After many years of lies and denial, the city of Detroit is reluctantly coming to grips with the laws of arithmetic. The Detroit Free Press reports that Mayor David Bing’s budget plans have received the green light from the broke and discredited city’s financial advisory board. The plans are relatively radical, including layoffs for many […]

When the Chinese Communist Party holds its 18th Party Congress this fall, it will usher in a new generation of leaders for the first time in a decade. Particular attention will be paid to the composition of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), the powerful nine-member body that effectively runs the country.The retirement age for senior […]

As Burma emerges slowly from its decades-old tight embrace with China and countries across Asia turn to the U.S. for help in balancing against China’s muscle, China is starting to look a little lonely. Even Cambodia and Laos are showing Washington a little affection. The Hermit Kingdom of North Korea remains a true friend; Pakistan […]

The prime minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, may be backing down in the nasty standoff with the country’s president and Consititutional Court that had alarmed European and U.S. diplomats about the rule of law in Romania. The president, however, is still suspended pending a referendum on impeachment at the end of the month. Now there […]

For the first time in ASEAN’s 45-year history, a regional conference ended without a joint statement. Senior diplomats from the ten-member bloc had been meeting this week in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. Failure to reach a consensus on a communiqué has been attributed to the deep divisions within the group over how to […]

At first glance, today’s Wall Street Journal piece on teachers donating vast sums of money to outside political groups hardly comes as a surprise. Unions in both the public and private sectors are well known for organizing and donating money to favored candidates and political groups.Yet some of these donations appear to go beyond what […]

According to reports, militiamen and Butcher Assad’s troops fought a lengthy battle around the town of Tremseh near Homs, using helicopters and artillery to surround and bombard farmers and fighters and their families holed up in the town. Opposition sources say more than 200 people were killed by the regime and its thugs; official media countered […]

Yet another California city is facing bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal reports that San Bernardino has just authorized a bankruptcy filing as it faces the prospect of completely running out of money before the end of the year. The culprits are familiar: San Bernardino, home to 210,000 residents, will run out of cash to pay […]

On Thursday, Via Meadia reported that Japanese companies were rushing to take advantage of new commercial opportunities created by the easing of international sanctions against Burma. Not to be outdone, President Obama announced the formal removal of U.S. restrictions on investment in Burma. The Washington Post has the story: “Easing sanctions is a strong signal […]

The sabre rattling in the Persian Gulf continues with the deployment of the USS Ponce. Up until recently, the vessel was simply an aging transport ship destined for the scrap heap, but it appears that the Navy has retrofitted the ship, turning it into a command and control station for a variety of missions designed […]