A strategy for Russia’s Snow Revolution

MOSCOW ― Nonviolent revolutions do not always remain nonviolent, as the examples of uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Syria in the Arab Spring have shown. But peaceful movements for regime change often do succeed. They have toppled illegitimate rulers, as with the post-Soviet “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, and ended apartheid in South Africa, for example, or, before that, the Jim Crow system in the American South. Nonviolent movements broke British rule in India and Malawi, and brought

Feb. 12, 2012

Making a Fatah and Hamas partnership work

The news that the mainstream Palestinian group Fatah has agreed to form a unity government with the militantly Islamist Hamas may move some to dismay. Although there are ample reasons for that reaction, this development may also present an opportunity. Over the past year, the world has changed not just around Israel, but also around the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the two Palestinian territories ruled, respectively, by Hamas and Fatah. That is especially true for Hamas. The Arab Spring has driven

Feb. 10, 2012

Don’t let Futenma relocation stalemate become permanent

It is not a bad idea for the Japanese and U.S. governments to prevent the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station and the transfer of marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture to Guam from both collapsing.The two governments have agreed in principle to revise the 2006 realignment project for U.S. forces in Japan.The plan for the relocation of marines to Guam will be scaled back from 8,000 marines to 4,700. The Futenma base relocation will be separated from the marines’ Guam reloca

Feb. 10, 2012

Beijing, Moscow cowardice should be punished

Thirty years to the day that Hafez al-Assad’s Syria began a massacre of at least 10,000 people in Hama, another one took place in Homs, and two of the world’s biggest countries did nothing to prevent a third. In Hama, some paid tribute to those who were killed in 1982, throwing red dye into the city’s ancient water wheels on the Orontes River, and spray painting “Hafez died, and Hama didn’t. Bashar will die, and Hama won’t.” Bashar refers to current Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, succinctly desc

Feb. 10, 2012

Japan‘s population time bomb ticking

A population trend estimate announced on Jan. 30 by the health and welfare ministry’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research shows that in 2060, Japan’s population will fall to about 30 percent below the current level, while people aged 65 or older will account for 40 percent of the population. It is imperative that the government take effective measures to make it easier for young people to be able to afford to marry and raise a family.As Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda sai

Feb. 10, 2012

School nutrition: A kid’s right to choose

Last fall, Los Angeles took a hard line on school nutrition. In an attempt to mold better eating habits in kids, the Los Angeles Unified School District eliminated flavored milk, chicken nuggets and other longtime childhood favorites. But instead of making kids healthier, the changes sent students fleeing from school cafeterias. There have been reports of a thriving trade in black-market junk food, of pizzas delivered to side doors and of family-size bags of chips being brought from home. Garbag

Feb. 9, 2012

Who reviews the U.S. ‘kill list’ of terrorists?

When it comes to national security, Michael V. Hayden is no shrinking violet. As CIA director, he ran the Bush administration’s program of warrantless wiretaps against suspected terrorists.But the retired air force general admits to being a little squeamish about the Obama administration’s expanding use of pilotless drones to kill suspected terrorists around the world ― including, occasionally, U.S. citizens.“Right now, there isn’t a government on the planet that agrees with our legal rationale

Feb. 9, 2012

Saga shows problems with spectrum policy

There are two lessons to be gleaned from the revelation that Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners LLC lost 47 percent in its main hedge fund last year. The first is that Falcone took a mighty gamble in investing $3 billion in LightSquared, a Virginia-based broadband-service supplier. The second, more important point is to shed light on how poorly the U.S. government manages the domestic broadcast spectrum. LightSquared controls 59 megahertz on the U.S. spectrum that it hopes to lease to w

Feb. 8, 2012

Team Obama shows dangerous penchant for hubris

President Barack Obama is headed for political turbulence. That prediction isn’t based on any private polling data or inside information. It’s just common sense: National political campaigns are cyclical, and after an especially good cycle, the Democratic president is due for some downtime. On re-election prospects, the Obamaites are confident when they look at the state of the race, especially the Republicans. They’re showing signs of cockiness. Like many politicians, Obama courts trouble when

Feb. 8, 2012

Right-to-work laws won’t bring back manufacturing

For most policy problems, there is usually a simple answer and a correct answer; they are rarely the same thing. That dilemma is evident in the debate about what the U.S. can do to boost its manufacturing sector. One side was staked out by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address. Building on the success of his rescue of the auto industry, the president set forth a multipronged approach toward a broader reinvigoration of manufacturing. His proposal includes closing tax loopholes

Feb. 8, 2012

Will any part of Europe save itself?

The Fitch Ratings agency has downgraded the credit of another five European countries ― Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain ― citing “the financing risks faced by eurozone sovereign governments in the absence of a credible financial firewall against contagion and self-fulfilling liquidity crises.”In other words, these self-styled fiscal medics plunged headfirst into deadly disease without making sure they had all their shots. Is every European country that tries to find a clean end by wh

Feb. 7, 2012

Drug problem adding to challenge in Afghanistan

France can’t seem to decide how quickly it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan after a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire on unarmed French soldiers, killing four and wounding 15.Over the last week, French officials have offered conflicting reports of their intentions. But the truth is, it doesn’t really matter whether they stay or they go. Despite the gung-ho statements we are now hearing from the NATO training program, most Afghan soldiers are simply unfit for duty.In every nation, the arm

Feb. 7, 2012