Once upon a time, government was able to get things done. Big things. The space program, the Hoover Dam, and other big projects of the early 20th century were all conceptualized and completed in a short time frame that would be unfathomable today. Now, a much more modest project, the Obamacare website, has taken three […]

Oregon implemented the nation’s first gas tax way back in 1919, and now it seems ready to blaze a new trail once again. The state has been testing out a new tax based on miles driven rather than fuel consumed.The gas tax is broken, advocates claim, and this vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) tax could be the […]

The scandal over the NSA spying on Angela Merkel heated up over the weekend, with many in the German press piling on to the story. The FT is on top of it: According to leaked documents seen by the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, US intelligence intercepted the German chancellor’s phone from 2002, before she became […]

This week’s essay looked at the momentous and perilous drama unfolding in the Middle East today, and the President’s strategy in the region: As the prospect of serious negotiations between the Americans and Iranians comes closer, both Israel and Saudi Arabia become nervous. Their interests are not identical with those of the United States, and […]

Fedor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs, remarked in a presentation to London’s Centre for European Reform on October 8 that Ukraine is a state, not a nation. This is a fairly typical Russian observation, often intended to suggest that Ukraine is not quite legitimate as a separate entity. It is also a […]

The most powerful Japanese prime minister in decades is pursuing an integrated national strategy to revive Japanese power and dynamism. In a big interview with the Wall Street Journal, Shinzo Abe “said he envisions a resurgent Japan taking a more assertive leadership role in Asia to counter China’s power, seeking to place Tokyo at the helm […]

The White House is crafting a new, more modest second term strategy for the Middle East. That’s according to a New York Times story, based on authorized leaks, which outlines a core strategy involving limited US engagement focused around three goals: reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, making peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and mitigating the conflict […]

HONG KONG – OCTOBER 25: A tourist takes a photograph during a cloudy day in front of a billboard featuring photos of the city skyline with a clear sky on October 25, 2013 in Hong Kong. A government warning has been issued after Hong Kong’s environmental protection department reported today that Air Pollution Index results […]

There are very few systems that can’t be made more efficient by being rigged with more sensors, it seems. The latest aspect of modern life to get smart: parking. The Rocky Mountain Institute draws attention to upgrades on the horizon for this problem familiar to car-owning city-dwellers and urban planners alike: Searching for a parking space is […]

What do Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, Eliot Spitzer and Antonin Scalia have in common? All were editors of the Harvard Law Review, the most prestigious law journal in the country and, clearly, the launchpad for a number of high-profile political careers. Yet despite the high profile of many of these journals, nobody involved in the […]