Now it gets tough. That little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying so cutely in the manger is the biggest trouble maker in world history, and the shocking claims that Christianity makes about who he is and what he means divide Christians not only from atheists and agnostics, but also splits Christians off from […]

Hugo Chavez has a new theory: that the US has developed a secret technology and is using it to give cancer to left wing Latin American rulers that we don’t like.  After all, Fidel Castro, the Hero of Venezuela himself, the president of Paraguay, the current and former presidents of Brazil and now Cristina Kirchner […]

The Wall Street Journal has published a piece I’ve written on America’s emerging Pacific policy.  It’s a policy that has roots in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and rests on ideas that date back before the American Revolution, and it is one that is likely to outlive the Obama administration. While the […]

It’s been a light blogging Christmas week here at Via Meadia.  The staff has deserted the sinking holiday ship, skiing in Switzerland in at least one case.  But the Mead clan has also been absorbing a lot of the attention that in quieter times of the year goes to the blog.  During the last few […]

For some readers, this Megan McArdle post at The Atlantic is the most important thing you will read all year.  Her subject is savings, and why you need to save much more than you are currently socking away.Most older readers haven’t saved enough; most younger readers will need to save more (as government retirement programs […]

Five go-old rings!Happy fifth day of Christmas, and welcome back to the 2011 Yule Blog, where we aim to keep the holiday fires burning right up through Twelfth Night on January 6.Yesterday King Herod’s massacre of every child in Bethlehem under the age of two shocked us out of the idea that Christmas is basically a […]

As the heavily staged mourning for the “Dear Leader” grinds on, it’s worth noting that former US President Jimmy Carter has reportedly sent his personal condolences to North Korea upon the death of the old dictator and wished his son and successor Kim Jong-Un “every success” in the future. According to the Washington Times: A […]

Rising concern about China’s foreign policy plans continues to reshape the political geometry in Asia.  Japan’s announcement that it is reducing limits on arms exports is yet another sign that Japan is moving toward a more assertive regional role in closer cooperation with the US.Japan has been steadily if cautiously raising its defense and political […]

In the theater of the absurd that is Pakistani politics, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has denied published reports that he was threatening to fire the heads of Pakistani’s military and of the ISI.  As the NY Times solemnly reports, Gilani announced that rumors of a split between civilian and military leaders in Pakistan were […]

So: they ‘wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.’  What is that supposed to be about?Manger is the French word meaning “to eat”; a manger is a place where you put hay and similar things for the animals in a barn to eat. The swaddling clothes were used to wrap up […]