Last week, we learned that not only does the embattled Assad regime have ties to terrorist groups; it also has chemical weapons. Now The Washington Post reports that we owe Iran and, yes, the EU, a big thanks for the Syrian regime’s chemical stockpiles: “Iran would provide the construction design and equipment to annually produce tens […]

It’s another Monday, and another day just flat out made for a slash-and-burn romp through the newspapers. Today’s papers once again evoked in me that old graveyard laugh. I’m not becoming a curmudgeon, I promise. It’s just that my ruminations have begun to float free of my conscious control. In other words, I just can’t […]

Earlier today northern India suffered a massive power outage, affecting 370 million people for more than 12 hours. That would make it the most widespread outage in world history. Authorities in India suggested the outage may have been caused by northern states drawing more than their allocated share of power, says the Financial Times.The outage […]

Ryan Crocker, one of America’s most impressive active diplomats, is retiring after decades of tireless service. His advice for American policymakers is outlined in this New York Times profile: Remember the law of unintended consequences.Recognize the limits of the United States’ actual capabilities.Understand that getting out of a conflict once you are in can often […]

Americans may be divided about their choice for President, but if the latest Gallup poll is any indication, they largely agree on what they want him to do.Leading the list is “creating good jobs”, which commands the support of 92 percent of Americans. This is closely followed by reducing corruption, reducing the deficit, dealing with terrorism, and […]

Officials at China’s state-owned oil conglomerates have recently decided to pull out of a venture into Iran’s South Pars gas field and strike deals with Canadian, British, and Dutch oil companies instead. Bloomberg Businessweek reports: “There’s a clear herd mentality among these Chinese state-owned entities,” says Derek Scissors, an Asia economic policy fellow at the Heritage […]

Two pieces in the Washington Post and the New York Times emphasize one of the core features of the education reform movement: while almost everybody wants big changes in American education, nobody is sure yet what will work. The two articles profile two very different visions of education reform:The Washington Post discusses a new group of schools named […]

Once considered sacrosanct, the pensions of cops and firefighters are increasingly coming under the budget knife, says Reuters.Even in the recent showdown in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker was careful not to extend the curbing of collective bargaining rights to police and firefighters. But now dire fiscal straits across the country are threatening even the pensions […]

Are the radical Islamists winning in Tunisia?  It doesn’t sound good: Thousands of hardcore Muslims chant against Jews. Youths rampage through cities at night in protest of “blasphemous” art. A sit-in by religious students degenerates into fist fights and the desecration of Tunisia’s flag.Tunisia was the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” and it is the […]

The Romanian political mess isn’t getting better. 87 percent of the voters in a referendum on removing unpopular president Traian Basescu voted to dismiss the president, but because fewer than half of the eligible voters bothered to show up, Basescu remains president.It’s almost the worst possible result. Basescu will be further weakened by this massive […]