The Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood

Dialogue is the best defence

Despite its suspicions, the West should engage the moderate Islamist parties that win elections

WHEN revolutionaries first stormed public squares in north Africa a year ago and toppled ageing dictators, Islamist leaders were nowhere to be seen. Many feared failure or were uncomfortable with the rapid speed of change. Only belatedly did they agree to join the growing opposition. Yet when at last they contested elections, the Islamists were stunningly successful. In Egypt and Tunisia they won majorities; in Libya they are likely to follow suit and, if the Assad regime falls, they could well emerge on top in Syria too.

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Europe and the euro

A way out of the woods

The euro may survive brinkmanship over Greece, but the road to recovery will be long and hard

LAST year every new jolt in the euro crisis sent financial markets into a spin. This year they have become blasé. They barely even registered the torching of buildings in Athens, nor the last-minute cancellation of a meeting of ministers that was supposed to agree on a new aid package for Greece.
Although a calm is welcome, nonchalance is not justified. A deal probably will be done on Greece, and there are promising signs of reform all over the continent. But, the problems ahead for the euro zone remain huge. The crisis is, in effect, moving from an acute to a chronic phase.

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Over-regulated America

United States' economy

The home of laissez-faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation

AMERICANS love to laugh at ridiculous regulations. A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there. The Federal Railroad Administration insists that all trains must be painted with an “F” at the front, so you can tell which end is which. Bureaucratic busybodies in Bethesda, Maryland, have shut down children’s lemonade stands because the enterprising young moppets did not have trading licences. The list goes hilariously on.

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Opinion:Paying for an Extended Payroll Tax Holiday

Opinion: Understanding Beijing's Chief Princeling

U.S. Constitution Still Supreme?

Michigan a Must-Win for Mitt?

Motown Mitt

By JAMES FREEMAN

Michigan's Feb. 28 Republican presidential primary is almost a must-win for Mitt Romney. But to his credit the candidate is renewing his attack on the federal bailout of two of the state's giant employers. In a Detroit News op-ed this week, Mr. Romney calls the Obama administration's 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler "crony capitalism on a grand scale."
The stakes for Mr. Romney in Michigan could hardly be higher. As the candidate reminds voters in a new television advertisement, he grew up in the state and is the son of the late George Romney, who served as Michigan's governor in the 1960s. Born in Detroit, Mr. Romney parlayed his "favorite son" status into a victory in the 2008 Michigan GOP primary, even though he ended up losing the nomination to John McCain. Losing Michigan in 2012 would represent a significant setback for the candidate viewed by many as the inevitable Republican nominee.

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Reuters deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ingrassia on whether GM and Chrysler could have been saved through a managed bankruptcy as Mitt Romney suggests.

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How I'll Respond to China's Rising Power

The character of the Chinese government—one that marries aspects of the free market with suppression of freedom—shouldn't become the norm.

By MITT ROMNEY

Should the 21st century be an American century? To answer, it is only necessary to contemplate the alternatives.
One much bruited these days is that of a Chinese century. With China's billion-plus population, its 10% annual average growth rates, and its burgeoning military power, a China that comes to dominate Asia and much of the globe is increasingly becoming thinkable. The character of the Chinese government—one that marries aspects of the free market with suppression of political and personal freedom—would become a widespread and disquieting norm.

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Transformers

The Catholic church learns the true meaning of Obama's 'transformative' presidency.

• By DANIEL HENNINGER

Pope John Paul II, surveying from his seat in the eternal hereafter the battle between the American Catholic Church and the Obama administration over mandated contraception services, must be permitting himself a sad smile. The pope knew more than most about the innate tensions between the state and its citizens.
The Obamaites will object that it is unfair to liken their government to the Communist Party of Poland. That is not the point. What the former Karol Wojtyla knew is that any state will claim benevolence on behalf of doing whatever it thinks it needs to do in pursuit of its goals.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney invoked the good in defense of the Obama law's universal reach: "The administration decided—the president agrees with this decision—that we need to provide these services that have enormous health benefits for American women and that the exemption that we carved out is appropriate."

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Chad Crowe The American Catholic Church, from left to right, is now being handed a lesson in the hierarchy of raw political authority. One hopes they and their supporters will recognize that they have not been singled out. The federal government's forcings routinely touch other groups in this country—schools, doctors, farmers, businesses. The church's fight is not the whole or the end of it.

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What Would Clint Eastwood Do?

Regarding the nation's purpose, Clint Eastwood and Barack Obama couldn't be further apart.

• By DANIEL HENNINGER

The Barack Obama budget document just released is not a budget. It is a work of literature. It is Barack Obama's published apologia for a second presidential term, in which—as the budget and its tax proposals make clear—he will reset the historic balance in America between the public sector and the private sector. This reset will require large wealth transfers—from individuals and companies to the government, and from the government back to the people.
The Obama budget is described everywhere as a "political document," but it is more than that. Mr. Obama hasn't assembled these ideas just to get elected. This budget is a statement of belief. It is a road map of where he wants the country to go.
This being so, it behooves us to revisit the most controversial political event of the past two weeks—Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl commercial for the Chrysler car company.

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Reuters/Chrysler This ad was widely viewed as an argument for a second Obama term. It is undoubtedly true that the pro-Obama admen who created the commercial embedded a pro-Obama spin. Asked about this afterward, Clint Eastwood said simply: "I certainly am not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama."

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