In the challenge to President Obama’s signature health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), the Supreme Court  faces a daunting series of issues. The unprecedented schedule of oral arguments—a total of six hours—bespeaks the Court’s willingness to confront those issues squarely. The most historic decision since Roe v. Wade could well […]

Both Russia and the West appear to be losing confidence in their respective “allies” in Syria. In what the Wall Street Journal described as “a rare sign of international unity over the standoff”, the United Nations Security Council has endorsed a plan to end the bloodshed in Syria: The statement supports a six-point plan by U.N.-Arab League […]

The massive bubble in higher ed has been expanding for some time now, but late last year it hit a new, ignominious milestone when total student loan debt topped $1 trillion. Not only is this a record high; it is 16 percent higher than already pessimistic estimates by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Don’t […]

Renegade soldiers took power in Mali’s capital city, Bamako, on Wednesday, apparently incensed that the government was not doing enough to help the army fight rebels in the northern deserts. The rebels—mostly Tuareg tribesmen who have periodically risen up against the government—restarted their old fight with new weapons brought over from Libya. The ghost of […]

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is leading an increasingly unpopular government in New Delhi. A new scandal erupted this week, as the FT reports: Companies run by some of India’s top industrialists received “undue benefits” worth $210bn when they bought underpriced coal assets between 2004 and 2009, according to a state audit that threatens to destabilise further Manmohan […]

As the Cuban government prepares to welcome Pope Benedict (the second papal visit to the Communist island since the Castro brothers came to power in 1959), its security forces marked the occasion by cracking down on a group of unarmed women peacefully demonstrating for human rights.As the NYT reports, the “Ladies in White” (Damas de […]

One of the stereotypes about Asia that persists is that Asian cultures aren’t confrontational; Asians, the old view holds, are indirect, say ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no’ to save face and so on.All we can say is that these people don’t know Korea very well. Take Kim-Myung-ho, a South Korean math professor, who isn’t happy […]

China is on the boil these days, and the ethnic tensions in much of the country are part of the picture. The Associated Press has a long piece worth reading in full, but here is a summary: More than two dozen Tibetans, many in their teens or 20s, have set themselves on fire since early […]

The EU is standing its ground in response to India’s and China’s defiance of Europe’s costly carbon-trading scheme for airlines, refusing to back down despite threats of a trade war. EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told the Financial Times: “You can’t threaten a trade war just because you don’t like European legislation.” […]“If there is some […]

China, the largest consumer of Iranian oil, cut its oil imports from Iran by half in February from December levels, according to Reuters.Although this reduction is temporary and largely due to a contract dispute between Tehran and Beijing rather than U.S. sanctions, it’s significant that China is expected to import 10–15 percent less oil from Iran […]