12/9 Issue
“Why?” That’s what everybody, except Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, seemed to be asking about China’s unilateral move to declare an air defense identification zone. The Financial Times asserts this move is not in the interest of China or its people, and risks repeating the mistakes Germany made leading up to the First World War.
In contrast to David Cameron, who was pilloried for pandering during a sales trip to China in which prickly issues were fastidiously avoided, the media mourned the passing of South Africa’s great leader. Despite his age, Nelson Mandela was the glue keeping South Africa together. USA Today wonders if this will last. “As long as Mandela survived, even with his capacity ravaged by his age and the harshness of his life, the simmering South African cauldron could not bubble over. No one dared upset their beloved Madiba.” The future looks less certain.
Patents are critical to innovation and protecting corporate profits. Yet, they can also be an encumbrance. The New York Times reports that patent applications have tripled in recent years, leading to frivolous lawsuits. In the U.S., possible legislation may bring some relief from patent trolls, but so far the lawmakers have failed to get to the heart of the matter: granting patents that are overly broad or vague.
As China seeks to move up the value chain, the Government is vigorously promoting innovation. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, China’s leaders have failed to address the main issue. The kind of innovators they seek to attract don’t care to live where the political environment is repressive.
Based on test scores alone, Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan look set to leave the U.S. in their wake. Yet the U.S. seems to excel at innovation. As the Washington Post observes, this may be because the top one percent of U.S. test takers achieve so much, they more than compensate for the overall mediocrity.
Genetically modified (GM) crops provide hope that the world will remain able to feed its expanding population. Though GM crops have never been shown to be harmful to humans, many environmentalists harbor an irrational aversion to them. The Economist urges greens to look at the facts, cautioning that the kind of organic farming favored by greens is vastly inferior to the challenges we face. Organic farming “uses far too much land. If the Green revolution had never happened, and yields had stayed at 1960 levels, the world could not produce its current food output even if it ploughed up every last acre of cultivable land.”
Perspective can be everything. In Detroit some citizens are getting excited about events that might leave others depressed. The city just made history as the biggest public U.S. bankruptcy filing. As the Detroit Free Press notes, this provides citizens with hope that the city will be able to rapidly remove urban blight and begin improving basic services.
