History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, Mark Twain is thought to have said. Democrats are hoping that’s true.Fifteen years ago, fierce budget fights between Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress forced the government to shut down twice. The conflict boosted the president, revitalized his vision for government and branded Republicans as extreme.Now, as battles loom over the debt ceiling an

Viewpoints March 3, 2011

Duvvuri Subbarao knows a thing or two about inflation. India’s central-bank head defeated price gains exceeding 10 percent twice in the past two years alone.Now, Subbarao is back at battle stations as a chorus of traders say he’s behind the curve. It’s hard to argue with the wisdom of markets with Indian inflation back above 9 percent, the highest among Asia’s 10-biggest economies.Yet the Reserve

Viewpoints March 2, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak has again called on Japan to take sincere action to transcend the past and build a future-oriented bilateral relationship with South Korea. In a speech on Tuesday to mark the 92nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan’s colonial rule, Lee urged Tokyo to follow through on Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s statement issued in August last year.On Aug. 10, Kan

Editorial March 2, 2011

The euro wasn’t just meant to provide economic harmony. It was supposed to ensure political stability as well. Neither has happened and a generation of politicians will pay for it.Parties win and lose elections all the time. But it is rare to be destroyed as completely as Fianna Fail was in Ireland on the weekend. The party that has dominated Irish politics since independence in the 1920s was push

Viewpoints March 2, 2011

Does the U.S. have the assets, influence and will to affect the course of Middle East politics?At first glance, the answer appears self-evident given the extent of the country’s involvement in the region. Since the 1970s, the U.S. has been seized with Arab-Israeli peacemaking and has given Egypt more than $70 billion in aid. The U.S. has deployed military assets in the Persian Gulf to secure oil e

Viewpoints March 2, 2011

In the past decade Hong Kong and Macau have benefited substantially from mainland Chinese policies of letting an increasing number of tourists into the two cities. Many believed that mainland tourists were part of the contributors that helped lift Hong Kong’s economy out of the abyss following the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) crisis. Mainland travellers, especially high rollers, a

Viewpoints March 1, 2011

Here comes the latest on China and India. This one’s from American financial services company Citi. It says India, thanks to its robust growth, is expected to surpass China ― and the United States ― by 2050 to become the largest economy in the world. Of course, China is expected to overtake the U.S. to become the largest economy by 2020. The paeans India has received for its fast economic growth (

Viewpoints March 1, 2011

If we could write the script for the events unfolding in the Middle East, peaceful demonstrators would overwhelm the dictators, who would quickly agree to democratic transitions without bloodshed.The newly liberated countries would proclaim, with universal approval, a future of tolerance, peace and friendship at home, among people of different tribes, religions and beliefs, at home as well as abro

Viewpoints March 1, 2011

It is not immediately obvious, but nearly all street protests involve only a minuscule proportion of a country’s population. None of the high-profile protests in recent memory, whether in Bahrain, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran or Moldova, have involved even 1 percent of the people.The 300,000 Egyptians, for instance, who descended on Tahrir Square in Cairo represent just 0.4 per cent of the country’

Viewpoints March 1, 2011

The response of the United States and the international community to the atrocities committed by Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi against his people has been frustratingly slow and ineffectual.While President Obama and other world leaders have dithered, the slaughter waged by Gadhafi’s mercenaries has claimed the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of peaceful protesters on the streets of Tripol

Viewpoints Feb. 28, 2011

President Obama’s proposed federal budget is far too large.In public statements it has become obligatory to make a smoke cloud about fiscal responsibility, and Obama has done that. “Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt,” he said.The mountain is already there. As a percentage of the gross domestic product, the mountain of debt is now the highest since the Truman admini

Viewpoints Feb. 28, 2011

With a rapidity that would have been unimaginable only a month ago, oppression in the Middle East ― Tunisia, Egypt and now, hopefully, Libya ― is on the run. Whatever the short-term challenges, what emerges will probably be better than the old dictatorial regimes.That’s different than proclaiming that democracy and freedom have arrived. Creating a representative political system of self-rule in th

Viewpoints Feb. 28, 2011

Marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed. The push to repeal federal prohibition should come from the states, and it should begin with the state of Washington.In 1998, Washington was one of the earliest to vote for medical marijuana. It was a leap of faith, and the right decision. In 2003, Seattle was one of the first places in America to vote to make simple marijuana possession the lowe

Viewpoints Feb. 27, 2011