The New York Times reports that Russian fighters stationed in Armenia have stepped up the number of training flights this year by about 20 percent, “sending a clear warning that Russia could intervene at any moment should violence escalate further in the territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” At least eight soldiers were killed in […]

Via Meadia extends our heartiest symapthies to French President Francois Hollande on the occasion of his apparent victory in the first round of France’s legislative elections, where the left is well on its way to gaining a clear legislative majority. We also extend our condolences to world leaders ranging from Angela Merkel to Barack Obama; […]

The Obama Administration’s “pivot” to Asia has so far met with a warm welcome from China’s neighbors, who have been unnerved by Beijing’s more assertive posture in recent years. Still, Washington should be mindful of shifting public opinion among its allies in the Asia-Pacific region.In Australia, for instance, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser made waves […]

CBS News reports (h/t Heritage) that Chicago’s teacher’s union has voted to authorize a strike with a decisive 90 percent of the vote. If the union follows through with the authorization, it would mark the union’s first strike in a quarter century.At the root of the dispute is a disagreement over Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plans […]

There is some hope, John Campbell reports at CFR, that the Nigerian government has been involved in talks with Boko Haram, facilitated by a well-known Muslim sheikh in the north of the country. The details of a negotiated deal, in which the government would cease arresting Boko Haram members on condition of a ceasefire, were […]

Frank Bruni has joined the ranks of New York Times columnists like Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd in an outbreak of synchronized finger wagging at the President. Obama still seems Lincolnian to them; only now the Times is beginning to treat Obama much the same way the New York World treated Abe. (Hint: It wasn’t […]

In September 2007 the New York Times announced a distance-learning venture called the Knowledge Network. The newspaper had partnered with a handful of schools, including NYU, Stanford, Mount Holyoke and Towson, to offer online courses with varying degrees of professorial involvement. Some courses were 100 percent online, others held periodic “meeting times” over the Internet with the instructor. The […]

ZeroHedge reports that last month Beijing increased oil imports by 10 percent from April, topping Feburary’s record high imports. It seems that China is stockpiling to brace for both economic and political turmoil.This says two things: First, that China needs to park its cash somewhere—and not in USD. It’s also not parking its cash in euros […]

This year’s presidential election is not a normal one. Rarely in U.S. history has an election year been preceded by as much economic fear and doubt. The results of the recent Fed report do not provide much encouragement for an already fearful electorate: The recent recession wiped out nearly two decades of Americans’ wealth, according […]

Last month, as part of Via Meadia‘s focus on what we have loosely defined as the “jobs of the future”, we highlighted the crowdfunding company KickStarter. KickStarter, like other crowdfunders, is designed to pool money from thousands of ordinary people to fund entrepreneurs with ideas. It’s venture capitalism by the little guy, for the little […]