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… Continue reading Bush Faces Challenges on the Korean Peninsula
Review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature, Korean Quarterly, Winter 2000 North Korean Economy, Dollars and Sense, 2000 “Progress on the Korean Peninsula?” Foreign Policy in Focus, December 2000 “Gunboat Globalization: The Intersection of Economics and Security in East Asia,”Social Justice, vol. 27, no. 4 (2000) North Korea Reaches Out, FPIF, July 2000 “After… Continue reading 2000 Archives
The Seaview Hotel is the North Korean version of the “field of dreams.” The nearly completed luxury hotel and casino overlooks a beach along Rajin-Sonbong, the free-trade zone in the northeast corner of North Korea bordering China and Russia. It is not a particularly well-known or exciting place. Not yet, at least. The zone is… Continue reading North Korean Economy
Review of Brian Myers, Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University East Asia Program, 2000) by John Feffer Han Sorya, the North Korean novelist, seems an unlikely subject for a book. He is little known outside his own country, and was purged and censored… Continue reading Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (Review)
FPIF, July 2000
FPIF, December 2000
Social Justice, 2000
Panama City News Herald, June 25, 2000
Peace Magazine, Summer 2000 (with Karin Lee)
Key Points As North Korea has become more engaged internationally, new opportunities have emerged for Korean reunification and greater security in East Asia. Relations between the two Koreas have progressed at an official level, with the June summit, and unofficially through economic and civic contacts. The United States can play a key role in reducing… Continue reading A New Era for the Korean Peninsula
Containment Lite: US policy toward Russia and its neighbors If the US government had wanted to destroy Russia from the inside out, it couldn’t have devised a more effective policy than the 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… Continue reading Containment Lite: U.S. Policy toward Russia and Its Neighbors, FPIF
Key Points The North Korean “threat” is a key justification for U.S. military spending, the presence of U.S. troops in Asia, and a new theater missile defense system. North Korea has criticized the U.S. for not lifting economic sanctions. The U.S. has criticized North Korean missile exports and has suspected Pyongyang of secretly developing a… Continue reading U.S.-North-Korea Relations
Peacework, October 1999 with Karin Lee
Asiaweek, July 2, 1999
Peace Review, 1999
1999 “The Northeast Asian Arc of Crisis,” Peacework, October 1999 (with Karin Lee) “Containment Lite: U.S. Policy Toward Russia and Its Neighbors,” Foreign Policy in Focus, August 1999 “Fist in a Velvet Glove,” Asiaweek, July 2, 1999 “U.S.-North Korea Relations,” Foreign Policy in Focus, May 1999 “North Korea and the Politics of Engagement,” Peace Review 11:3 (1999) 1998 Eric Lui: The… Continue reading 1983-1999 Archives
American Go Journal, Spring 1998
American Go Journal, Spring 1988
Covert Action Quarterly, Spring 1996
Key Problems With the end of the cold war and the demise of the Soviet threat, NATO must find new rationales for its existence. The Clinton administration is urging NATO to welcome new members from East-Central Europe as early as 1999. The U.S. treats expansion as a fait accompli, but many serious obstacles remain. The… Continue reading The Costs and Dangers of NATO Expansion, FPIF
Key Problems The Clinton administration has gradually accepted the partition of Bosnia. The administration negotiated the Dayton Accords in part to improve Clinton’s re-election chances. The Dayton Accords have largely stopped the bloodshed in Bosnia, but remain deeply flawed. When war erupted in the former Yugoslavia in 1991, the U.S. kept its distance. “We do… Continue reading US and Former Yugoslavia: Improving on Dayton
Key Problems Structural adjustment has been pitched as the only acceptable economic reform model. This unpopular reform has created political and economic instability. In promoting structural adjustment, the U.S. has concentrated on short-term profits for businesses and narrow diplomatic gain. In 1990, after the collapse of its communist governments, East-Central Europe confronted a daunting challenge:… Continue reading Restructuring East-Central European Economies
Peace and Democracy News, Summer 1994
Z Magazine, June 1994
Commonweal, April 8, 1994
New Politics, Summer 1993
Z Magazine, June 1993
Commonweal, October 9, 1992
Poland After Solidarity by John Feffer Winter 1992/93 ~ In Solidarity’s regional office in Warsaw, Mariusz Ambroziak fielded my questions like a penitent wrestling with his conscience in the confessional. Yes, he conceded, Poland’s famous trade union was in deep trouble. Its membership was declining precipitously, it wasn’t organizing in the new private… Continue reading Poland After Solidarity
Christianity and Crisis (December 14, 1992)