I got it wrong and I couldn't be happier about it
Confession is good for the soul, and my soul is certainly in need of improvement, so here is a confession. I got it wrong in my article ''Climate safety net holed'' (ODT, 20.1.14).
World View
Spring over but hope lives
It has taken a little longer than it did after the 1848 revolutions in Europe, but on the third anniversary of the Egyptian revolution we can definitely say the ''Arab Spring'' is finished.
Make-or-break time as Ukraine protests turn violent
Syrian peace likely - eventually
It would be interesting to know just what titbits of information the US National Security Agency's eavesdropping has turned up on United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
Climate safety net holed
Bad news on the climate front. It is clear we are likely to break through all the ''do not exceed'' limits and go into runaway warming later this century.
General trend for Egypt's politicians
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup against Egypt's elected president last July, has one of the finest collections of military headgear in the entire Middle East.
Another worrying possibility
Security spending misses opportunity
If Russia spent as much on intelligence agencies as the United States does - $US52.6 billion ($NZ63.7 billion) in 2013, according to the ''black budget'' published by The Washington Post la