Not even the Olympics slow down Putin from tightening his repressive grip on the Russian press. The broadcaster Ekho Moskvy (Echo Moscow), considered one of Russia’s last remaining bastions of journalistic independence, has had its longtime director Yuri Fedutinov replaced by an editor from the state-run media Voice of Russia.

The great irony of Germany’s energiewende—its recent “green” energy transformation—has been a sudden revival of the country’s coal industry. The energy imperative to get that coal out of the ground may bring about the razing of entire villages as a kind of collateral damage.

The government that has imprisoned economists for lying about inflation is forcing the break up of a critical media company in the name of press freedom. And if you believe that, we have some Argentine government securities to sell you at a very attractive price.

In the past month alone, two studies have confirmed that administrative hiring has skyrocketed over the past few decades and has contributed significantly to the rise in tuition. Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds has some good ideas for how the higher-ed industry can reverse this trend.

Here’s one reason to be optimistic about health reform: In 11 states, non-profits are going after health care price transparency and politicians are cooperating by passing laws that help the process along.

A private Twitter account associated with the Egyptian terror group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis posted a chilling message on Tuesday. “We recommend tourists to get out safely before the expiry of the deadline,” reads the tweet. This will cause problems for the government in Cairo but is likely to make a ruthless crackdown on jihadis popular among most Egyptians, especially those involved in the tourism industry.

Add Japan to the list of long-time U.S. allies who think America’s international presence is disconcertingly weak.

More Christians today live in the Global South—Asia, Africa, Latin America—than in the old Christian homelands of Europe and North America. This inevitably means further “Pentecostal drift”.

The parallels between our age and the industrial revolution are huge and important. Both parties seem to be overlooking them.

Monday night, WRM made an appearance on PBS’s Newshour, along with former ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns, to discuss the necessary requirements for American ambassadors, after a spate of embarrassing mistakes made by recent Obama appointees during their confirmation hearings.