jets, are a profitable business. Generous government contracts, huge profit margins, and inevitable cost overruns ensure spectacular dividends for weapons producers. Conflicts burning throughout the world guarantee plenty of buyers. After a post-cold war decline, global military spending rose in 2000 to $800 billion. In the aftermath of the September 11 tragedies, arms production and sales worldwide will likely continue its upward trajectory encouraged by national policies and protected by international financial institutions.
Peace Studies Comes of Age
Nuclear Times, September/October 1988
When Barbara Wien answered her telephone one day last year and found that Richard Perle was on the line, it was a sure indication that peace studies had finally gruadated to the academic big time.
Policy for People
Nuclear Times, May/June 1988
Linda Stout organizes in rural North Carolina, where conservatism runs high, reading levels dip low, and abstract concepts are about as popular as Libyan colonels and sushi dinners. Conventional wisdom says peace issues can't find an audience in this blue-collar area. But that hasn't stopped Stout.
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Covering Indian Country
ZNet, May 27, 2006
In September 2005, after the San Juan Pueblo reverted to the
community's traditional name of Ohkay Owingeh, a journalist asked the
pueblo's governor Joe Garcia when the decision would become official.
Garcia didn't understand what the journalist meant. When would New
Mexico or Washington officially recognize the name change, the
journalist wanted to know.
"We're a sovereign government," Garcia patiently explained to the
reporter. "We polled our people and they agreed. So it's official."
America's Achilles Heel
Munhwa
Ilbo, December 13, 2005 (Korean and English)
The subway escalators often don't work, so commuters have to walk up and down long flights of stairs. The public schools are overcrowded and dangerous. Medical care for those without health insurance is either terrible or terribly expensive. In the poorer sections of the city, there are abandoned houses, crumbling streets, and too many guns. The rates of murder and infant mortality are embarrassingly high.
Is this Cairo? Bucharest? Calcutta?
No, this is Washington, DC.
Hunger Strike at Guantanamo
ZNet,
October 8, 2005
For nearly four years, over 500 prisoners have been sequestered in Camp Delta in Guantanamo, Cuba. They have not gone on trial. Only four have been charged with any specific offense. They are not protected under the Geneva Conventions.
They have no way of telling their stories to the outside world. And now, after suffering all manner of indignations, from solitary confinement and beatings to poor food and medical treatment, they have resorted to a desperate measure. They have gone on a hunger strike.
What's Wrong with the U.S. Media?
Munhwa
Ilbo, March 8, 2005 (in Korean and English)
The bravest American journalist does not travel to war zones. He does not go undercover to write about organized crime or report on the latest deadly medical epidemic. The bravest U.S. journalist spends most of his time in an office at The New York Times. In fact, he is not even a journalist.
Paul Krugman's columns in America's leading newspaper attacking the Bush administration have been one of the few, consistent voices of protest in the U.S. media. Krugman is no radical. He is a MIT-trained economist whose orthodox views on free trade won him a reputation for being a hardheaded academic. He served in the Reagan administration on the highest economic advisory body in the United States: the President's Council of Economic Advisors.
Election Day Hangover
Munhwa
Ilbo, November 2, 2004 (Korean and English)
Americans go to the polls today to choose a president and a direction for the country to take over the next four years. As always, given the indomitable optimism of Americans, voters are hoping that one party or the other will be given the mandate to solve the major problems of the day. Whoever wins will indeed face considerable challenges. The campaign season has highlighted three major problems: the technical and structural problems in the U.S. electoral system, the profound anti-politics of the electorate, and the current crisis in U.S. foreign and domestic policy. On November 3, regardless of the outcome of the elections, Americans will wake up to find that these three headaches are still around and have even gotten worse.
Passing Up Jesse
Nuclear Times, July/August 1988
It made Kathy Flewellen's blood boil. In Iowa, before the February caucuses, she says that invariably some peace activist would walk up to her and ask, "Of the Democratic candidates who can win, who do you support?"
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Will Facebook Remake the World?
Harvard International Review, February 26, 2010
When I traveled through
Asia: C+
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 11, 2010
On his trip to
Foreign Policy: C-
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 14, 2010
In his first year in office, Barack Obama gave several
exceptional speeches on foreign policy. In
Bye Bye Dubai?
Providence Journal, December 31, 2009
It’s bad enough when a person
drowns in debt. Shock waves multiply when a corporation teeters on the verge of
failure. The economy becomes even more agitated when a country declares
bankruptcy, as
Our Heroes and Their Martyrs
TomDispatch, August 6, 2009
The actor Will Smith is no one's image of a suicide bomber. With his boyish face, he has often played comic roles. Even as the last man on earth in I Am Legend, he retains a wise-cracking, ironic demeanor. And yet, surrounded by a horde of hyperactive vampires at the end of that film, Smith clasps a live grenade to his chest and throws himself at the enemy in a final burst of heroic sacrifice.
Obama's First 100 Days: Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 27, 2009
The
Foreign Policy In Focus, April 24, 2009
The current "war against piracy,"
which is spilling into Kenyan and
Monsters vs. Aliens
TomDispatch, April 21, 2009
In the comic books, bad guys often team up to fight the forces of good. The
Masters of Evil battle the Avengers superhero team. The Joker and Scarecrow
ally against Batman. Lex Luthor and Brainiac take on Superman. And the Somali
pirates, who have dominated recent headlines with their hijacking and
hostage-taking, join hands with al-Qaeda to form a dynamic evil duo against the
Bush's Path from 'Humility' to 'Bring It On'
Inter Press Service, January 16, 2009
George
W. Bush entered the White House in 2001 with the least foreign policy
experience and the most modest foreign policy programme of any modern
Obama Foreign Policy Should Be Approached with Broad Vision
Minuteman Media, November 26, 2008
Exercising too much
caution, if it translates into maintaining the status quo, would be a profound
mistake.
The View from 2016
TomDispatch, August 20, 2008
Being a futurologist means never having to say you're sorry. Our predictions always come true eventually -- or, if they don't, well, how quickly people forget. Look at Newsweek's George Will. He predicted that the Berlin Wall would endure, and in an article published on the very day in 1989 that the Germans were tearing it down. That should have been enough to revoke his futurology license and demote him to sports writing. But no, almost three decades later he's still peering into his crystal ball.
The Way to a Just Foreign Policy
Yes! Magazine, Summer 2008
Aaron Hughes spent the spring of 2003 transporting supplies
from
“I didn’t have an epiphany,” Hughes says of his turnabout.
Spreading the Word
Foreign Policy In Focus, December 19, 2007
The foreign teachers at the Chinese university were frank. Teaching English
and computer science was a means to the end. They wanted to save souls.
In 1998, I spent a day at a university tucked into the corner of northeast
Can We Pursue Terrorists Without Becoming Like Them?
AlterNet, August 1, 2007
Back in September 2002, Maher Arar was passing through JFK airport in New York. He was expecting a simple transit. A Syrian-born Canadian citizen and wireless technology consultant, Arar was traveling home to Ottawa after a vacation with his family in Tunis. The stopover in New York was the best deal he could get with his frequent flyer miles. He had no inkling of what would happen next. He didn't know that he would spend the next ten months being tortured in a secret jail.
American Foreign Policy is Broken
AlterNet, June 19, 2007
Albert Beveridge was a promising politician in his 30s when he stood up to speak in favor of war and the promotion of democracy to his peers in the U.S. Senate. A historian, Beveridge unabashedly called for the United States to remake the globe. "We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world," Beveridge proclaimed. "And we will move forward to our work, not howling out regrets like slaves whipped to their burdens, but with gratitude for a task worthy of our strength and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world."
Justice and Foreign Policy
TomPaine.com, June 19, 2007
Contrary to what the Bush administration has been saying for the last six years, terrorism is not the only challenge facing the United States. War, poverty, loose nukes and climate change all make us feel less secure than a decade ago. Over the last few years, the United States has addressed these issues with a blunt instrument. Like a fearful homeowner, we have stocked up on guns, added locks to the doors and windows, built higher fences around the property and even taken over several of our neighbors’ houses. Such an approach only increases the fear factor. More guns, higher walls and more spending give us an illusion of security.
Just Security
Foreign Policy In Focus and the Institute for Policy Studies, June 19, 2007 (PDF)
In 2003, after graduating from college, Lieutenant Ehren Watada voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. army. The September 11 attacks and a spirit of patriotism motivated him to serve his country. In the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he was prepared to give the administration and its rationale for the war the benefit of the doubt. He served in Korea and then returned to Fort Lewis, Washington to prepare for redeployment.
Picturing the President
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 26, 2007
Americans have an almost fetishistic attitude toward leadership. Like a magic wand, “leadership” is to be waved over the problems that affect the body politic as well as the seemingly intractable flaws of U.S. foreign policy. We search the horizon for a magical leader in the same way that the hapless clowns of Beckett's play wait for Godot. In the ideal sense that stubbornly persists in the popular imagination—rather than the reality of adulterous liaisons, anti-Semitic wisecracks, and fabricated anecdotes—the men of the Oval Office remain deus ex machina, salvational horsemen, and comicbook superheroes all rolled into one.
The Most Important Story in the World
Munhwa Ilbo, November 21, 2006
The recent election in the United States was a global event. People all over the world watched the results and, generally, applauded the outcome. Bush administration policies-- in Iraq, toward institutions such as the United Nations, and on human rights issues connected to torture and Guantanamo detainees—have generated unprecedented global anger toward America. It’s no surprise that the world public was happy that Americans finally woke up, spoke out, and voted against the administration.
Katrina: The Final Frontier
Foreign Policy in Focus, September 15, 2006
One year ago, the U.S. government put on a dazzling display of incompetence. Despite pouring billions of dollars into homeland security, the Bush administration responded to Hurricane Katrina with all the rapidity and confidence of an anaesthetized elephant.
The problem lay not only with the preemptive failure to invest money in stronger New Orleans levees, which could have minimized the damage when the hurricane struck, nor just with the government's response, which took longer than the international community's action in the wake of the Southeast Asian tsunami. And the debacle was not merely a function of rampant corruption among the businesses that took government handouts to repair the damage. Rather, the flaws of the U.S. approach to Katrina run much deeper.Land of Immigration?
Munhwa
Ilbo, January 17, 2006 (Korean and English)
The fifteen Cubans thought they had made it to the United States. In early January, they sailed in a homemade boat from Cuba and reached an old bridge on the southern tip of Florida. According to U.S. immigration policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil can stay. Those picked up at sea are returned to Cuba.
Connecting the Democratic Dots
Munhwa
Ilbo, April 12, 2005 (Korean and English)
When the Bush administration was mounting its attack on Iraq in 2003, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz spoke of the chain effect that Saddam Hussein’s ouster would have on the Middle East. Iraq would be the “first Arab democracy.” Other peoples in the region would rise up against their leaders. The U.S. decision to go to war would be vindicated.
All Democracy, All the Time
Salon.com,
March 15, 2005
President Bush's "axis of evil," in targeting only Iraq, Iran and North Korea, was apparently an understatement. Saddam Hussein, the ayatollahs and "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il were just the tip of the iceberg. The backers of new legislation before Congress have a much bolder vision: to "achieve universal democracy" by 2025 by removing -- nonviolently -- approximately two dictatorships a year. President Bush's call, in his February State of the Union address, for support of "democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," must have been just what they wanted to hear.
If enacted, the new bill -- the ADVANCE (which stands for Advance Democratic Values, Address Nondemocratic Countries, and Enhance) Democracy Act of 2005, introduced into both houses on March 3 -- would bring about a fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy. To maintain a regional balance of power, ensure access to vital resources, and pursue larger national security goals such as the "war on terror," the United States has traditionally worked with dictators big and small, from the tyrants of the past (such as Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua) to current autocratic allies (such as Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan and Crown Prince Abdullah in Saudi Arabia). The ADVANCE Democracy Act, the foreign policy version of "Just Say No," on the other hand, would attempt to steer the United States away from engaging with tyrants under any circumstances.
Gulliver and
the Lilliputians
Munhwa Ilbo, March 16, 2004 (Korean and English)
Superpowers don't like multilateralism. They fear that smaller countries will gang up to tie their hands, as the tiny Lilliputians bound mighty Gulliver in the famous novel.
Who's a Terrorist?
TomPaine.com,
February 26, 2004
People in the business of conflict resolution routinely intervene in bloody, horrific wars and, by talking to all sides involved, try to guide the actors toward a more peaceful conclusion.Sounds like noble work, right? Not always, according to the USA PATRIOT Act. It all depends on whether the peace professionals are talking with terrorists, and "terrorism" is very much in the eye of the (U.S.)beholder.
Two Cheers for Realpolitik,
TomPaine.com,
November 24, 2003
I have a shameful confession to make. I'm beginning to get nostalgic for Henry Kissinger.
Don't get me wrong. Henry Kissinger cozied up to dictators. He engineered covert operations that undermined democrats like Salvador Allende in Chile. He didn't give a tinker's dam about human rights unless it served some larger strategic goal. For these and other smelly orthodoxies of the Kissinger period, I've loathed the man. My political bible for many years was Seymour Hersh's delicious ad hominem attack, The Price of Power. One day I would like to see Kissinger sweating in the dock of the International Criminal Court.
Reining U.S. In
Tompaine.com, October
3, 2003
If the laws of physics apply to geopolitics, the U.S. empire will continue to march forward until met with an equal but opposite force. The Bush administration sees no such hindrances on the horizon. No matter that the Chinese outnumber us five to one, the European Union's economy nearly rivals ours, Russia still has nukes aplenty, or the "international community" routinely inveighs against our unilateral tendencies. The Chinese are more than a decade away from superpowerdom, the euro is not (yet) the international currency of choice, Russia can barely control domestic affairs much less circumstances beyond its borders, and the "international community," like the Pope, commands no divisions.
We've Lost Their Hearts and Minds
Foreign
Policy in Focus, September 9, 2003
The war against terrorism is entering its third year, but the U.S.
has already lost the most critical battle.
The Taliban have been booted from power. Saddam Hussein is on the run. The
Bush administration is tightening the noose around the remaining two members
of the "axis of evil," North Korea and Iran. But the U.S. has lost
the battle for hearts and minds. And because of that, our chances of countering
terrorism, promoting economic prosperity, and snatching true democracy from
the jaws of despotism have become terribly fragile.
The Price of Power
Global
Beat Syndicate, June 23, 2003
Drunkards know no limits. They drink until they drop. Those drunk on power, like the current Bush administration, delude themselves into believing they do not have to observe any limits.
Drunkards beware: the transition from swaggering to staggering can be unexpectedly swift.
Osama bin Laden's Secret Strategy
Global
Beat Syndicate, February 25, 2002
The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may have been the tip of the iceberg. What's hidden is not a plan to use more hijacked airliners as bombs. Osama bin Laden's secret strategy owes more to jujitsu than firepower. America's most wanted criminal, who learned military tactics in the heyday of the Cold War, is using the power of his opponent against itself.
Bin Laden's secret and long-term strategy is to prod the United States into bankruptcy. He and his supporters around the world are digging in for the long haul, waiting for the day the United States can no longer afford the war on terrorism and begins to wilt under the weight of unilateralism.