China celebrated its increasing prosperity Thursday in marking the launch of a free-market revolution 30 years ago. President and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao urged more economic reform while vowing it would not lead to Western-style democracy. Hu entered the Great Hall of the People at the head of a line of China's top communist leaders - more than 6,000 party leaders and military officials who politely applauded throughout his remarks. Economic reforms have made China the fourth-largest economy in the world, but they have not led to a loosening of its authoritarian system. ...more

December 19, 2008

The current global energy-food crisis is, understandably, a pocketbook issue in America. But when you come to Egypt, you see how, in a society where so many more people live close to the edge, food and fuel prices could become enormously destabilizing. If these prices keep soaring, food and fuel could reshape politics around the developing world as much as nationalism or communism did in their days. ...more

June 17, 2008