It’s a bittersweet Thanksgiving for the Meads this year; it is our first holiday without Mom at the table. We are endlessly grateful for the years she shared with us; we still don’t quite know how to live and to celebrate without her and at some level I still can’t quite believe that she’s gone.But […]

South Korea has joined Japan in kicking sand in China’s face: “Even since China has created this airspace defence zone, we have continued our surveillance activities as before in the East China Sea, including in the zone,” said Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga.“We are not going to change this [activity] out of consideration to […]

How the mighty have fallen! Silvio Berlusconi has been kicked out of the Italian parliament, thereby losing his immunity from prosecution for several outstanding charges he’s facing. The BBC: Ahead of the vote, he vowed to remain in politics to lead his Forza Italia in a “fight for the good of Italy”. A defiant Berlusconi […]

Air Defense Identification Zones like the one China set up in the East China Sea last weekend are common features of national defense. Many countries have them, including the US, Japan, and South Korea. But China’s ADIZ goes beyond the norm. The Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf explains how: If China’s new zone did not include disputed […]

In May of last year, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández took control of the Argentinian oil company YPF by expropriating shares from the Spanish oil major Repsol. Now, more than a year and a half later, Fernández is offering to pay Repsol $5 billion for the expropriated shares. That’s less than half of what Repsol was seeking, but […]

Despite a largely successful protest that drew thousands in the northwestern regional capital of Peshawar, Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, are becoming increasingly isolated. Khan’s insistence on the cessation of American drone strikes as the cornerstone of his domestic policy is alienating all sections of Pakistan’s political establishment, including his allies. JUI-F, a […]

Democrats have good reason to be skittish about the ACA. As CNN reports, Democratic strength in next year’s midterm elections has just taken a ten point hit: Democrats a month ago held a 50%–42% advantage among registered voters in a generic ballot, which asked respondents to choose between a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district without identifying […]

Europe likes to think of itself as a global green leader, but it doesn’t have much to show for its efforts. Electricity prices are skyrocketing as the costs of subsidizing expensive renewable technologies are passed on to consumers. The continent’s refusal to drill for shale gas has made it a sink for American coal. Now, […]

A number of schools have been freezing tuition and increasing financial aid in a bid to reverse falling enrollments, but Virgina’s Strayer University may be taking the most extreme step yet, cutting tuition by 40 percent for the next school year. This comes one month after the business decided to close 20 campuses in an […]

Did Beijing bite off more than it could chew with its Air Defense Identification Zone? Just hours after China announced its new ADIZ that covered territory in the East China Sea claimed by Japan, the US issued a strong verbal rebuke and yesterday sent two B-52 bombers to fly through the area. The PLA did not even […]