Illinois’ pension troubles have just taken a criminal turn. The SEC hit the state with charges of securities fraud yesterday, claiming that Illinois repeatedly misled investors about the state of its pension programs over the past decade. Between 2005 and 2009, the state issued $2.2 billion dollars in bonds while claiming that its pension funds were […]

As the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky got underway in Moscow yesterday (and then didn’t), it’s worth thinking about what’s driving Vladimir Putin to such bizarre ends. Why put a dead man on trial, after all?A good place to start thinking about such things is AEI scholar Leon Aron’s article in Foreign Affairs from this weekend. Titled […]

The US and China continue to bicker about hacking, and on the surface relations with China remain tense. This is a problem in itself but also a problem because of what it says about China’s response to Obama’s vaunted “pivot to Asia”: China is hanging tough and pushing the US where it thinks it can.The […]

Among the issues being debated by Israel’s new government is what to do with its energy wealth. Israel’s neighbors are listening in on this debate closely. One country in particular has its ear pressed against the door: Turkey. The FT reports: As for pipelines, senior Israeli and Turkish officials have suggested that Turkey is the […]

Preliminary signs suggest that China is sitting on the world’s largest shale gas reserves, but the motley crew of firms that recently won exploratory drilling rights all lack that one crucial bit (pun intended) on their resume: none of them has drilled a gas well before. Reuters reports: China’s potential is clear. The government puts […]

During the past several months, David Kramer, president of Freedom House, and Lilia Shevtsova, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, have written a series of sharp criticisms of the Obama administration’s Russia policy and outside experts who advocate a strategic approach toward Russia, as opposed to their preferred normative one. Their latest missive […]

Telepresence technology is giving new meaning to the phrase “doctors without borders.” Telepresence robots are like Skype on wheels: long columns with video screens mounted on top. According to an excellent article in The Economist, doctors are already using these robots to see patients around the world: Robotic-telepresence technology for hospitals is now so good “it’s like being at the […]

America’s most successful anti-blue idea is thriving in a deep blue state: Democratic lawmakers in Massachusetts want to lift caps on charter schools and charter-school funding in 29 low-performing school districts. This has charter proponents very excited. The WSJ reports: “This demonstrates that charter schools are a viable reform,” said Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance […]

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daichii disaster, when a monstrously powerful earthquake—so big it was felt from space—led to meltdowns at a nuclear power plant. The backlash against nuclear power was swift: Japan shut down all its reactors and to date has only restarted two. Germany, meanwhile, vowed to rid itself of nuclear energy […]

We’re shocked, shocked to hear that there may be yet another way Obamacare is costing more than originally advertised.One of the key features of the Affordable Care Act was the creation of a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan to help those with pre-existing conditions get and keep coverage. According to MedPage Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid […]