Opinion - The Korea Times

End of Communism

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES ― How can you not like Communism? What's not to like? Under the Communist system ― as history has taught ― you get to persecute potential opposition parties, warehouse political prisoners and pervert the country's patriotism with a noxious Orwellian poison of prickly but pervasive paranoia. At the same time, you get a society without entrepreneurial energy, a workforce without productivity, and an economy with little wealth, except for that of the uncaring elite. As I say, what's not to like? The truth is, Communism, as a way of organizing an economy, has such a bad track record, even die-hard Communists are starting to disown it. In China they began ``amending'' it with the rise of the late Deng Xiao-ping, successor to the historic but mad Mao Tse-tung. Now the term of art for that Communist country is ``socialism with Chinese characteristics.'' Figure out what that means and I have a career opportunity for you with the Chinese Propaganda Ministry in the Central Propaganda Department. Communist economies that fail to develop indigenous ch

Nov 5, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Malibu Metaphor

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES ― Twisters of pernicious plumes of smoke swirl out toward the lustrous Pacific Ocean, as if semaphores from Mother Nature about the future that lies ahead for us. Not to put too fine a point on it, "She" is suggesting it will be hot. On the very landside edge of the ocean, just on the western crest of the Pacific Coast Highway, the famous artery through Malibu, where entertainment figures among others live, is a restaurant called Duke's. Its big bay windows grace one of the largest uninterrupted runs of beach to be found on the entire West Coast of the United States. During the past few days, Malibu residents have been clustering at Duke's for comfort and reassurance, as if replicating a town meeting in a rural country store, while brave battalions of near-exhausted firefighters scramble up hills and into canyons to fight the fires raging all over southern California. As spoiled as these Californians who live in ritzy places like Malibu, Brentwood and Beverly Hills may arguably be, the overall attitude now is fatalistic ― and optimistic. It ha

Oct 28, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Japan Headed in New Direction?

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ It is very difficult to wish a Japanese prime minister anything but excellent health and political success. This special nation is still the world's second-largest economy and Asia's largest; its proximity to China alone makes it especially strategically significant. And wishing a new prime minister the very best of fortune is easy to do with the current office-holder Yasuo Fukuda. This self-effacing politician is a true gentleman of the old school, an internationalist of the best kind, and a genuine friend of the United States. When his predecessor Shinzo Abe suddenly resigned last month, it did not take long for the oft-dominant Liberal Democratic Party to turn to this wise old head for leadership. Unfortunately, however, being prime minister of Japan these days does not necessarily bode well for one's health. When the despondent and utterly defeated Abe stepped down, he immediately checked himself into Keio University Hospital for exhaustion and probably depression, though the official line was ``stomach and intestinal disorder." In 200

Oct 22, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Silly Summit With Serious Results

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ It sure opened up as one big oddball of a summit. For starters, the maximum leader of the northern half of the divided peninsula shows up on the first day in his trademark khaki casual suit that makes him look like some puffy Veterans of Foreign Wars figurine out of a 50's Sears Roebuck catalogue. And then the leader from the bottom half of Korea steps onto the summit stage in Pyongyang looking as stiff and glazed as a celebrity waxwork from Madame Tussauds in London. These are the pair of political peculiarities who now represent the Communist North Korea and the industrialized South, and it was they who just concluded what was but the second Korean summit since the Korean Peninsula's division. Right, Stalin versus Roosevelt this was not; it was Kim Jong-il versus Roh Moo-hyun which, for all appearances, at times looked more like Abbott versus Costello than anything else. But meet they did, and agree they did. The growing reality on the Korean Peninsula is that before too long the very last remnant of the very long Cold War may start m

Oct 8, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Myanmar at a Crossroads

By Tom Plate BANGKOK _ In 1989 Chinese troops, on orders of the government, mowed down countless demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. It was a sad spectacle that China is still living down, though memory fades with every year of spectacular economic development _ and with the nation's steady prideful movement toward hosting the Olympic Games next summer. Today, in what was formerly known as Burma, protestors, led by monks, are marching through the central streets of the capital of Myanmar in somewhat the same way. Will the soldiers shoot the monks? Will Yangon (Rangoon) in the end met the fate of Tiananmen? Or, for that matter, will the Yangon of 2007 look like the Myanmar of 1988, when street protesters were smashed like so many toy figurines, 3,000 people dead in the streets? Without a doubt, this junta has a voracious appetite for killing and repressing its own people. It's hard to see how some measure of bloody violence will be avoided. Myanmar is, in effect, the North Korea of Southeast Asia. That's a fair analogy: After all, one common quality of Mya

Sep 30, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Importance of Japan

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ Japan is of gigantic importance to the U.S. and to the world. This nation _ of a mere 127 million in population squeezed onto one relatively small island _ developed into the second-largest economy in the world. Its engineering skill became legendary. Its national literacy level is exemplary. It's a very serious place, with astonishing achievements in the arts, in design and, of course, in electronics. (Their automobiles aren't so bad, either.) And it holds in its hands more U.S. government bonds and other critical official U.S. investments than any country in the world, including China. But there is one bad thing about Japan: its political system. Let me explain. You may have noticed that they talk a lot about the need for ``consensus" in Japan, before any major political change or innovation can occur. One reason, among many, for all the talk is that in Japan, true political leadership is often hard to find. During the last decade or so the country has seen more prime ministers entering and then being hurled back out on the street f

Sep 19, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

How to Downsize Axis of Evil

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ The ``axis of evil'' has certainly proven one tough triangle with which to tangle. But is it about to be downsized? As fingered and thus defined by President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address, this putative axis triangulates Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But is one of them on the verge of executing a makeover? The axis has been tougher on the world than vice versa. Iraq is still a mess, though top U.S. generals will report to the American nation this week that the mess there is becoming less. Iran is still marching toward weapons-nuclearization, though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that the Ahmadinejad government has slowed that march, which however the Israelis and many others insist is inexorable, deplorable and peace-threatening. Things, therefore, must be as bleak as Hades if it's a ray of sunshine from North Korea that helps us avoid total despair. But such is the state of international relations that Pyongyang's apparent decision to stick to its promised atomic-weapons dismantlement pledge has

Sep 10, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Never Fear to Negotiate

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ How much might a human life be worth these days? That’s an utterly absurd question to answer with quantification, to be sure. But apparently it wasn’t that tough an assessment for the pragmatic South Korean government. Some press reports said that Seoul just dished out something like $2 million in Afghanistan to spring 19 of their citizens from Taliban captivity. The ordeal started July 19 when 23 Korean Christian volunteers, ignoring government warnings, went on some sort of Godly mission in the war-torn nation. The Taliban, for whom Christian missionaries are not exactly welcome visitors, grabbed the lot of them and put two of the men to death right off the bat. Facing a furor of anxiety at home, the Roh Moo-hyun government was caught in a bind. International opinion was virtually united in urging Seoul not to negotiate for the hostages’ release, on the principle of not rewarding terrorists by even engaging with them. But domestic opinion was divided, with Koreans increasingly focusing more on the pressing likelihood of the hostages’ de

Sep 4, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Thailand’s Future

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ When social scientists or journalists are in doubt, sometimes it’s best to consult the artist. Here’s what I mean. Last weekend there was a big referendum vote in Thailand. It passed, but no one is that thrilled about it _ no one except the ruling junta. It had kicked out the previous prime minister, who is now in exile, and cooked up the new referendum to make it harder for someone like him to ever have so much power again. The referendum did well enough in the urban areas of Thailand, but it pretty much bombed in the rural areas where the previous prime minister is still thought a hero. His name is Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the reason he is liked in the sticks is that he gave the impression he really cared about the plight of the poor. The gap between rich and poor is a big problem in Thailand, even if poverty is no worse there than in the rest of Asia. Increasingly, in fact, it’s a region-wide concern. India’s intellectual prime minister has offered deeply thoughtful and timely speeches to his wealthy business elite as well as t

Aug 30, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Australia’s Obama-Like Timetable

By Tom Plate LOS ANGELES _ John Howard, often the most patient and sure-footed of Western-style political leaders, is reported to be losing patience with the current Iraq government and mulling over options for an Australian troop withdrawal. Howard, who has served as Australia's prime minister longer than George W. Bush has been America's president, is no dummy. The Australian people have soured on the war effort, to which their country has committed a troop contribution of about 1,500. And the facts on the ground in Iraq do not seem to be improving rapidly. America does not go to the polls until late next year, but the probability is that Australians will choose their next government later this year. Howard, the prime minister since 1996, has seen his opinion ratings deteriorate and faces the prospect of leading his Liberal Party to defeat. Time is not on the chiseled veteran's side. The squeeze has begun and the wily Howard is looking for a way out that avoids the appearance either of defeat or of a timetable. Judging from his public statements, though, the Au

Aug 23, 2007By Tom Plate

Tom Plate

Read more

End of Communism

Malibu Metaphor

Japan Headed in New Direction?

Silly Summit With Serious Results

Myanmar at a Crossroads

Importance of Japan

How to Downsize Axis of Evil

Never Fear to Negotiate

Thailand’s Future

Australia’s Obama-Like Timetable

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