It looks like the rot in Turkey’s AK Party runs deep—and perhaps even all the way to the top. An excellent analysis in the Turkey Analyst of how the Gezi Park protests have concretely set back Erdogan’s political program includes the following passage digging into the recent anti-Semitic drivel seeping out of the party leadership: Erdoğan’s […]

The Egyptian Revolution lurches on. With 42 dead in Cairo last night, and widespread unrest around the country, dreams of a “velvet coup” are evaporating. In the wake of last night’s violence, the Brotherhood is calling on Egyptians to “rise up” against the coup. American diplomacy, aimed now at reconciling the Brotherhood to the coup, […]

Buddhist-Muslim tensions are spreading beyond Burma. Early this morning, the Mahabodhi Temple, one of Eastern India’s holiest Buddhist shrines, was hit by a series of explosions, which officials believe were an act of terrorism. Although little else is known about the attack and no deaths have been reported, the NYT report suggests that these attacks are […]

The big news this week was the coup-that-wasn’t-a-coup in Egypt. We wrote about what this news might mean for US-Egypt relations and for the spread of democracy in an essay: It’s likely that the non-coup will lure some Egyptian money back into the country, but if violence continues and Islamist terrorists foment disorder and attack, […]

The American surveillance apparatus has come under more scrutiny than ever before in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. On Saturday, the New York Times expanded on this theme with a new piece arguing that the FISA courts, which review the constitutionality of the government’s data collection programs, have effectively become a “parallel Supreme Court” with little […]

In the modern era, great popes must know how to use the media effectively, and Francis so far seems to be mastering his trade. After a brief period out of the headlines, he re-emerged this week with some razzle-dazzle moves, using the unique powers of the papacy to communicate his message through a sometimes hostile […]

Bård Harstad was recently awarded about $15,000 for a paper suggesting that the best way to combat climate change is to pay countries not to extract fossil fuels. The European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) awarded the money to the Norwegian, impressed by his alternative approach towards curbing global greenhouse gas emissions.As part of […]

One result of the Obamacare employer mandate delay is increased pressure on the exchanges: if employers drop coverage of their employees, or even simply don’t offer coverage to currently uninsured employees, more people will have to migrate to the exchanges to fulfill the individual mandate. But the delay isn’t the only unexpected new influx into […]

Postponing college to surf. That’s what Deborah Dunham intends to encourage her son to do after he graduates from high school. She writes in Forbes: When the topic of college comes up, I always tell my son, “If you’re not ready, don’t waste your time or our money.” Because the College Board places the price […]

Prescription painkiller overdoses are causing more deaths in America than heroin and cocaine combined, and the problem is getting worse. The WSJ reports that our culture’s addiction to legalized opiates is resulting in thousands of unintentional deaths and suicides per year. All the numbers from the CDC got worse, not better, over the course of […]