Last week’s re-elect Nicolas Sarkozy rally, also known as the G-20 economic summit in Cannes, sputtered to a predictably lame conclusion.  Many photos of world “leaders” arm in arm were snapped; nothing of substance was decided or done.  As usual there was plenty of speculation in advance that something earth shaking would transpire; the press […]

The scariest thing in the world has nothing to do with Greek debt plans, Italian bond yields or even American pension funds.  It is not the prospect of war in the Persian Gulf over the Iranian nuclear program. The scariest thing in the world is the prospect that the identity wars are spreading from Europe […]

“You can’t stay young forever,” says writer John Helyar, “but nobody ever said anything about immature.”  Argentina seems to bent on proving his point; the most cosmopolitan and in some ways most European of Latin American countries is getting older, but its commitment to underdevelopment and economic failure appears undiminished with time.Having just elected its […]

The failure of China’s state owned CNOOC oil company to complete a deal to purchase BP’s interest in an Argentine oil company may signal a new level of international worry about Argentine policy.  As a Reuters dispatch on the failed transaction notes, China’s regulatory agencies failed to approve the $7 billion purchase.Given the thirst for […]

Via Meadia is and intends to remain a liberal arts-friendly site.  Proud holder of a BA in English lit, I continue to believe that the traditional western curriculum provides an extraordinarily rich and useful intellectual, political and moral basis for young people who want to understand and change our world.But many colleges have organized themselves […]

Expect another bout of panic driven neo-Physiocracy as more people read this Economist article on the inroads that machines are making in the job market: The evidence is irrefutable that computerised automation, networks and artificial intelligence (AI)—including machine-learning, language-translation, and speech- and pattern-recognition software—are beginning to render many jobs simply obsolete.This is unlike the job […]

Last night was opera night; leaving the safety and sophistication of glamorous Queens I ventured over to the neo-Assyrian art palace at Lincoln Center where the Metropolitan Opera put on one of the greats: Verdi’s youthful masterpiece Nabucco.  Loosely, very loosely, built on the story of the fall of the Temple and the Hebrew captivity […]

What seems like a small step to many evidently looks like a giant leap to the Castro brothers.  The Cuban dictatorship announced that it will allow citizens and residents to buy and sell residential property. According to the WSJ, Cuba will allow citizens to buy and sell their homes for the first time in decades, […]

New Yorkers are getting an uncomfortable look at the ugly realities behind what we like to think of as the country’s bluest, most European and most enlightened city.  A series of trials now underway in the Bronx reveal the harsh truth of embedded corruption and contempt for the public at the heart (if that is […]

Two boats headed to Gaza were intercepted by the Israeli Navy yesterday. There were no injuries or incidents. The NYT has the story: The two boats, one Canadian and the other Irish, carried 27 pro-Palestinian activists, journalists and crew members from nine countries who were challenging Israel’s maritime blockade of the Palestinian enclave…The two boats […]