Killer Presidents

Posted by on Apr 28, 2017 in Articles, Asia, Featured, US Foreign Policy | 0 comments During the presidential campaign, when he was still battling an array of Republican heavyweights for the party’s nomination, Donald Trump indulged in a bit of hubris that would have buried a more conventional candidate. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Iowa in January 2016. Trump was praising,...
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Will Trump Complete the Pivot to Asia?

Posted by on Apr 28, 2017 in Articles, Asia, Featured, Korea | 0 comments James Mattis visited Asia this month on his first foreign trip as the new head of the Pentagon. It was less a get-acquainted visit than a damage control tour. His boss, President Donald Trump, had threatened to escalate tensions with China and prevent North Korea from launching a nuclear-capable ICBM. He’d accused Japan of currency manipulation. He wanted both Tokyo and Seoul to pay more for...
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East Asia Is Invisible

Posted by on Feb 1, 2016 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 0 comments Americans don’t care about East Asia. That’s a strong statement. So, let me make a few qualifications. First, Americans love Chinese, Japanese, and (increasingly) Korean food. They like to visit East Asia. They will, on occasion, watch a Hong Kong action film or the latest from Park Chan-Wook. But when it comes to the pressing issues of the day, most Americans simply don’t follow what’s...
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Japan and South Korea: A New Beginning?

Posted by on Dec 30, 2015 in Articles, Asia, Featured, Korea | 0 comments Japan and South Korea have very close alliances with the United States. They also have had diplomatic relations with each other for 50 years, not to mention considerable trade back and forth during that time. At a popular level, many Japanese are wild about Korean bulgogi and soap operas while many Koreans love Japanese sushi and anime. That doesn’t mean, however, that the two countries are...
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Can a Green Asia Lead the World?

Posted by on Dec 17, 2015 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 0 comments China is worried about climate change. The largest emitter of carbon in the world, producing nearly twice as much as the number two United States, is looking at a future of flooded coastal cities, creeping deserts in the north, and water shortages throughout the country. On the eve of the huge climate change meeting in Paris last week that brought together leaders of 150 countries, along with...
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Burma: Democracy with an Asterisk

Posted by on Nov 12, 2015 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 0 comments Voters went to the polls last Sunday in Burma to elect a new parliament. The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s party — scored an impressive victory. According to the early returns, the NLD is on track to win over 80 percent of the vote and capture a sizeable majority in parliament. And yet the election carries with it an asterisk...
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