Assad’s regime should be finished. There have been numerous defections: a Syrian pilot, a brigadier general, and a high ranking diplomat. Assad’s grip on power has been crumbling. His regime even desperately lashed out by attacking a Turkish fighter jet. This is likened to a wounded animal that is taking vicious last bites before it dies. Meanwhile, the U.N. is doing pretty much nothing about ending his regime sooner. Instead, we are letting the regime inflict extraordinarily heinous crimes agai

Viewpoints July 23, 2012

Every now and then, an army of experts goes around proclaiming the end of China’s economy. Since mid-July 2012, the new song is about China being a bubble and the bubble bursting. Giving the answers right away: Yes, China’s economy is weakening; Yes, there are troubling signals; No, China is not a bubble; No, the bubble is not bursting.What is wrong with China?Chinese economic authorities have revised their growth-forecast from 8 percent to 7.5 percent for the year 2012. This rate, taken for fac

Viewpoints July 23, 2012

The U.S. presidential election, by some accounts, is sinking to record depths of negativity and nastiness, with unprecedented attacks on Wall Street, especially the private-equity industry. It’s enough to send the children inside. Except that it isn’t true. There are still more than 100 days to go, but so far the tone and tenor of the contest between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is tame by historical standards. The Republican candidate has said the preside

Viewpoints July 23, 2012

In announcing that she would soon be a new mother, Marissa Mayer, the new chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., made one thing perfectly clear: She wouldn’t be taking maternity leave. More precisely, Mayer said she would grab just a few weeks away from the office and would work at home the whole time. Many been-there-done-that moms scoffed. Just wait until she experiences the labor, the every-two-hours feedings and the moments of intense joy in between, she’ll change her mind. This would not b

Viewpoints July 22, 2012

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio did well to explain ― in print ― “[w]hy there’s no ASEAN joint communique” that came out of last week’s big regional meeting at Phnom Penh. Until I read her essay yesterday, all I had read about was China’s going to town with its “success” at ASEAN, portraying the Philippines as an isolated state pathetically abandoned by its fellow ASEAN countries, all of them bowing before China’s might and meekly going along with the regional bully.Basilio exp

Viewpoints July 22, 2012

South Korea is competitively successful and produces excellent students. Families who move to America, even temporarily, find that their children do very well in school. Korean children achieve easily in mathematics, refine their English quickly, and win honors within two to three years in subjects such as science, history, foreign languages, and of course, English! Given the success of Korean students, is there anything to be learned from America? Is there anything Korean families and corporati

Viewpoints July 22, 2012

Presidential aspirants keep pouring out costly welfare pledges without taking into account the nation’s slowing economic growth and a growing sense of crisis among domestic corporations.Park Geun-hye, the leading candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, and her rivals in the main opposition Democratic United Party have promised to offer free education to high school students. Park’s plan called for phasing in free education for 1.42 million high school students over four years starting in 2014. Sh

Editorial July 20, 2012

Pressure is building on the prosecution to investigate growing suspicions of illegal fundraising by aides to President Lee Myung-bak during the 2007 presidential race.Opening a probe into presidential campaign finance must be something the prosecution wants to avoid as much as possible as it could involve the incumbent president.But it is its duty to launch an investigation as circumstantial evidence strongly suggests Lee’s campaign raised funds illegally. If the prosecution shies away from taki

Editorial July 20, 2012

You have to love the chutzpah at HSBC Holdings Plc. At the very moment it’s asking the courts to remove a ragged band of Occupy Wall Street protesters encamped under its Hong Kong headquarters, the largest European bank is also reminding the world why many people are so angry at bankers. The subject of the anti-Wall Street crusade isn’t much to behold: A few dozen 20-somethings living in tents, lounging on shabby sofas, strumming guitars and handing out pamphlets. Their notoriety is all about lo

Viewpoints July 20, 2012

If U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to leave a positive legacy in our region, she must make sure that her constant presence, smile and speeches do not further divide ASEAN and cause discord with other major powers and among countries. Clinton has just made another tour of the region as her tenure in office nears completion. She is not going to take up any post in the next U.S. administration. Whatever she has done in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, will be gauged carefully from

Viewpoints July 20, 2012