When we last left our friends at the United Nations, they were deputizing war criminal Robert Mugabe as an envoy for tourism after trying to hand Mt. Rushmore back to the Native Americans and ban Dante from schools, among other exploits. Although we at Via Meadia have since been preoccupied by other pressing matters, the […]

By this point, European summits have lost nearly all their credibility. Nearly two years of last-minute rescue plans that quickly flop have eroded the public’s confidence in Europe’s leaders and their ability to make tough decisions. But last month’s rescue package for Spanish and Italian bonds had many, Via Meadia included, convinced that this time […]

For nearly as long as the blue social model has existed, one of its strongest selling points has been its potential to improve racial equality in America. Programs like food stamps, affirmative action, Head Start and subsidized housing are aimed at poor and minority communities. Over time, the thinking goes, these will help put these […]

It’s a good thing the Obama administration isn’t involved in the global war on terror anymore. Otherwise, we would have American special forces waging all kinds of clandestine operations and wars in places like Mali.Oh wait…Three American commandos were killed in an April 20 incident when their car skidded off the road and into the Niger […]

Over the past year, we’ve been watching a geopolitical revolution get underway. It’s much bigger and more consequential than the Arab Spring, though the legacy media are giving it much less play. It will rearrange the global chessboard, improving the position of some powers, weakening others. It is a powerful boost to American power, reducing […]

The two essays for this week centered on the Middle East. The first pondered what the geopolitical realities might be if Israel’s promise as a significant energy exporter panned out. In a nutshell, it might mean more deference from other important powers (see: the recent visit to Israel by Vladimir Putin), less of an international […]

Anyone trying to figure out where Islam will go theologically in the next few decades needs to read Peter Berger’s recent post on historical scholarship and the Koran. The same kind of scholarly studies that forced many Christians and Jews to re-evaluate their understandings of the historical origins of their sacred texts are now moving, […]

The NY Times ran a story this week on a new trend in the way companies communicate with their customers over the phone: they don’t. Or at least a lot of tech companies don’t. That trend is fine by me; I’d much rather deal with a company on a website than be routed through endless […]

In steps that point to Saudi Arabia’s concerns about Pakistan’s unsustainable national course, its fears of Iran and its renewed interest in its security relationship with the United States, the Washington Post reports that Saudi Arabia is stepping up its cooperation with Indian authorities on the sensitive question of Pakistani or Indian nationals suspected of […]

A must read piece by the renowned Indian analyst Sumit Ganguly in Foreign Policy takes on, point by point, the conventional wisdom on India and subjects it to scrutiny. The article raises exactly the kinds of questions that Americans and Indians need to be thinking through, from whether India’s stellar growth is a fait accompli, […]