The wheels of justice grind notoriously slowly in France, but accumulating evidence suggests that one reason President Sarkozy is running so hard to stay in the Elysee Palace is because the alternative to re-election might just be jail.Via Meadia contributor Jacob Albert lays out the rich and dark web of high level French corruption, money […]

Boko Haram is getting bolder and expanding its scope of terrorist attacks in Nigeria. The US Embassy in Abuja has warned that the group could target hotels and other targets in Nigeria’s capital that are popular among westerners.So far, Boko Haram has focused its attacks on churches, schools, and symbols of the national government like […]

When Hamas booted Fatah out of Gaza in 2006, many Gazans cheered because they expected Hamas to clean up Fatah’s corrupt and inefficient government, and were swayed by Hamas’s tough stance against Israel. After years in power in the small Mediterranean strip, Hamas is failing on both fronts.Israel’s blockade and commercial restrictions on life in […]

Reuters reports that a growing number of U.S. cities, from Rhode Island to California, are now facing municipal defaults. Up to now, the crisis has primarily affected localities that  made particularly poor decisions on expensive public works projects, but last year the number of municipal defaults in America doubled from 6 to 13, and that […]

We are scrambling today to keep the site fresh and active. The first round of the Metropolitan Opera performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle features Siegfried today, and the matinee performance stretches from 11 AM until late in the afternoon. (The fat lady takes her sweet time about singing in this one — though in this […]

One of the jobs of the future that Via Meadia predicts will soon arrive is the on-demand stylist. Armies of stylists already attend to the super-rich, of course, but what about the rest of us? Plenty of average people would benefit from some sartorial advice, particularly from a professional.Enter Style for Hire, a start-up that connects […]

As a dispatch by Reuters points out, the state of play in Asia is a little grimmer today; the Chinese military is warning that recent US policy moves could lead to war. An article published in the Liberation Army Daily, the mouthpiece of the China’s powerful army, wrote that “Anyone with clear eyes saw long […]

China is actively assisting North Korea’s missile program, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the House Armed Services Committee today. As the Guardian reports, “I’m sure there’s been some help coming from China. I don’t know, you know, the exact extent of that,” Panetta told members of the House armed services committee when asked whether China […]

The war of words between the two Sudans grows more ominous by the day. Northern officials have called for the overthrow of the South Sudanese government. South Sudan countered with a warning that an offensive by the north could spark genocide. As Reuters reports, president Omar Bashir’s behavior suggests that such extreme violence may not be far […]

A dispute is heating up between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over three small islands in the Strait of Hormuz: Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa. Last week, the UAE pulled its ambassador out of Tehran. On Tuesday, Gulf Arab officials said that any Iranian military action against the UAE or involving the disputed […]