NEW HAVEN ― Great significance ― probably too much ― has been attached to a possible breakup of the eurozone. Many believe that such a breakup ― if, say, Greece abandoned the euro and reintroduced the drachma ― would constitute a political failure that would ultimately threaten Europe’s stability. Speaking before the Bundestag last October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel put the matter starkly:“Nobody should believe that another half-century of peace and prosperity in Europe is guaranteed. It i

BRUSSELS ― It has been evident for years that Europe needs an energy system that can cut dependence on fossil fuels, bring down future energy costs, and fight climate change. But the Fukushima accident in Japan one year ago underscored the need for an energy source that will fill the gap left by declining nuclear power. Many ask: is renewable energy up to the task?In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that now is the time for the renew

During March 26-27, Seoul will host global leaders for the Nuclear Security Summit, just two years after it hosted the G20 Leaders Summit. It is today obvious that South Korea is a middle-power. Yet, it is rare to hear South Korean politicians talk about being a middle-power. Why?The first condition of being a middle-power is to be positioned between great powers and smaller powers in the measurement of political, economic and military power. South Korea comfortably satisfies this condition. Ind

North Korea’s declaration on Friday that it would conduct a satellite test next month proves one thing: Kim Jong-il might be dead, but his ghost still haunts the Korean peninsula.The announcement was a shock, coming just three weeks after a deal was reached between the United States and North Korea, where Washington agreed to provide 240,000 tons of food aid in return for Pyongyang’s suspension of nuclear and missile testing.The deal had led to cautious hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un might ad

When talking about a “going-abroad” policy, China immediately and justifiably comes to mind. From a Middle Eastern perspective, however, a smaller country has been taking an increasingly confident posture and deserves attention. In 2009, it took nearly everyone by surprise when a consortium of its leading companies won a $20.4 billion contract to construct four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, beating traditional nuclear suppliers from France and the United States. This developm

SEOUL ― The United States is now wrestling with the nuclear fears of two of its close allies, Israel and South Korea. Israel’s alarm at the prospect of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon is existential in nature. The same is true of South Korea, whose capital sits only 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border with the North.On Feb. 29, the U.S. and North Korea reached an agreement in which the North promised to halt its nuclear weapons development in exchange for food aid. But South Koreans know th

Jeju Island is one of Korea’s most attractive tourist destinations for Koreans and foreign visitors. Its reputation of unique beauty and majesty has been widely known for a long time.Indeed, Jeju is a special place. Its distinct traditions, diverse flora, magnificent landscapes and what could only be described as playful remnants of nature’s most creative formations are harmoniously mixed to become the home to nine of the world’s 66 UNESCO Global Geoparks. Even Mr. Robert Redford, not so long ag

Your March 9 editorial “No more delay for Jeju base” has said we should not delay the construction of the proposed Jeju naval base any more. But I think it should also have considered whether the base is actually needed and whether there are no problems with this project.As you know, Jeju boasts beautiful nature and an affluent ecosystem. The coast of Gangjeong Village, in particular, is UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves, and a Korean government-designated ecosystem and cultural asset preserv

By now, you’ve probably heard of Americans Elect, the political-reform group funded by a collection of Wall Street executives (some of whom remain anonymous) who hope to field a bipartisan presidential ticket in 2012. Americans Elect has been amply, but poorly, covered. The part of its strategy that generates the most attention is also the part that’s most wrongheaded: an effort to nominate a bipartisan superticket to contest for the presidency in 2012. This sort of thing is a perennial fantasy.

First, the good news. The economic pie is growing again. Growth in the fourth quarter last year hit 3 percent on an annualized rate. February’s 227,000 net new job marks the third month in a row of job gains well in excess of 200,000.Here’s the bad news. The share of growth going to American workers is at a record low.Although the nation is now producing more goods and services than it did before the slump began in 2007, we’re doing it with 6 million fewer people.Companies have been able to boos

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected five years ago by promising to modernize France’s societal infrastructure and bring it more into line with America’s: less government reliance, more freedom in life and work. It was a tall order, but his mandate was overwhelming, with a six-percentage-point win over Socialist rival Segolene Royal. Sarkozy was full of vigor and free-market, limited-government ideas imported directly from across the Atlantic.But then something got in the way: France. It

Sitting in his sumptuous palace, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can almost certainly hear the drip, drip, drip, like a leaky faucet, of his life dribbling away.The world is finally closing in on him, and he realizes that to remain alive, or at least a free man, he must continue killing his own people. He knows that the minute he stops and withdraws his forces to their barracks, as almost the entire world is demanding, one of two things will happen: One of the rebel armies will capture and kill

Apparently, when Greg Smith arrived at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. almost 12 years ago, the legendary investment firm was something like the Make-A-Wish Foundation ― existing only to bring light and peace and happiness to the world. Smith, who was executive director and head of the firm’s U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, does not go into details in his already notorious op-ed article in Wednesday’s New York Times, “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs.” But one imag

International parents and students considering an undergraduate education in the U.S. frequently consult one or more of the big three ranking publications ― the Shanghai, QS World and Times Higher Education World University rankings reports. Emphasizing research publication productivity and the accompanying reputation, these reports tend to filter out all but the top tier research institutions in any country. With hundreds of high quality yet sub-top tier institutions in the United States, these

Last week, Harvard Business School hosted a conference in New York to talk about how the U.S. could continue to support “high and rising living standards for Americans” in the face of global competition. It was a lively discussion, leading to many good, if familiar, economic-policy ideas for increasing productivity in the U.S. Unfortunately, this conversation largely ignored the key constraint to many of the policy recommendations: the rise of hyperpolarization in Congress. If business leaders w

NEW YORK ― Today’s fragile global economy faces many risks: the risk of another flare-up of the eurozone crisis; the risk of a worse-than-expected slowdown in China; and the risk that economic recovery in the United States will fizzle (yet again). But no risk is more serious than that posed by a further spike in oil prices.The price of a barrel of Brent crude, which was well below $100 in 2011, recently peaked at $125. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are approaching $4 a gallon, a damaging threshold

President Obama has long been criticized by Republicans for his purportedly inadequate zeal in pursuing the war in Afghanistan. He was criticized sharply from the right for his plan to draw down troops over three years; too fast, they said.So it’s ironic that Obama now finds himself defending that timetable against GOP critics who want to pull out more quickly in the wake of news that a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred at least 16 civilians.“We’re risking the lives of young men and women in a mi

Prosecutors and police are at each other’s throats again, this time over the investigation of a prosecutor who was accused of verbal assault and abuse of power by a police officer.The case involves a police officer in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, who filed a complaint in January against a prosecutor in Changwon, the seat of the provincial government, for insulting him and abusing his power in directing and supervising the investigation of a private waste treatment company.The police offic

Rep. Kim Moo-sung of the ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Park Sun-sook of the main opposition Democratic United Party are a rare species in Korean politics. They recently set shining examples of self-sacrifice in the ongoing election candidate nomination process, attracting praise from the media as well as fellow politicians.Rep. Kim is a political heavyweight who has been elected four times from a district in Busan, a traditional stronghold of the ruling party. The party’s candidate recommendatio

It is perhaps the loss of public faith in Indonesia’s House of Representatives that explains why the harder it seeks to boost its image, the more it disappoints its constituents. The House has gradually distanced itself from the public for whom it is supposed to fight and defend.The tall fence surrounding the House compound is merely evidence of a gap separating the elites inside and the masses outside to whom they are indebted, as without their votes the political bigwigs would never have accum