As Turkey assumes a leadership role in the Middle East, it’s finding out that the job is no bed of roses. Ankara’s once popular “zero problems with neighbors” theme is history. In its place, as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu recently announced in Parliament, is the idea that Turkey will be the “the master, servant, and leader” of […]

“The U.S. met 83 percent of its energy demand from domestic sources in the first five months of this year and is heading for the highest annual level since 1991,” reports Bloomberg.83 percent! This is important news. The U.S. is moving quickly toward energy independence as new sources of oil and gas and new extraction […]

Over the past year a number of workable delivery methods have emerged in the realm of online education: Coursera, EdX and Udacity, to name a few big ones. The question now is how quickly traditional universities will jump on this bullet train.We can add Colorado State to the list of the online Sooners. The school announced […]

Major discovery alert: Scientists have just learned that there is practically no waste space on the human genome. In fact, it has an incredible information density.Encode, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, has found that 80 percent of the genome is biochemically active, as opposed to the previous estimate of a meager 2 percent. Additionally, Encode […]

The battles over unions in Wisconsin may be over for now, but the national fight is still just beginning. In the past two years, governments in San Diego and Indiana have joined Wisconsin to introduce measures to curb the power of public-sector unions, and even blue stalwarts like New York are beginning to take a harder line […]

Many observers wondered last night why President Obama seemed a little off his game; his acceptance of his party’s presidential nomination will not be remembered among his all time greatest hits. This morning’s jobs numbers may be the reason why. Last night the President already knew that the morning would bring a cold shower of […]

The European Central Bank has crossed a new frontier. Judging by the events of the last two days, it isn’t just independent. It’s sovereign.It is certainly more sovereign than countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece. These countries will now stay afloat if their economic policies meet the approval of a majority of the members of […]

The one-child policy, combined with industrialization and massive migration to cities, is eroding one of the strongest pillars of traditional Chinese values: filial piety. 185 million elderly Chinese now live alone.Beijing sees the problem, and is trying to spark a return to traditional values by publishing updated versions of classic Chinese morality tales. As the […]

The markets are understandably riveted by the drama at the ECB, but more significant for the future may be the continued unraveling in Italy, the third largest economy in the Eurozone and next in line after Spain at the bailout window.The economy is shrinking as the second-dip recession tightens its hold on the country. Unemployment […]

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi today revealed an unlimited bond-buying bazooka that is supposed to save the euro (again): Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs). This makes the ECB an explicit lender/money printer of last resort for debt-troubled nations.The OMT idea aims to bring down high borrowing costs in the troubled economies of Southern Europe, where, according […]