Mexico’s economy sputtered earlier this year, but a recovery—however anemic—is on the way, and as the NYT reports, the country is seeing promising signs for growing its middle class: [A]fter the free-market wave of the 1990s failed to produce much more than low-skilled factory work, Mexico is finally attracting the higher-end industries that experts say could lead […]

Islamic rebel groups in Syria are trying to put up a united front against Assad in a bid to regain some of ground they’ve lost to government forces during the course of the year. The Wall Street Journal: Charles Lister, an analyst with IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, estimated the new group’s fighting strength at […]

What sort of thing is an atheist megachurch, and why would something like it ever come into existence? Over on his American Interest blog, Peter Berger has a fascinating analysis of the rise of organized atheism. After noting that many of these atheist meetings are probably attended more by agnostics than strict atheists, Berger discusses how these […]

Earlier this week, an Obamacare hearing on the Hill revealed an astounding fact: according to the Henry Chao, the deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, upwards of 30 or 40 percent of the back-end of the online exchange has yet to be built. The NYT has more: “We have […]

In a big speech at Georgetown University on Wednesday national security advisor Susan Rice re-made the case for President Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” a big and bold policy maneuver that has fallen down the priority list in his second term. “The United States of America will be there—reliable, constant, strong and steady—for the long term,” said […]

Former Senator Joe Lieberman and Vance Serchuk of CNAS had an important op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday where they clearly articulated why America’s allies in the Middle East are so nervous about the prospect of a nuke deal between Washington and Tehran: Part of the reason is that these countries worry the White House will […]

A seemingly innocuous and overlooked trip by the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam to New Delhi gives observers a peek behind the curtain at the geopolitical landscape in east and south Asia. Bloomberg Businessweek has the story: Yesterday … the two countries announced … a plan for India’s Tata Power to build a $1.8 […]

Japan will establish a National Security Council similar to America’s if a bill passes through Parliament as expected in the coming weeks. (As backdrop to the decision, just a few days ago China made a similar move.) The reorganization will consolidate defense decision-making processes under the authority of Shinzo Abe: The proposed entity will expand the command functions […]

Like many cities around the country, New York City has backed itself into a corner where it is relying on a high rate of return to keep its pension plan healthy, and is turning to Wall Street to help boost the performance of its investments. Despite the fact that using outside managers hasn’t been shown […]

Edward Snowden’s leaks set off a row between Indonesia and Australia this week when it was revealed by several Australian publications that the Australian government had snooped on conversations between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife in 2009. Tom Switzer, writing elsewhere on this site, provides a helpful roundup of the flare-up, and highlights […]