Can an island of strife lead Mideast reform?

Bahrain is tiny ― an island kingdom off the Saudi coast with a half-million citizens and as many expatriate workers. It’s also a strategic spot that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet. And the turmoil there says a great deal about the sectarian forces at work in the Mideast and how conflagrations could be avoided with judicious leadership. This week, Bahrain’s government announced measures to ban a Shiite opposition party that has played a major role in anti- monarchy protests, apparently for minor techni

June 8, 2012

Philippines’ strategic silence on Syria

The question has to be asked: For how long will the Philippine government maintain its “strategic silence” vis-a-vis the civil conflict in Syria, which gets bloodier with each carnage reported, the latest being the killing of 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, in Houla on May 25? The death toll in the 14-month-old conflict is reported to have climbed past 10,000, but the Philippines continues to keep to a see-hear-and-speak-no-evil mode. In fact, it was the only one absent when the

June 8, 2012

Shared regional peace

As China is a large country with a rising influence on regional and world affairs, it is no surprise that China should have been in the spotlight at the three-day Asia Security Summit that concluded on Sunday in Singapore.Beijing hopes such regional platforms will promote dialogue and cooperation to safeguard regional peace and stability.Still some nations sought to use the Singapore forum, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, to try and sow seeds of discord and call for outside intervention i

June 8, 2012

New class of vehicles

The government plans to promote a new category of “microcompact” vehicles, the first new category of vehicle to be established under the Road Transport Vehicle Law since 1963. These new cars will likely appeal to elderly people and others who will use them for shopping or visiting places near their homes. Most of them will be electric and much more environmentally friendly than current automobiles.Larger than “Category 1” motorcycles that have an engine displacement of 50 cc or less, but smaller

June 8, 2012

Romney is dangerously naive on foreign policy

Now that Mitt Romney is certain to be the Republican nominee for president, it’s time to examine his foreign-affairs policies and background.In short, he has no significant foreign policy experience. None at all. And his policy pronouncements have been disturbing.He called President Barack Obama “naive” for announcing plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan. Well, Romney is the one who is naive, and that’s the problem. Given all the dilemmas the U.S. faces worldwide, we don’t need another presid

June 7, 2012

Towards a Northeast Asian Renewable Energy Association

When hundreds of policymakers, industrialists, researchers, academics and NGO representatives met in Seoul for the Global Green Growth Summit 2012 on May 10 and 11, it was no wonder that the Asian region was well represented ― not only because of the location, but also due to the region’s interest in energy developments.Positive developments, like the success of Korea’s green growth policy, contributed to that interest. Challenges, like the tragedy of Fukushima, served as a stark reminder of the

June 7, 2012

The triumph of political imperatives in Europe

MADRID ― Economics, particularly economic theories, always yield in the end to political imperatives. That is why Europe’s fast-changing political landscape, reshaped by electoral insurrections in France and Greece against German-backed fiscal austerity, is bound to affect Europe’s economic policies as well.Such an imperative has been at work throughout Europe’s postwar history. Indeed, Europe’s shift from the modest customs union of the European Economic Community to the single market and commo

June 7, 2012

Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee chicanery

Elizabeth Warren, who on Saturday claimed the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, still has Indian trouble. Her claim to American Indian ancestry entered a new phase last week.At first Warren said she learned that her employer, Harvard Law School, had cited her as a minority faculty member only after the Boston Herald informed her of it several weeks ago. Then last week she conceded that she herself had told Harvard that she was American Indian, though she said she told the

June 6, 2012

You can’t fix the death penalty ― just end it

Californians will vote this fall on an initiative to abolish the death penalty. Proponents of the measure say it is necessary because capital punishment is too costly. Opponents argue that costs can be cut by streamlining the system.But whether one is for or against capital punishment, trying to make the process cheaper and quicker is a terrible ― and dangerous ― idea.Recently, my co-authors and I published the results of an extensive four-year investigation into the Texas execution of Carlos De

June 6, 2012

Olympics and rise of the humble, ubiquitous ball

When the caldron is lit in London this summer and the XXX Olympics begins, one familiar participant will play a more active role than any other, taking center stage at 23 individual events. To the delight of billions, and without concern for its own well-being, it will be thrown, kicked, punched, slapped and struck with no fewer than three different instruments of torture. That abused but beloved participant is, of course, the humble, ubiquitous ball.This universal object of play has become so i

June 6, 2012

Formula 1 legend makes a smart car for the street

Apple Inc., we are confident, will not be selling cars anytime soon. But the auto industry ― like music, film or, dare we say, publishing ― could use a little bit of old-fashioned disruptive innovation, and maybe Gordon Murray can provide it. Murray, the famed London-based automotive designer and entrepreneur responsible for some of the most successful Formula 1 race cars, has lately turned his attention to a less expensive, less speedy pursuit: He wants to provide a small, light, efficient car

June 5, 2012

Why U.S. airlines need to adapt to slow growth

As the economy recovers and fuel prices ease, U.S. airlines are doing better. Prospects for the summer and the rest of 2012 look brighter, particularly because there are fewer carriers after the mergers of the last five years. Yet U.S. airlines face a long-term challenge that should concern industry executives as well as investors. That impediment isn’t wages, fuel prices or a stagnant economy. It’s growth in demand for air travel, which has been anemic at best for more than a decade, even when

June 5, 2012

Fired up about the magic of flame at end of candle

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help scientists explain in simple words what it is they do. Why in the world, you might wonder, should a nonscientific person worry about a thing like that? There are two pretty good reasons.For one thing, before a surgeon slices me open, I’d like him or her to do at least two minutes on what this is all about. What’s the problem? What are the chances this will work? Will I be able to play the violin when I wake up?In a way, scientists are operating on u

June 5, 2012