Finally. “It is good that the E.U. has decided to call Hezbollah what it is: a terrorist organization,” Frans Timmermans, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, said in a statement shortly after the decision.The move would have the effect of “limiting its capacity to act,” said Mr. Timmermans, referring to Hezbollah.Next up: the EU will […]

The evolution of the Internet continues as states take an increasingly active role in shaping it. The latest evidence: the UK’s David Cameron has announced a spate of new initiatives aimed at regulating and limiting people’s access to pornography. Every household in the UK is to have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they […]

I have not posted anything to this blog in several months because I’ve been working to complete the second volume of my book on political development, which is tentatively titled Political Order and Political Decay: From the French Revolution to the Present. It complements The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French […]

Detroit’s bankruptcy was the big news this week. We wrote on the impossible logistical choice the court ruling presents, but we also reviewed the implications of the filing for the failing blue model of governance: Blue model defenders will point to the cruel exodus of General Motors, the unjust outsourcing of American manufacturing, and the […]

The Department of Energy released a “landmark” study which found no correlation between fracking and the contamination of groundwater fluid. Greens like documentary filmmaker Josh Fox have been banging the alarmist drum on groundwater contamination for some time now. Last week we ran a review of Fox’s latest offering, Gasland Part II. The film attempts […]

China’s state-run oil companies announced plans to develop gas fields in the East China Sea, just inches away from territory claimed by Japan. On the hunt for cleaner, cheaper sources of energy, Beijing will invest $5 billion to explore for natural gas, Reuters reports. Until recently China had avoided the area, honoring an agreement signed with […]

Jihadists from Russia’s Caucasus region are fighting alongside the rebels in Syria, and their numbers are growing. About 200 fighters from Dagestan have joined the battle against Assad, says the head of the regional branch of Russia’s security agency, the Associated Press reports. And just a few hours up the road from Dagestan, construction and […]

RWE—one of the UK’s biggest power utilities—recently announced that the country’s push into renewable energy sources is going to mean electricity bills nearly 20 percent higher for its customers. This news comes shortly after the company was given permission by the UK government to build the Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm, which with with a maximum […]

One of the most important and interesting conversations happening in America today centers around the future of employment. The rise of “job-stealing robots” has a lot of worried wonks and policy scholars asking whether millions of Americans will be left without any work to do in the future.The MIT Technology Review has a must read piece on […]

There appears to be some movement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue due to the efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry late this week. The New York Times is reporting that face-to-face negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians may resume soon pending the release of several Palestinian prisoners by Israel’s government—a deal Kerry apparently reached with […]