NEWPORT BEACH ― I was nine years old when Egypt entered what became known as its “war of attrition” with Israel. During this period of “no war and no peace,” underlying tensions festered, and a fragile tranquility was periodically interrupted by armed skirmishes. The war of attrition followed the June 1967 war, in which Egypt ― to the immense surprise of most of its citizens and the outside world ― was soundly defeated. Its air force was crippled and its army was virtually overrun, with Israel c

Auguste and Louis Lumière’s 50-second silent picture “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station” from 1895 ― one of the earliest films ever made ― follows a train gradually approaching the camera until it passes at close range. The story goes that when the film was shown for the first time, a panicking audience thought the train would crash through the screen and crush everyone in the cinema. It is a pivotal moment in the history of cinema, one that brings together extreme fictional realism, s

BERLIN ― At a recent meeting of German business and foreign-policy leaders, one participant summed up an anxiety that’s almost palpable here: “Europeans have a sense of being left alone. You Americans don’t understand how much we need you.” Europeans seem relieved that Barack Obama won re-election. (One German official wrote in an informal paper that his victory was “the best thing that could have happened to the U.S.”) But Europeans remain worried that the Obama administration’s famous “pivot”

CAIRO ― Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first-ever elected civilian president, recently granted himself sweeping temporary powers in order, he claims, to attain the objectives of the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. But the decrees incited strong opposition from many of the revolutionary forces that helped to overthrow Mubarak (as well as from forces loyal to him), with protests erupting anew in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.Morsi has thus been put in the odd position of having to defend h

Globalization provokes heated debates. While anti-globalization groups highlight the problems faced by developing countries from premature trade and capital inflow liberalization, its supporters emphasize the stagnation in countries like North Korea that remain delinked from the global economy.So, does globalization help or hurt developing countries?Since globalization is a complex concept, one must disaggregate it to answer this question meaningfully. Simply stated, globalization means an incre