A dispute over a few rocky outcroppings in the middle of the ocean threatens to have Japan and China at each others throats.The problem began back in April when Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara announced that the city intended to buy the disputed Diaoyu Islands (see map). The word “islands,” is a bit of an exaggeration; they […]

With U.S., EU and UN sanctions continuing to hit the Iranian economy, Iran’s game of “chicken” isn’t working out that well. The Financial Times reports: A delay in feedstock imports, a result of sanctions, has pushed the price of chicken up 30 per cent over the past week alone. Prices for other staples are also […]

Yet another European summit ended today with yet another round of announcements. Yet again Germany brought Europe and the world to the edge of a global market meltdown and yet again Germany blinked at the last moment. As the relief rally sweeps around the globe (many European stock markets are up two percent or more […]

Now that the spat between China and the Philippines has been temporarily resolved, Beijing’s aggressive posture in the oil- and gas-rich waters has exacerbated tensions with Vietnam.The Financial Times explains the latest showdown: Vietnam on Wednesday accused China of acting “illegally” after state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (Cnooc) invited foreign companies to tender for […]

Not Democrats, not Republicans. The biggest winner in the Obamacare ruling was the Supreme Court.Regular readers know that I think that Obamacare is a flawed approach to some real problems and will end up giving us a health care system under which the young subsidize the middle age as costs continue to rise. Worse, we […]

A new Pew survey paints a grim picture of U.S.-Pakistani relations. According to Pew’s numbers: A 74%-majority of Pakistanis see the U.S. as an enemy, and most think U.S.-Pakistani relations have failed to improve over the last few years. Moreover, for a growing number of Pakistanis, enhancing the relationship between the two countries is not […]

State and local pensions in the US are currently in the middle of their gravest yet, but many people — deceived in many cases by union leaders and politicians trying to keep the scam operating for just a little while longer — continue to deny that there is even a crisis. Alarmingly, this includes a […]

As the banana war between the Philippines and China dies down, Max Boot has some strong words for the Obama administration’s handling of the incident. He criticizes the U.S. decision to remain neutral between a regional friend and America’s chief competitor: The Chinese leadership must figure they have a better chance to assert their claim […]

On Tuesday Via Meadia blogged about a decision by a court in Cologne that ruled “the body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision.” Our take was that by banning what for thousands of years has been seen as a core element of Jewish identity, law and tradition, the court was […]

European leaders have gotten a bad rap over the past few years for their timid and inept handling of the largest crisis Europe has faced in a generation. Unfortunately, things are likely to get worse before they get better.Europe has an immensely confusing and byzantine system of chairmen and secretaries, capped off by its rotating […]