In an article at the Financial Times—reprinted on his blog—Frank Fukuyama looks at China’s authoritarian system, its benefits and dangers, and what is missing: The issue that Chinese governments have never been able to solve is what was historically known as the “Bad Emperor” problem:  while unchecked power in the hands of a benevolent and […]

[Thanks to Via Meadia’s Man in Istanbul for this roundup of the top stories in Turkey over the last few days.]In a closely watched statement, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin articulated what has emerged as the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) line on claims published by the Wall Street Journal that U.S. intelligence prompted […]

Remember when meetings to debate and negotiate an international carbon treaty were big news? The Copenhagen Summit was hailed as the largest assembly of world leaders ever to gather for one event; when it fizzled in waves of shame and confusion, the green movement was shocked and dismayed.There was a lot of happy talk, of […]

The holiday weekend was not a happy one for US diplomacy in the Middle East. The massacre in the Syrian town of Houla may be touching off a new round of diplomacy, but it also exposed just how unsuccessful the US has been at pushing Assad out of office. Speeches have been made, statements read, […]

A new study commissioned by Ernst & Young has startling results that are cause for real concern in the business world. In a survey of 1,758 corporate professionals from across the world, 15 percent of respondents thought an economic downturn was enough justification for using immoral and misleading business practices, a rise from 9 percent […]

This week sees another test of America’s “Asia pivot,” as China sends a new batch of ships to ratchet up its contest with the Philippines over the intrinsically worthless, unprepossessing but strategically located Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. After seven weeks, neither Beijing nor Manila seems willing or able to back down from […]

Germany’s upstart politicians — the Pirate Party — have been making waves in regional elections and stirring things up at the national level, writes the BBC: At regional elections at the end of April, they got 8% of the vote, enough to give them seats in the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, in the far north […]

It is deja vu all over again in Germany; there is even a plague of rats in Hamelin, famous as the location of the original Pied Piper story. As Germans listen to the increasingly anxious cries from the rest of Europe for much more German money to be channeled in various ways into bailout funds, […]

The rosy scenarios most American public pension funds use for planning are totally out of touch, says New York mayor (and hugely successful billionaire investor) Michael Bloomberg. Most state and local pension funds in the US “assume” returns of between seven and eight percent on their investments per year. This allows politicians and union leaders […]

On this Memorial Day, as always, our thoughts and prayers are with those who’ve given their lives in the service of our country, those serving today, and the families who grieve or pray and wait.Thank you all, thanks for you all, and may God bless you all.