Ten short days ago, the $125 Spanish bank rescue plan was being hailed, briefly, by rattled European officials as a breakthrough that would stabilize the eurozone’s fourth largest economy.Now yields on Spanish 10 year bonds have passed 7 percent, the “magic number” that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek national bailouts, and the talk […]

It’s paywall protected, but this morning I have a piece in the Wall Street Journal looking at the geopolitical implications of Europe’s currency disaster.There’s nothing good to report; the currency meltdown is making Europe weaker and less consequential in the world in ways that seriously damage important American relationships and interests. Even in a best […]

Northern Nigeria is back under curfew after a new wave of Christian-Muslim violence swept the Kaduna province on Sunday. The BBC reports that church bombings and the rioting that followed left at least 36 dead, and late reports raise the death toll to 50. From the BBC: Red Cross officials told the agency that more than […]

Syria is fast becoming a skull-splitting headache for the White House. The Obama administration dialed up its rhetoric on Syria in recent months, but it hasn’t matched U.S. words with action. Russia has noticed the chasm between U.S. words and will and has seen an opportunity: Introducing an unpredictable new element into the Syrian crisis, […]

The meltdown in Pakistan continues. One by one, its key institutions are drowning in a tidal wave of sleaze. The political parties lost all moral authority years ago; now judges and journalists are under scrutiny for dodgy dealings.The New York Times reports on these latest scandals, including corruption charges against the family of the chief justice […]

Champagne corks were popping in the French presidential suite last night after the socialists won a commanding parliamentary majority in Sunday’s elections. Following nearly a month of walking a fine line between drumming up support for his socialist party and placating nervous conservatives and investors, Hollande’s Socialists have finally emerged with a clear victory.This is […]

For the past few years, Los Angeles schools haven’t been making the grade. Teacher evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive, yet all measures show that proficiency in elementary reading and math continue to fall well below the national average. Clearly, something doesn’t add up.An L.A. judge has taken notice of this fuzzy arithmetic. The WSJ reports: […]

Iran’s leaders may be flirting with the possibility of exploiting an enormous loophole in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop nuclear technology. And by “nuclear technology”, we mean nuclear weapons.Wired.com’s Danger Room reports: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which limits nuclear weapon states to five countries (not including Iran), also removes IAEA safeguards for nuclear materials […]

In Europe the debate over the euro rescue plan has been simple. Southern “Club Med” countries and other states in need of bailouts have been begging Germany to shut up about austerity and just give lots of money to its needy European partners — which is to say, themselves. And they don’t want that money […]

It’s that time of year again—time for yet another of the  profoundly unimportant and overhyped summit meetings. Once again, the G-20 is meeting for a vapid talkfest, and once again the legacy press, as always determined to utter platitudes to power, is trying to whip up some interest in the recurring photo-ops when heads of […]