The offer of two squadrons of used F-16 jet fighters ― gratis ― from the United States seems too good to be true. With its aging defense weaponry systems in desperate need of upgrading, the Indonesian Military (TNI) signaled last week it had accepted the offer under a U.S. grant. The ball is back in the U.S. court to decide whether to proceed with the deal or not.But wait. Nothing is as free as it

BAGHDAD ― Frustrated with high unemployment, poor public services and corruption, Iraqis have been transfixed by media coverage of the uprising in Cairo. But while many are filled with admiration for the Egyptian people’s efforts, most here appear reluctant to follow suit.“I never watched any news on TV, but now I am following it daily,” said Namareq Sultan, 22, a medical student in Baghdad, regar

President Barack Obama’s call for “investments” in education, infrastructure and science and health research is dismissed by most congressional Republicans as a fig leaf for more big-government spending. That underlies the House’s decision Feb. 19 to slash $61 billion from an array of discretionary spending programs in the current fiscal year budget. This may make proponents feel good, yet, as alm

ISLAMABAD ― Pakistan’s domestic situation is becoming increasingly precarious. Indeed, serious questions are now being raised as to whether the country can survive in its present form.Such questions stem from a growing fear that Islamist groups might once again make a serious bid to capture the levers of power in the country. If that is not possible because of the presence of a large and disciplin

When the Ministry of Strategy and Finance submitted a bill on Islamic bonds to the National Assembly in September 2009, its main motivation was to secure new sources of foreign capital that Korea could tap into when liquidity dries up due to turmoil in the global financial system ― such as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. But the bill gained added importance following a Korean consortium’s

The government has come up with a set of measures aimed at making Korea a fairer and more transparent society. The action plans followed up on President Lee Myung-bak’s vision of a fair society unveiled in his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15 last year. On Thursday, officials from related ministries briefed Lee on their plans to implement the package. At the meeting, Lee demonstrated his commitmen

Talk of reviving Arab-Israeli peace talks amid Arab world turmoil might seem counterintuitive, even crazy, to many Middle East watchers, but now is exactly the time to seize a rare opportunity.Last week’s developments didn’t just uproot an entrenched dictator in Egypt. They unleashed an unprecedented wave of hope across a region where autocracy and intransigence have been constant companions.Now i

China’s economic output as measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms passed Japan’s in 2001, going by International Monetary Fund data. Measured in current exchange rate terms, China’s gross domestic product has just dislodged Japan’s from the No. 2 spot that Japan has held for 42 years ― China’s 2010 GDP of $5.88 trillion, against Japan’s $5.47 trillion. As GDP in PPP terms is regarded in m

Is anyone else a bit BRIC-ed out?Hey, I completely get the importance of Brazil, Russia, India and China as emerging powers, growth engines and, perhaps, role models. Yet ever since Goldman Sachs Group Inc. squeezed the indispensable four into an acronym, we seem to have lost sight of a wider constellation of hugely promising economies.Even Jim O’Neill, coiner of Goldman’s now-ubiquitous BRICs, sa

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held in mid-October, put forward a proposal for the 12th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development over the next five years, once again highlighting the importance of transforming the country’s economic development mode. It also called for governments at various levels to shift their economic

While the resignation of Egypt’s authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak may have only set the course for the difficult transition to democracy for Egypt, Feb. 11 will be remembered as the day the people triumphed.The transition of the Middle Eastern heavyweight and trendsetter, an important ally of the U.S. and one of the world’s greatest military powers, will have repercussions throughout the worl

In the wake of Europe’s woes, more and more voices from European countries and beyond have been calling for the euro to be abandoned. Surveys in France show that more than 35 percent of the respondents desire the reintroduction of the French franc, and in Germany there are strong voices calling for the return of the Deutschmark.From historic, economic, political and global perspectives, the destin

Since July last year, a reform panel of the ruling Grand National Party has been working on a plan to overhaul the way the party nominates candidates for parliamentary elections. Last month, the panel disclosed a draft scheme based on a U.S.-style primary system that picks candidates through votes by party members and citizens.The open primary system, in fact, had been used by the GNP and other ma

According to Statistics Korea, aggregate household spending on private education dropped for the first time in 2010. Data shows that Korean parents spent a total of 20.9 trillion won last year on educating their children at private institutions, down 3.5 percent from a year ago. What does this imply? Does it mean the incumbent government’s war against private education has started to pay off? The

Somewhere in Havana, Fidel Castro is probably laughing out loud to see Hosni Mubarak lose his grip on power after 30 years of undisputed leadership. In Castro’s eyes, no doubt, the octogenarian Mr. Mubarak brought a world of trouble on himself by trying to mollify Western critics through the creation of a phony democracy that would give his regime a veneer of respectability.Mr. Mubarak was never a

Temperatures in Wisconsin are expected to rise by midcentury by an annual average of 6 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists and others in state government. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record based on global surface temperature. It was also the wett

Is the United States in decline? Twenty-five years ago Americans feared Japan would make us No. 2, but then in the 1990s our economy boomed and Japan’s stagnated. Now the fears have returned.China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies are roaring ahead. China, our closest competitor, holds more than 20 percent of the $4.3 billion in U.S. Treasury securities purchased by foreigners.Deficit re

Few bets are safer today than that we will see more uprisings in the Middle East in 2011, though maybe not everywhere. One of the ironies of revolution is that it is hardest to do where it is needed most. Hosni Mubarak was a dictator, but his rule was neither absolute nor bloodthirsty.Revolutions often produce something worse than they replace. But in the case of Egypt the nature of the protests g

If there is one German banker who isn’t taking gender equality seriously, it is Josef Ackermann.The Deutsche Bank AG chief executive officer is in hot water over flippant remarks he made about women serving on bank management boards. Now some German ministers are calling for mandatory quotas to be introduced, forcing companies to appoint women to top positions.If it happens, it will be following a

People across the world were mesmerized last week by the remarkable images of the dramatic events in Egypt that eventually propelled President Hosni Mubarak out of office on Friday.In the end, the courage, determination and fighting spirit of the millions of mainly young people that packed into streets in protest in many cities overcame a president who had been entrenched in power for over 30 year