The US Army’s incorporation of mission orders into its combined arms doctrine described in an earlier post was an example of a government agency that was delegated an appropriate degree of bureaucratic autonomy, a delegation that extended down to the lowest levels of the organization.  This kind of delegation is extremely rare in government operations, […]

With WRM in India this week, we cross-posted an essay from the American Interest editor Adam Garfinkle on the violent crackdown on pro-Morsi supporters by Egyptian Security Forces: [A]l-Sisi and associates believe in the “strong horse” theory of political legitimacy, and they are now in the process of applying that theory to Egyptian realities. Might doesn’t necessarily make […]

In a remarkably candid column last month, climate scientist Tamsin Edwards argued that her profession would be better served focusing exclusively on what they are qualified to comment on: climate science. Climate policy, Edwards says, is better left to the politicians. From the Guardian: I believe advocacy by climate scientists has damaged trust in the science. […]

An Egyptian man places blocks of ice on the body of a supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, killed during a violent crackdown by Egyptian Security Forces on pro-Morsi sit-in demonstrations the day before, at the al-Iman Mosque in Nasr City on August 15, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. An unknown number of pro-Morsi protesters […]

British scientists have figured out a way to “unlock” vast amounts of nitrogen in the air to reduce our reliance on conventional fertilizer. Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the air and is a key catalyst for plant growth, but most plants (legumes are an exception) are unable to “pull” it directly out of […]

President Obama has had a rude awakening in the Middle East. The region he thought existed was an illusion built on American progressive assumptions about the way the world works. In the dream Middle East, democracy at least of a sort was just around the corner. Moderate Islamists would engage with the democratic process, and […]

One of the smarter greens out there is warning against getting carried away by the hype over renewable energy. Bjørn Lomborg puts the current state of green energy in historical context in a piece for Project Syndicate: The reality is that humanity has spent recent centuries getting away from renewables. In 1800, the world obtained 94% of its energy […]

The revelations about Romneycare this week once again underscored the importance of price signals and price transparency in our health care system. Fortunately, though hospitals have a vested interest in keeping their prices secret, there’s some neat tools out there for finding price comparisons on procedures and between hospitals.We just came across a new one […]

In a move sure to dismay the people inside and outside China who hoped Xi Jinping would begin a new era of democratic reform, China’s president has “lurched” to the left, as the WSJ reports, promoting a revitalized version of nationalist Maoism across the country. “Our red nation will never change color,” Xi said during a […]

Faced with plummeting birth rates that threaten to undermine its economy, Germany is aggressively experimenting with new policies to reverse the decline. NYT: There is perhaps nowhere better than the German countryside to see the dawning impact of Europe’s plunge in fertility rates over the decades, a problem that has frightening implications for the economy […]