A suicide bomb attack earlier this month in Islamabad on the first anniversary of the storming of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) complex by government troops indicates that the honeymoon period between militants and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is over. The July 6 attack killed at least 19, most of those policemen, and wounded scores more.
Posted July 16, 2008

Americans must be baffled to see hundreds of thousands of protestors continuing to wave candles on the streets of Seoul even after the recent “Supplementary Agreement” between the U.S. and South Korea supposedly eliminated the potential for Koreans’ exposure to mad cow disease.
Posted July 11, 2008

The top political leaders in Tokyo, Seoul and Washington have each seen better days in their administrations when it comes to popularity and political influence, but it is quite rare for all three to suffer simultaneously a mere 25% (or lower) domestic approval rating. Such a chorus of political weakness is never welcome among allies, but it comes at a particularly inopportune time as the region launches another round of six-party talks aimed at implementing North Korean denuclearization agreements.
Posted July 12, 2008.

In the years following the Korean War (1950-53), malaria-eradication campaigns successfully reduced the number of new cases of the disease on the Korean peninsula. In 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared North and South Korea malaria-free. However, the disease unexpectedly re-emerged in the late 1990s and still persists today. The story of malaria in Korea is complex and has many facets, not only biological and environmental but also political. Could the disease bring the two Koreas closer together?
Posted July 9, 2008.

As G-8 leaders gather in Japan this week, one of the main points of discussion will be the extraordinary rise in the international prices of agricultural commodities. The rise in commodity prices has mirrored food price hikes throughout the developing world, including in China and India. Increased prices are impacting the lives of millions of poor, contributing to overall inflationary pressures and risking political unrest.
Posted July 7, 2008

Given the dramatic extent of the KMT’s current opening to China under Taiwan’s new President Ma Ying-jeou, you might expect the DPP, Taiwan’s scrappy pro-independence party, to take to the streets in protest. After all, the Ma government’s measures amount to a dramatic step toward normalization of economic and cultural relations. Many believe, of course, that’s also the first step toward Beijing’s long-term goal: political unification. But rather than strongly oppose all of this, the DPP is laying low and raising quibbles while agreeing in principle with the normalization process.
Posted July 6, 2008

Winning in China’s crowded retail landscape begins by knowing how to match business models to new markets. Sounds easy? Yet only one in three multinational retailers gets it right.