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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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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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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 Stphen Cohen was a rare dissenting voice.
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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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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
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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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.