The French news agency AFP reports that China is unveiling what is billed as the fastest rail link in the world — a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometers (217 miles) an hour. By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan is 243 kph, while in France it is 277 kilometers (172 miles) per hour. We are hoping to get to 100 miles per hour from the Twin Cities to Chicago in five years.
   
In September, Chinese officials said they planned to build 42 high-speed rail lines by 2012 in a massive system overhaul as part of efforts to spur economic growth amid the global downturn. The network uses technology developed in cooperation with foreign firms such as Siemens (Germany), Bombardier (Canada) and Alstom (France).

A consortium led by South Korean companies has won a $20.4 billion contract to build four new nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Reuters reports that the South Korean team will supply four 1,400 MW light water reactors. The Advanced Pressurized Reactor-1400 (APR 1400) draws on innovations that are evolutionary rather than radical. The system has U.S.  Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification as a third-generation reactor. This will lead into a Korean program to develop an aggressive export market for the APR1400 system, which has a minimum design life of 60 years.

In past decades, U.S. led in both
In the decades immediately after World War II, the United States led the world in both nuclear and passenger-rail technology. Those markets are now soaring worldwide.
   
In nuclear, the Manhattan atomic bomb project was followed by our nuclear Navy. Then U.S. companies like General Electric and Westinghouse built here the world's largest fleet of civilian nuclear power reactors, with 104 still in reliable operation. 
   
General Motors was the world's largest locomotive builder, and Pullman and ACF Industries built state-of-the-art passenger rail cars.
   
Those technology leads have since withered.
   
Now we devote our resources to nation building, especially in nations rife with civil war. In Vietnam, it was the north versus the south. In Iraq we supported the Shia Arabs and Kurds against the Sunnis. In Afghanistan we are allied with the Tajiks and Uzbeks against the Pashtuns. Then there were our ventures into strife-torn Lebanon and Somalia.
   
War drums beat again
Once again the war drums are beating, this time for Yemen. Patrick Cockburn of the UK Independent quotes Sen. Joseph Lieberman's approval of an American official telling him that, "Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If you don't act preemptively Yemen will be tomorrow's war."  Yemen has its own little civil war in the north, where the government has been fighting the Shia.
     
Our actions remind me of the final line from Pete Seeger's great song, "Where have all the Flowers gone?" That line reads simply, "When will we ever learn?"
   
The al-Qaida strategy is obvious. Stage an attack and sit back while we make a totally out-of-proportion response that enrages the locals. In the meantime our international competitors, who have few soldiers in the Middle East, can devote their resources to the technologies that matter in a competitive world marketplace.

Al-Qaida is following Napoleon, who famously said, "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake." 
   
Our mistakes are giving al-Qaida plenty of chances to exercise patience.

Rolf Westgard is a professional member of the Geological Society of America and a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He is currently teaching a winter-quarter course on energy issues for the University of Minnesota Lifelong Learning Program. He is a frequent speaker on energy and climate change for area civic groups.