environment

An Environmental Success Story (for Once)

Aug 23, 2006
Two of the scientists responsible for sounding the alarm on the thinning ozone layer have reported that the hole over the Antarctic has stopped widening, and may close within a generation or two. If true, this proves what can be achieved when government works to address, rather than deny, an environmental catastrophe. Global warming, anyone?
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In Response to…

Dec 3, 2005
I would agree that things in China have gone far better than anyone predicted during the dark post-1989 days But, what explains that success? Good visionary planning? Strong leadership? A national psyche exhausted by any kind of turmoil? Good luck? The danger is that even the best economy tends to be cyclical, and it is far from clear that China has the political legitimacy, deeply enough rooted political institutions, or shared set of values to help it survive a downturn As to Wintermute and whether Taiwan is worth fighting for I personally do not believe that any functioning democracy is worth throwing over the side to keep some other sort of the peace - commercial or otherwise We Americans forget.