Turkey’s evolving foreign policy toward Syria remained the central topic covered by the press this week. Outcries over escalating violence and Russia and China’s veto of the recent UN Security Council resolution were followed by an endorsement of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement on Monday that Turkey would shelter all fleeing Syrian refugees. Prime Minister […]

Over the past several years, American envy of Asia’s manufacturing boom has gone mainstream. Each new factory and infrastructure project in China or India seems to remind Americans of the glory days of U.S. manufacturing.We should be careful what we wish for: A new Reuters report warns that Indian manufacturing capacity may be outpacing demand. […]

With the economic picture in China looking cloudier by the day, party leaders in Beijing appear to be getting a bit desperate. The FT reported today that Beijing has ordered Chinese banks to roll over government loans to local governments for up to four years. These loans, given to local governments at the height of […]

Over the past few months, European leaders have begun to question the commitment of Greek politicians to the painful austerity programs that have massive numbers of Greeks taking to the streets. Lately, it seems their fears may have been misplaced. A vote yesterday over proposed cuts passed the chamber, and both major parties took a […]

In case you missed it, the next two installments of the Beyond the Blue essay were posted this past week. Part three dealt with the disruptive promise of infostructure, and part four with the painful but necessary changes we’re all likely to experience in the near future as a result of these disruptions.As Syria continued its […]

As those of you who’ve been with me from the beginning know, Via Meadia is an experiment and a work in progress.  I didn’t know how to blog when I started – and one of the things that attracted me to the form was that nobody else did either.I don’t mean there aren’t some excellent […]

The big news today: according to family members, by the end of his life Osama bin Laden was telling his family to “Go to Europe and America and get a good education.”What? The great Islamic umma, center of global culture and light of the world has no universities where the children of the Great Jihadi […]

An earlier post drew attention to falling gasoline consumption as a potential harbinger of bad economic news, but there is a flip side to the issue. As Blake Clayton, a new energy blogger at the Council on Foreign Relations, a former Mead haunt, explains, falling domestic demand combined with a surge in foreign consumption and […]

It’s been a rough week for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Last week, reports surfaced that the man in charge of Brazil’s mint had his hand in the till.  The FT reports: The government is investigating allegations that the head of the national mint… was taking kickbacks from the institution’s suppliers… Denucci was being investigated by […]

Last October, Via Meadia highlighted a new product from the man who brought us the iPod: the Nest learning thermostat. It was a great example of innovative design and engineering lighting the way forward for a greener future. And it showed how iconoclastic American startups can continue to revolutionize previously stagnant markets by bringing technology to […]