The most disconcerting element in the speech was that even now, six years into the job, President Obama still doesn’t know how to avoid telegraphing weakness even as he seeks to project strength.

The Department of Energy just gave the final go ahead for two new liquified natural gas export terminals in Florida and Louisiana. America’s shale gas is going global.

A federal minimum wage would impose a fixed standard on a country with significant variations in the cost of living. Doing so hurts businesses where it’s too high and workers where it’s too low.

The UN has responded to a 2008 Japanese territorial claim in disputed waters, calling for Tokyo’s control of a large area surrounding the remote Okinotori Island. On the same day, Chinese President Xi announced a major push to shore up China-U.S. relations. How he responds to the news from Japan will serve as an early test of how serious he is.

Polish gas monopoly PGNiG is reporting cuts to its gas imports from Russia today. Kiev isn’t the only one threatened by the specter of a gas war this winter.

By the end of the month, Indian PM Narendra Modi will have met with the leaders of both Japan and China, and he will likely have secured lucrative trade and infrastructure deals with each. This looks like the start of a bidding war for India’s friendship between Asia’s two most powerful countries.

A new Department of Labor report shows health care spending rising even as incomes stagnate and overall consumer spending declines. Americans will be squeezed past endurance if we don’t make health care cheaper—and in some ways we already know how.

Late last week, we learned that Iran had given the high hat to the IAEA. Now we see that it is assiduously working to undo the sanctions regime by negotiating with Russia. Given the state of relations between Russia and the West, Iran may stand a good chance of succeeding.

Ever in tune with public sentiment, Obama pivots away from immigration reform. But will he pivot away from his new Middle East policies if polls sour by Christmas?

There is an underlying assumption shared by both religious conservatives and their progressive antagonists (they just differ on what to do about it): that modernity means a decline of religion and its concomitant morality. That’s not exactly right, however.