My attention was riveted by a story in The Jerusalem Report of September 10, 2012, because it dealt with a topic that has fascinated me since my childhood (for a reason I will briefly mention momentarily). The story reports on a move to revive the Aramaic language in a Christian Arab village in Israel. Aramaic, […]

In the Middle East you should never say that you are living in the worst of all possible worlds because things can always get worse.Serious unrest on the West Bank is breaking out, the result of immediate frustration over high gas prices, but more broadly from failed Palestinian diplomatic efforts at the UN, the absence […]

In an interview with the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, fellow blogger and AI board member Tyler Cowen touches upon many Via Meadia themes: Artificial intelligence will be a significant breakthrough. There are new developments almost every day. Cheaper fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, will spur short-run growth. And an increasing share of national income will go to capital […]

One of the things the Obama administration has never had any success managing is the relationship with Israel. As the election nears, things are running true to form, with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials harshly criticizing Obama’s Iran policy in the press. The Washington Post reports: A day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said […]

It’s been more than a year since the Arab Spring, and Egyptian liberals are looking as feckless and disunited as ever. With parliamentary elections approaching, several leaders have called for more cohesion among Egypt’s bitterly divided liberal parties. The hope is that if this time they buck all historical precedent and work together as a […]

The Chicago teacher strike is a time bomb ticking away inside the blue coalition, a conflict between the producers of government services (like teacher unions) and the consumers. The Democratic Party wants to represent them both, as we noted earlier today.We’re not the only one watching this drama unfold in the heart of America’s third-largest city. […]

India’s politicians have shouted each other down and forced parliament to close early almost every single day of the month-long Monsoon session. The Associated Press describes the chaos: India’s Parliament adjourned a raucous, one-month session Friday [September 7] that had more shouting matches than official business. . . .Only four out of 30 slated bills […]

After an absence that dates back to the Vietnam War era, and 11 years to the day after 9/11, ROTC is finally returning to Harvard, Columbia, and Yale. At a time when everybody is talking about how polarized America has become, it’s worth noting this sign of reconciliation between elite academic institutions and the U.S. military.We’ve had two […]

Chinese patrol ships arrived in waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands on Tuesday, within hours of Tokyo’s announcement that it had signed a contract to buy several of the islands from their private owners, a Japanese family. As Jane Perlez reports for the Times: “The ships, belonging to the China Marine Surveillance, are commonly deployed in the South […]