Three years ago, the conservative political world was wowed by Jonathan Krohn’s speech on the floor at CPAC, the country’s largest gathering for the conservative movement. In his speech, the 13-year old delivered a defense of conservative principles, which while perhaps a bit simplistic by adult standards, displayed a level of eloquence and conceptual understanding […]

Could Britain be moving towards a Fourth of July of its own?“A burning building with no exits.”That’s what the current British Foreign Minister William Hague called a European monetary union in 1998. Now, despite urgings from Washington to stand by and help its European neighbors, Britain shows no desire to rush into the burning building. […]

We at Via Meadia are always on the watch for tales of science fiction come true. Sometimes they’re cause for wonder and amazement—other times, they’re cause for alarm. A global black market for human body parts falls into the latter category.The NYT reports a story not for the faint of heart: Facing grinding poverty, some […]

In celebrating our independence today, one of the great blessings American can be thankful for is that we don’t have a royal family to revere and support.Not that the support of the royals is a huge burden, even though, as ITV reports, the annual tribute has just increased: The royal family cost taxpayers 52 pence […]

As part of our ongoing project to update and improve the core documents of American history, we present the opening sections of the Declaration of Independence as they ought to have been written, and indeed as it would have been written if the still primitive colonial political process had only been sophisticated enough to restrict […]

Mitt Romney recently drew applause from Republicans, and flak from Democrats, for his proclamation that Russia is America’s “number one geopolitical foe.” As The Washington Times reports, Romney’s foreign policy team (which includes American Interest board member Eliot A. Cohen) is looking to emphasize its candidate’s unwavering support for democratic friends like Israel and hard […]

Here’s some good news from across the pond that a lot of Americans will like. Ireland is once again preparing to return international debt markets for the first time since 2010. For the Irish government, the timing is good; as the FT notes, Ireland could use the money: Dublin has so far pumped €64bn into […]

In a wild goose chase for money, cash-strapped cities and states across the U.S. are turning to private companies that collect fees from citizens for misdemeanor crimes. Here’s what happens, as reported in yesterday’s NYT. Say you’re pulled over by a traffic cop for a driving violation and charged with a fine. If you can’t pay immediately, […]

Through the gloom of so much bad news for the world economic picture shines a ray of hope: the Chinese real estate market may be picking up. The most recent survey shows prices are rising in China’s 100 largest cities, the first increase in nine months. Real-estate investment and property sales are also on the rise.As […]

There’s tear gas in the air and violence in the streets. Could those be the first signs of spring in Khartoum?That might be good news. Combining economic stagnation, authoritarian oppression, and a history of genocide, Sudan is one of those rare places where a revolution could hardly make things worse.Sudan wasn’t exactly a bedrock of […]