MADRID ― This month, the International Energy Agency will publish its annual report, the internationally definitive World Energy Outlook, which will confirm that we are not on the right track to reduce global warming. If the current trend in energy production continues, the earth’s average temperature will be more than 2 degrees Celsius higher in 2100 than it was in 1990, irreversibly harming the planet and conditions for human life.Other, more immediate crises are occupying the world’s attentio

It is no coincidence that the Busan International Film Festival flaunted a political montage this year, among the rubble of fallen empires, worldwide revolutions in the name of freedom and nuclear-born tensions. And it is no coincidence that these films were once again epiphanous with the same historical motifs that have been at the heart of human storytelling since its dawn. But there is something different each year ― and that is, that we are brought into new parts of ourselves and given new e

Many parents in the U.S. are legitimately concerned about the prospects for their college-age children. After all, today’s students face three overlapping challenges: a long-term structural shift as the world’s effective labor supply expands; rising tuition and growing concerns about the quality of public higher education; and the misfortune of graduating into a weak labor market. The first challenge arises from rapid shifting of the tectonic plates that underlie the world labor market. Over the

The contrast couldn’t be bigger between the downfalls of Jon Corzine and Tsuyoshi Kikukawa. As Corzine left MF Global Holdings Ltd., all anyone could talk about was $633 million. That’s how much regulators initially said was unaccounted for as the New York futures broker went bust and spooked markets. In the case of Kikukawa, the former chairman of Tokyo-based Olympus Corp., a similar figure cropped up: $687 million. That’s how much vanished in mysterious fees paid to advisers in an acquisition.

NEW YORK ― The protest movement that began in Tunisia in January, subsequently spreading to Egypt, and then to Spain, has now become global, with the protests engulfing Wall Street and cities across America. Globalization and modern technology now enables social movements to transcend borders as rapidly as ideas can. And social protest has found fertile ground everywhere: a sense that the “system” has failed, and the conviction that even in a democracy, the electoral process will not set things

When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations decided to invite the United States and Russia to join the premium leader-led East Asia Summit in July 2010, it had no idea that their presence would impact on the overall pattern of engagement with other dialog partners.As it turns out, the desire to construct an expansive ASEAN-led regional architecture is being challenged fervently by other non-ASEAN EAS members. They have already collectively demanded to be treated as equal, as the sixth EAS sc

Controversy is growing over a government-backed private commission’s campaign to restrict the entry of large corporations into certain markets in its bid to protect small and medium-sized enterprises.A week ago, the Commission on Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies, which was established in September last year to promote win-win cooperation between big firms and SMEs, categorized 25 products as “SME-suitable” items, urging large companies currently producing them to scale back their outp

Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan described the October job data as an “employment jackpot.” On the surface, the minister’s description is justified ― according to Statistics Korea, the economy gained 501,000 more jobs last month compared with a year ago, while the jobless rate fell to 2.9 percent.The job growth in October is notable as it more than offset the on-year population growth of 454,000. The gain was the largest since the economy added 586,000 in May 2010. Bahk valued the October gain more

The sea has been exceedingly good to my family. Back in my grandfather’s day, the fish were bigger and the tales of catching them biggest of all. One of the largest problems for an angler after hooking an elusive marlin or sailfish was reeling it in before sharks robbed you of your prize ― a frenzied race against these tireless hunters of the deep.These experiences, facing off against nature in the wide-open ocean, were a key inspiration for “Papa’s” Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Old Man an

This week, President Obama travels to Wall Street, where he’ll demand ― in light of the Street’s continuing antics since the bailout, as well as its role in watering down the Volcker rule ― that the Glass-Steagall Act be resurrected and big banks be broken up.I’m kidding. But it would be a smart move.Americans of whatever stripe ― from Tea Partiers on the right to Occupiers on the left ― continue to hold Wall Street at least partly responsible for the nation’s continuing misery. With good reason

Russian’s non-Putin President Dmitry Medvedev (a.k.a. President Placeholder) met with a group of small businessmen in Moscow over the summer to discuss their challenges. One can only imagine where to start. So Medvedev, according to state news agency RIA Novosti, offered some direction: “The youth believe that (the civil service) is an example of how to be successful quickly without the need to apply any effort.” He suggested that a bureaucratic career could lead to the kind of corrupt mentality

CAIRO ― In mid-September, on a high-profile visit here, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a hero’s welcome at the airport from a Muslim Brotherhood delegation.No wonder. Erdogan is a pious Muslim whose AKP political party has Islamic roots; his party has scored great success in a country with secular traditions and a secular constitution. The Turkish experience is often cited as a model for Egypt, where Islamist parties are expected to win a big plurality in coming elections.Ye

Hardly anyone noticed, but the Afghan government cut the budget for the state’s Independent Human Rights Commission by half this year, evidencing “the government’s lack of interest and political will in the promotion of human rights,” the commission said.Nowhere on earth is the work of a human-rights commission more important than in Afghanistan. Why is that? If you want to judge a country, the best measure in my view is how it treats its children.By that standard, the United States is hardly bl

The results of presidential elections in Nicaragua and Guatemala on Sunday ― won, respectively, by a leftist revolutionary and a right-wing military man ― could almost lead one to think we’re back in the Reagan era. Well, yes and no. Some of the characters are the same, but the roles are reversed. Former liberators are turning into tyrants; once-threatening militaries have become potential rescuers. In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista National Liberation Front leader who helped topple th

CAIRO ― How has life changed in Egypt since the revolution, and what’s going to happen in the parliamentary elections that begin late this month? I recently asked those questions in a poor neighborhood of Cairo called Ain el-Sira, and the responses amounted to a warning: The new Egypt must give these people a sense of security and progress soon, or it’s in trouble. “It’s worse since the revolution ― there is no safety, no security, no police,” says Nashwa Mustafa, a simple woman garbed in black

The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to release a report today offering further proof that the Iranian regime is bent on acquiring nuclear weapons. No intelligence is entirely dispositive, but the evidence on hand about Iran’s nuclear activities, even before the release of the latest report, is fairly persuasive, and the IAEA isn’t known to be a den of neoconservative war-plotting. It isn’t interested in giving Israel a pretext for a preemptive attack on Iran unless it has to. The quest

At one level, all financial crises are the same. A relatively small group of people, typically bankers, find the opportunity to take very big risks. For a while, financiers show high profits, justifying rising stock prices for their companies and large bonuses for their top executives. But these profits are never properly adjusted for what will actually materialize over five to 10 years, meaning that they understate risk and overstate true earnings. Greater short-term returns are often available

Recently law professors in South Korea were asked their opinion on the latest version of the Korean bar exam, the test the new law school graduates must pass to become lawyers. Yet nowhere in the questionnaire was there opportunity to address the biggest issue, that of the quota system. Despite repeated attempts to open up the legal market in South Korea, the current members of the Korean bar have managed to retain a quota of around 1,500 new lawyers per year for the foreseeable future. This abs

MADRID ― The exchange of prisoners between enemies is often a prelude to political reconciliation. Unfortunately, the recent exchange between Israel and Hamas, in which the Islamist organization gained the lion’s share of more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, does not augur well for the chances of an Israeli-Palestinian peace.Contrary to appearances, the deal is not a reflection of both sides’ interest in beginning a political rapprochement that might lead t

Comparisons with Clarence Thomas began as soon as Herman Cain announced he was running for president as a Republican. Now, Cain is having his own Anita Hill moment.Two women reportedly accused Cain of sexual harassment when he ran the National Restaurant Association from 1996 to 1999. Apparently, the unidentified women were paid settlements, though association officials had not confirmed that. The New York Times reported that one woman received $35,000, which was a year’s salary.An attorney for