Egypt is the next Iran? Utter, total nonsense

Events in Egypt are seesawing so quickly it is difficult to assess if the current trajectory points toward gradually escalating violence or a more orderly transition that will end President’s Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.Yet here is what is clearly not happening ― an Iranian-style Islamic Revolution.As anyone watching television can see, the demonstrators filling Tahrir Square are not Islamic radi

Feb. 9, 2011

Battle lines between ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ energy

During the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama challenged the nation to invest in clean-energy technologies so the U.S. would “out-compete” and “out-innovate” the rest of the world.Indisputably, this country needs less polluting and more efficient energy sources to make the critical transition from fossil fuels to the 21st-century technologies needed to keep the nation economically

Feb. 9, 2011

[William Pesek] ‘Goldman Sachs with guns’ joins sumo on ropes

Events in Egypt have journalists around the world asking: Hmmm, could that happen here?In Tokyo, the answer is no. The student riots of 1968 remind us never to say never. The thought of today’s youths congregating at Shibuya Crossing, tossing Molotov cocktails and demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, though, is a colossal reach. Mass protests in Japan are a rare, rare thing.Yet there

Feb. 9, 2011

[Frida Ghitis] Where’s the revolution’s silver lining?

The revolution unfolding in Egypt and other Arab lands has set Israeli hearts racing with anxiety. There are so many ways in which regime change in Egypt could prove calamitous for Israel that it’s hard to know where to begin. And yet, the very fact that Israelis have to spend their nights worrying about what comes tomorrow in a country with which they signed a peace treaty more than 30 years ago,

Feb. 9, 2011

[Kevin Hassett] M.E. freedom carries cost we all might pay

For the most part, economic markets have shrugged while the turmoil in Egypt has escalated. If President George W. Bush was right about the long-term impact of the Iraq War, that might change.We may all have to share in economic hardship as the price for a freer world.There are sound arguments, to be sure, that the economy will remain calm. On its own, the uprising in Egypt seems unlikely to cause

Feb. 9, 2011

Japan needs social security reform proposals

The government and the ruling coalition parties on Saturday launched a new panel of experts chaired by Prime Minister Naoto Kan to discuss social security reform.We will wait and see how detailed a picture the panel can paint of the future of the nation’s social security system.The de facto leader of the panel is the assistant to the chairman, Kaoru Yosano, state minister in charge of economic and

Feb. 8, 2011

Brave people put Egypt on path to freer society

We should all be Egyptians today. We should all be in solidarity with those thousands of courageous people who exercised fundamental rights to speech and assembly and moved a dictator to declare that he is finished.The days and weeks ahead will be difficult for these custodians of a treasured world culture. There is a risk that the democratic tide will ebb and that extremists will seize power. The

Feb. 8, 2011

[Kavi Chongkittavorn] Can U.S.-led drill be expanded?

From a humble beginning as a joint military exercise between Thailand and the U.S. involving selective personnel of the Marine Corps in 1982, the Cobra Gold has become the world’s largest operation of its kind.Nearly two dozen countries are taking part as well as observing the annual war games. Malaysia is the latest to join, sending 13 troops for training this year ― beginning this week at the he

Feb. 8, 2011

[Chris Monday] The paranoid style of U.S. foreign policy

Inspired by Tom Paine, Americans have fermented revolution around the globe. From Prague to Tiananmen, expanding the will of the people has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. But this principle is increasingly contradicting key components of America’s international agenda as well as running up against the realities of dampened influence.For example, George W. Bush vigorously backed Ukraine

Feb. 8, 2011

[Anne Michaud] The world has passed U.S. students by

In these days of tiger-mother hysteria about raising children with academic backbone, President Barack Obama has weighed in with yet another cause for paranoia. The president dropped India and China into his State of the Union speech, just long enough to say they are educating their children earlier and longer.Generally, school days are longer in Asian countries, and vacation breaks, though more f

Feb. 8, 2011

Fairer economic growth to escape income trap

With its per capita gross domestic product rising to about 30,000 yuan ($4,500), China is at a critical point if it is to avoid the middle income trap and push living standards closer to those of rich economies. Robust economic growth in 2010 has allowed China much of the wherewithal to underpin an encouraging rise in average income levels. But if the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) is to become a c

Feb. 7, 2011

Change and continuity in Egypt after Mubarak

No sooner had President Hosni Mubarak announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election than the protesters who brought him low rejected his gesture. As a result, it’s still unclear whether Mubarak will leave abruptly or after a period of transition; that, ultimately, will be up to the Egyptian people. But either way, the country appears to be on the verge of a post-Mubarak order. It’s not too soon to p

Feb. 7, 2011

[Brian W. Walsh] No tolerance on U.S. school property

“Zero tolerance” policies continue to result in injustices to our nation’s public school students. In one of the latest examples, a North Carolina school district’s application of zero tolerance may cause 17-year-old senior Ashley Smithwick, described by local media as a standout student-athlete, to miss the rest of her senior year.Far worse, local prosecutors’ apparently wooden enforcement agains

Feb. 7, 2011

[John R. Bolton] Lebanon, not Egypt, may determine fate of Mideast democracy

Despite the media’s recent focus on Egypt, events in Lebanon may well tell us more about the troubled prospects for Middle Eastern democracy. The fall of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government, replaced by a Hezbollah-dominated coalition, dramatically imperils Beirut’s democratic Cedar Revolution.Financed and dominated by Iran, terrorist Hezbollah has consistently refused to disarm and b

Feb. 7, 2011