As the Game of Thrones intensifies in Asia, India and the Southeast Asian countries are banding together against China. Japan is thrilled, China annoyed, and the United States is hoping the tensions stay under control.India and the ASEAN nations vowed closer economic and security ties at a meeting on Indian soil yesterday. With leaders from […]

A dull roller coaster ride is hard to imagine, but the world has two right now: they combine real importance with utter dullness. The scariest and the most boring is the endlessly running European agony over the future of the euro; the second big and boring ride is here in the United States over our […]

On Tuesday, four health workers were killed in Karachi while trying to distribute a polio vaccine to children. This is not an isolated incident: Four other health workers have been killed in the past four days. Police said that Taliban fighters based north of Peshawar were responsible for the deaths, although a Taliban spokesman denied responsibility.Sadly, […]

Russians are known for their national pride, but this seems excessive: In a fit of pique, the Russian parliament responded to the U.S. Magnitsky Act by proposing a ban on American adoptions of Russian orphans. The NYT reports: The Russian Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted in support of a bill that would prohibit the adoption […]

For all the discussion of the West’s Islamophobia, it’s fear of Christianity that most bedevils politics in the world’s largest country. Earlier this week we reported on China’s violent oppression of one (admittedly bizarre) Christian cult, but its attitude towards mainstream Christianity isn’t much better. A government memo leaked earlier this month suggests that Beijing […]

American states aren’t the only ones facing major pension crises. France’s pension system now has a deficit of €14 billion, and it is expected to rise to €18.8 billion by 2017 unless significant changes are made.Reforms put in place under former President Nicolas Sarkozy to raise the retirement age and increase pension contributions were supposed […]

Republicans in Kansas are set to have total control of state politics in 2013 and are already planning an ambitious agenda for the next legislative session. The most important change concerns management of the state’s budget following an aggressive tax cut earlier this year. To offset the loss in revenue, major spending cuts may be […]

Few Indian politicians command as much global attention, or as much praise and scorn at home, as Narendra Modi, who last night won a third consecutive term as Gujarat’s chief minister. Lionized by his supporters for Gujarat’s “growth miracle” but hated by his enemies for his role in the bloody 2002 communal rioting and for threatening […]

Last week it was New Jersey, this week it’s New York. The nonpartisan State Budget Crisis Task Force just released a report stating that New York’s fiscal accounting is “papered over with gimmicks” and that the state will face a serious budget crisis unless it changes course quickly. The report does commend Governor Andrew Cuomo […]

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday will be disappointing news for those hoping for a new era of Jeffersonian restraint in American foreign policy—and it will frustrate Wilsonians as well. Those polled don’t want U.S. troops in humanitarian shooting wars but would favor a no-fly zone in Syria and are ready for war if Assad […]