Salon.com > David Case

Is Obama to blame for North Korea?

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:47:00 +0000

BOSTON — It's been a busy week for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Over just a few days, he has unilaterally nullified the 1953 armistice with South Korea; vowed to restart his uranium enriching and plutonium programs; and issued "final approval" for "merciless" nuclear strikes against the United States.

He taunted South Korea's new leader, and shut down the Kaesong industrial estate, which served as unusual example of cooperation between the two Koreas. Most recently, he transported a missile to the east coast — either in an attempt to lob a warhead in America's general direction (he lacks the capability to actually hit the continent), or more probably, to test it, perhaps on the April 15 birthday of deceased founding father Kim Il Sung. "Is there a more bizarre and frightening figure in the world today than North Korea's young, impetuous and untested leader?" writes GlobalPost senior foreign affairs columnist Nicholas Burns.

America’s drug war of attrition

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:05:00 +0000

BOSTON — The global drug war is arguably America’s longest armed conflict, declared 42 years ago and still raging at a pace that would startle many citizens.

It is waged daily, on farmland and streets from Colombia to Mexico to Detroit. It has put millions of people behind bars, and has dramatically influenced our culture and worldview.

By some estimates, it has cost the nation more than $2 trillion dollars.

Ironically, the drug war was nearly stillborn.

Less than a year after he fired the first salvos, Nixon's Republican-led Shafer commission sought to calm Americans and temper the president’s claims.

Is the middle class an endangered species?

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:07:00 +0000

BOSTON — Meet Mr. and Ms. Median America.

Or perhaps you already know them.

His name is likely to be Michael. Hers, Jennifer. They’re 37 years old, and live in a detached home, worth about $188,000 — 60 percent of which, on average, still belongs to the bank. A child or two run around on the lawn out back.

Jennifer and Michael have completed high school, but like 70 percent of Americans, they lack a Bachelor’s degree.

Family time is tight. They sleep 7.6 hours each night, work 8.6 hours, commute 25 minutes each way, and take little more than 20 minutes for each meal. Their paychecks are signed by the state or local government — which over the past decade surpassed manufacturing as America’s biggest employer. There’s a one-in-three chance that they work on the weekend, and they are more likely than couples elsewhere in the developed world to have dual incomes — a necessity these days, to cobble together their $50,000 annual household earnings.

Arab Spring no more

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:54:00 +0000

As bombs rain down on Aleppo, Syria’s 17-month-old conflict has entered a new and dangerous phase.

Born of an Arab Spring-inspired desire for greater democracy, experts say that powerful geopolitical forces are now driving the war, with implications across the Middle East.

For an explanation of how the conflict is morphing into a proxy war, and how sectarian rivalries are fueling the violence, GlobalPost turned to Marius Deeb, Professorial Lecturer in Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Professor Deeb is a Syria expert and the author of Syria’s Terrorist War on Lebanon.

This interview has been condensed and edited by GlobalPost.

Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab, who departed from the Syrian government yesterday, is a Sunni Muslim — one of several high profile Sunnis who have split with the regime recently. Is there growing evidence of a sectarian divide in Bashar Al-Assad’s government? More broadly, early on Syria’s conflict was a struggle for liberty. Has that changed?

Euro crisis’ vultures

Thu, 17 May 2012 15:25:00 +0000

BOSTON — It's an axiom of modern capitalism, almost as certain as death and taxes: No matter how bad an economic crisis gets, someone is bound to get rich from it.

Very rich.

During the 2008-2009 financial meltdown, Goldman Sachs and hedge fund tycoon John Paulson hauled in billions betting against mortgage-backed securities. Likewise, the financial nerds profiled in Michael Lewis' "The Big Short" cashed in, big time.

And this is nothing new.

Before the UK's 1994 Black Monday crash, financier-philanthropist George Soros, sensing central bankers with their heads in the sand, made billions shorting the pound sterling — essentially borrowing the currency, selling it, and later paying back his creditors when he could buy it cheaper. He successfully repeated this trick as Southeast Asia went into crisis in 1997.

Should the Fed save Europe?

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

BOSTON — Europe's inability to devise a strategy for solving its debt crisis has become a dire threat.

Economists say it could throw the world back into the kind of crisis that reached its nadir in 2008 and 2009, destroying trillions of dollars in wealth and causing millions to lose their jobs.

In the euro zone mess, so far the U.S. has largely played the role of an outsider, reiterating the urgency of dealing with the mess. On Tuesday, for example, the U.S. Federal Reserve's second-in-command Janet Yellen urged European leaders to take "forceful action."

But now a respected Washington economic policy shop is saying that Yellen's bank itself should get involved directly. The Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) is calling on America's central bank to become a lender of last resort for the heavily indebted nations, to reduce their interest rates from unsustainable levels — Italy, Europe's third largest economy is paying over 7 percent for its debt, a level at which other countries have required bailouts.

Is China’s bubble bursting?

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:45:00 +0000

BOSTON -- China's economic miracle is showing signs of faltering. Growth has slowed to 9.1 percent -- still a ferocious pace for any normal country, but a relative slump for China. Meanwhile, the government has begun putting the brakes on lending, in an effort to tame inflation and avoid a serious bubble.

But now there's evidence of real economic pain in China. In cities like Wenzhou, entrepreneurs have found themselves mired in debt -- so hopelessly that some have gone into hiding or committed suicide.

To put the matter in perspective, we interviewed Dr. Victor Shih. An expert in Chinese politics and economy, Shih has been following the debt situation closely, and was among the first to warn of potential trouble ahead. An assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University, Shih holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard. (The interview has been condensed and edited by GlobalPost.)

Could Gadhafi’s death derail Libya?

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:20:00 +0000

The circumstances surrounding the death of Moammar Gadhafi are raising serious questions that could cast a dark shadow over Libya's revolution.

Initial accounts indicated that the former Libyan leader was killed in crossfire, or struck by a NATO airstrike. But it's now clear that he died in captivity, after being mistreated by soldiers fighting on behalf of Libya's new government, the National Transitional Council.

It's possible that Gadhafi died of wounds that were inflicted before his capture. Mortal wounds inflicted in battle do not violate international law.

But emerging evidence suggests that he may have been killed while in custody. If so, that would constitute a serious war crime, human-rights advocates say. It could also tarnish the new government's standing, especially if other crimes are revealed, and if the perpetrators are not held accountable.

Can the EU be saved?

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:01:00 +0000

The euro zone debt crisis took another dramatic turn Tuesday as thousands of Italians hit the streets in a general strike, protesting a new round of austerity measures.

Europe's woes continue to rile global investors. The Swiss National Bank surprised the markets by setting an exchange rate cap on the soaring franc, which investors have been flocking to as a safe-haven currency.

European stock markets, meanwhile, hit their lowest point in two years Tuesday.

While Europeans take their August vacations and leaders prevaricate, investors are growing increasingly concerned that the continent's common currency could collapse, and that one or more countries could default on their debt, leading to another global economic crisis.

New initiatives won’t solve Europe’s debt crisis

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:01:00 +0000

BOSTON -- It's time to invoke that old (if apparently false) trope about the frog that won't jump from scalding water as long as it's gradually heated.

Following their much anticipated economic summit in Paris on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced new initiatives to address the escalating euro zone debt crisis.

Although details remain murky, the measures appear to take a baby step toward one of the euro zone's two potential destinies: full-scale fiscal marriage (the other being a messy breakup).

In brief, "Merkozy," as the two leaders have become known, proposed the following (which obviously will need to be considered by lawmakers before they can be implemented):

taxing financial transactions, to raise much-needed revenues;
harmonizing German and French corporate taxes, to take effect as early as 2013;
electing a euro zone head to "shore up governance of the monetary union," as the Wall Street Journal put it.

What Standard & Poor’s got right

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:01:00 +0000

As global markets continue to tank, let's vent some of the angst by listing valid reasons for trashing Standard and Poor's, which downgraded U.S. government debt last Friday, catalyzing the crash.

For starters, there are the many inconsistencies in S&P's work. As an outraged U.S. Treasury Department pointed out, a $2 trillion math error in its downgrade memo failed to change its conclusions.

In 2009, S&P projected that Washington's debt would rise to 90 percent of gross domestic product by 2013, but it still reaffirmed America's AAA status, as Bloomberg has reported. In its Aug. 5 2011 analysis, it foresees America's debt level rising to a more manageable 85 percent of GDP in 2021 -- but this rosier scenario nonetheless somehow warranted a downgrade. Go figure.

Are some nations too big to fail?

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:01:00 +0000

BOSTON -- Debt. It's nearly as old as civilization.

It's a menace that has kept serfs poor and made kings rich, a trap that has ruined countless lives, yoking many into slavery, prostitution or debtors prison.

As recently as the 1970s in the eastern Himalayas of South Asia, a poor man's debt for his daughter's wedding would cast the young bride herself into harlotry, according to David Graeber's fascinating new book, "Debt, The First 5,000 Years." After the wedding night, she would spend a few months as the lender's concubine. "Once he grew bored, [she'd] be sent off to some nearby timber camp, where she would have to spend the next year or two as a prostitute working off her father's debt," before returning to her husband.

Increasingly, however, an entirely different debtor profile has come to prominence: the governments of major economies.

Don’t blame Obama for the debt crisis

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:30:00 +0000

It's 3:01 a.m., and the sexy young woman in the white lace nighty just can't seem to sleep.

She's tossing and turning, worried "about our jobs, our home, even mom's healthcare," according to the saccharine-but-anxious voiceover. She's uneasy about retirement, about how everything costs more, and about her kids -- the two curly-haired wonders there in the photo on the night table.

She supported Obama "because he spoke so beautifully," but now she's disillusioned. Cue the ominous background music. She pushes the covers back, and the camera follows her to the bathroom. "Our country's got this huge debt, and Obama says raise taxes and keep spending more? Doesn't Washington know we can't afford more taxes and debt?" Cut to her shapely, milky white legs as she walks across the bedroom. "If they don't figure it out, it will be even tougher for our kids. There's got to be a way to take away President Obama's blank check."

Mr. Mom's world

Fri, 14 May 1999 16:00:00 +0000

When we imagine what it takes to raise a happy, healthy child, most of us picture fresh air, a green yard with a blow-up wading pool and maybe even a golden retriever standing guard. Most important, we imagine a nurturing, attentive caregiver willing to dedicate endless days to encouragement, discipline and guidance. In this perfect parenting scenario, most of us probably visualize ideal moms like Carol Brady or June Cleaver, no matter how progressive we may be.

Most of us probably wouldn't conjure up someone like my old friend Tal Birdsey. Here's a guy who, when we met during college, could go for months without washing his hair, a guy who bragged about laundering his sheets only once a semester. The closest he came to taking care of another human was nurturing his gut, a jiggly beast widely known as Joe, which he kept healthy on a strict regime of barley and hops. And now he's molding in his image not one, but two tiny lives? Simultaneously? With no help?