Libya: America’s New Nation Building Commitment (Mali Next)

Regular readers know that we’ve never been optimists about the results of President Obama’s decision to wage an air war in Libya against the Qaddafi regime. The consequences of the war have more than justified our concern; this story in the FT, about the ongoing tribalist chaos around the town of Bani Walid, only underlines the […]

Trusting Huawei

The first sentence uttered to describe the U.S.-Chinese relationship in the third and final presidential debate was President Obama’s, and it contained both the words “adversary” and “partner.” Messaging doesn’t get much more mixed than that, and the President’s opponent, Mitt Romney, was not much clearer. In such a hotly contested election, we might be […]

A Sign of Things To Come: Israeli Police Network Hacked

The Israeli police department has been hacked. Its servers have been disconnected from the Internet since last Thursday as it investigates the attacks.The attack itself was not terribly sophisticated. It took the form of an infected email attachment that copied itself across the network and presumably broadcast sensitive information back to its source. But an […]

Iraqis Fighting on Both Sides of Syrian Civil War

Both sides of Syria’s civil war have been fortified by foreign fighters, including Chechens, Libyans, and now Iraqis.Iraqi Shiites are making their way to Syria to fight for the Assad regime. Iraqi Sunnis are fighting on the side of the rebels. Convoys of Iraqi buses ferry weapons to both sets of fighters. Armed Iraqi “pilgrims” […]

Rats To Invade NYC Streets?

Sandy’s impact on New York City may not be limited to lost lives, destroyed property, and hobbled infrastructure. By flooding the subways, the storm may force the city’s formidable rat population above ground.How big is the city’s rat problem in the subways? This big (h/t zerohedge):[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cFxfuu87jc’]And as you shudder at the footage of that […]

CalPERS Goes after Compton

California’s pension crisis is metastasizing. Last week we noted that the California public pension fund CalPERS was at loggerheads with the city of San Bernardino, which was using its bankruptcy filing as grounds to default on its obligations. This week, CalPERS sued the city of Compton, which owes $2.6 million to the fund. One detects its […]

Geithner Snub Highlights G-20’s Irrelevance

The G-20 continues to fade as a serious arm of global governance: Tim Geithner says he won’t be attending the next meeting, the WSJ reports: The U.S. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner will skip a meeting of the world’s top finance officials in Mexico City next week, according to Treasury Department plans released Monday. One of […]

Comedian Triumphs in Italian Vote

We know what you’re thinking, but the headline above isn’t meant to refer to that guy—you know, the guy with the “bunga bunga” parties and underage models. No, this is another Italian comic, Beppe Grillo, whose Five Star Movement is shaking up Italian politics in a big way. The FT reports: A new anti-establishment party […]

Intellectuals and Buyer Remorse: Pundits Ditch Obama

Ann Althouse listens to Glenn Reynolds interview Camille Paglia about her disappointment with President Obama’s first term and nods along vigorously to the points being made: You don’t want government agencies being empowered to intrude into people’s lives like this. The controlling force in Obamacare is the IRS! Okay? This flies in the face of what […]

Europe Needs New Ideas: Will a New Think Tank Provide Them?

A new liberal think tank is opening in Berlin. That is, it’s “liberal” in the European sense, which is to say mildly conservative in U.S. terms.“Open Europe Berlin” will cooperate with the original Open Europe Institute in London, an invaluable source of analysis, commentary and alternative ideas for the world’s largest (and by far most […]

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