CAIRO ― The massive crowds of rebellious youths have long since left Tahrir Square, which is jammed again with honking cars and trucks stuck in endless gridlock.Egypt’s revolution is stuck in gridlock, too, trapped by a standoff between seculars and Islamists. The Egyptian military is worsening the tensions. As elections approach, the generals are trying to ensure they will continue their dominant role even after the voting.Why have things gone so wrong? I asked three leaders of the Tahrir revol

Viewpoints Nov. 7, 2011

Following is an interview with Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state. He spoke with Global Viewpoint Network editor Nathan Gardels on Nov. 3. ― Ed.Nathan Gardels: Senior Chinese strategist Zheng Bijian has recently moved on from his doctrine of “peaceful rise” ― a defensive posture which he proposed as a way of saying China is not a threat to the world ― to a doctrine of global engagement: “expanding the convergence of interests to build a community of interests.”Do you see this conver

Viewpoints Nov. 7, 2011

I’m on a trip to China this month, and it’s coinciding with some Middle Kingdom soul-searching about what Chinese people owe one another. In an age of “golden collar” workers made rich in the new economy, the Chinese are struggling to locate their social conscience. To move to the next level of development, the government needs to do the same. It’s an important sign that even as China’s leadership continues to censor the Internet, it’s allowing online safety valves to let off steam. The authorit

Viewpoints Nov. 7, 2011

The proposed construction of a gas pipeline linking Russia and South Korea via North Korea is expected to gain momentum following a summit between President Lee Myung-bak and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.At the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed joint efforts to promote the project, saying it would benefit all three countries. The scheme calls for laying a 1,700 km-long pipeline to transport 10 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas per year to South Kor

Editorial Nov. 4, 2011

Bad practices die hard. For example, you need not look further than the kickbacks pharmaceutical companies give to doctors and pharmacists in return for prescribing their medicines. To root out this deeply entrenched corrupt practice, the government revised the law in November last year. It made doctors and pharmacists, as well as pharmaceutical companies, subject to punishment when found to have been involved in illegal deals.Under the amended laws, doctors and pharmacists who receive illegal m

Editorial Nov. 4, 2011

Oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear what Chinese officials want in return for saving the euro. Yes, President Nicolas Sarkozy, we will take France’s Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre as collateral. The Mona Lisa will look grand hanging in Beijing. Toss in the Champs-Elysees and Louis Vuitton’s flagship store and we’ll consider swapping more of our $3.2 trillion of reserves for your bonds. Hi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Aside from invitations to your bunga-bunga parties, we would be happy wit

Viewpoints Nov. 4, 2011

The decision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Monday to grant Palestine full membership should not be used as an excuse for the United States to cut funding for the cultural arm of the U.N. Nor does it justify the Israeli response to expand its new Jewish settlement plans. Both countries should recognize the trend of our times, which sees the Palestinian pursuit of rights and interests on the international stage as righteous. Though regarded as a symbol

Viewpoints Nov. 4, 2011

A remarkable thing happened in Silicon Valley during the past decade. Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs set their sights on clean energy as the Next Big Thing. They audaciously hoped to reinvent energy by harnessing the incredible innovation that had transformed information technology and biotechnology. Some of the best venture capitalists in the business, including my friends Bill Joy and Vinod Khosla, detached from their computing roots and focused on energy startups. The result was a stag

Viewpoints Nov. 3, 2011

Since the government unveiled its “low carbon, green growth” vision in August 2008, the nation’s renewable energy industry has achieved impressive growth. Between 2007 and 2010, the industry’s aggregate sales jumped 6.5-fold, its export revenue surged 7.3-fold and the size of its workforce expanded 3.7-fold.The industry’s rapid growth prompted major Korean corporations to jump on the clean energy bandwagon. They announced large-scale investment plans one after another. This rush boosted expectat

Editorial Nov. 2, 2011

Policymakers often cause confusion by announcing well-intended but not-fully-thought-out measures. A case in point is one of the measures announced Sunday by the Prime Minister’s Office to help baby boomers push back retirement. The office announced that the government would grant workers aged 50 and older the right to request reduced hours in the run-up to retirement and thereby extend employment.The PMO said the scheme was intended to help senior workers prepare for their new jobs after retire

Editorial Nov. 2, 2011

In the end, Jon Corzine was little more than an unsupervised rogue trader. His disproportionately reckless $6.3 billion bet on the credit quality of a few European nations bankrupted MF Global Holdings Ltd. over the course of three dramatic days after the short-term credit markets quickly lost confidence in him and his firm. His gamble will cost MF’s shareholders and creditors billions of dollars and, virtually overnight, put the careers of MF’s almost 3,000 employees in jeopardy. MF Global now

Viewpoints Nov. 2, 2011

President Barack Obama goes into the 2012 with a weak economy that may doom his reelection. But he has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest. The sight of Texas Governor Rick Perry tumbling out of the clown car recently as a “birther” (or at least a birther-enabler) is a sign of weakness, not just for the Perry campaign but for the whole Republican effort to tarnish the president’s character. Although it’s possible that the Solyndra LLC story will become a classic feeding fr

Viewpoints Nov. 2, 2011