After President Obama and Secretary Clinton announced a series of new agreements and deployments aimed at countering China’s assertiveness, Chinese President Hu Jintao has called on the navy to prepare for military conflict in the South China Sea. Yahoo News reports: The navy should “accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make […]

India’s government has fought itself to a standstill over a reform plan that would allow foreign-owned retail chains direct access to Indian markets. As soon as the reform measure passed in Parliament, the opposition Bharatiza Janata Party (and others) brought the government to a halt and Indian traders organized a day-long strike in protest. On […]

Two days ago, the Argentine coast guard boarded Spanish fishing vessels operating under license from the Falklands authorities. In response, the UK announced it intends to set up a “maritime protection zone” around its South American territories. At least one commentator has urged London to respond with force: “it should be considered an act of […]

In a lecture at Columbia University’s Amman-based Middle East Research Centre, Fayyad appears resigned to continued frustration in the Palestinian quest for statehood, despite the decision to go to the UN. The Jordan Times has the story: The Palestinian premier, a champion of institution-building as a path to statehood, said the current political conditions within […]

Just as they were for the Irish and Italian immigrants of the early twentieth century, government jobs have been an important ladder to the middle class for generations of Black Americans. As one of the largest and most venerable public-sector programs, the Postal Service has long been one of the largest and most effective of […]

While the economic crisis has already reshaped the lives of generations of Americans,  it’s most lasting legacy may be the acceleration in the decline of the shaky and ossified Blue Social Model. Our recent economic troubles forced state and local governments to make tough decisions now that would otherwise have been kicked into the future. […]

Alert reader Dan Shea drew Via Meadia‘s attention to an unusually depressing article in the Boston Globe.  It is one of those fluffy and airheaded “lifestyle” pieces, the print equivalent of empty calorie junk food and like many such articles it provides a horrifying glimpse into the vacuous nature of the modern American mind.  In […]

By jailing a popular opposition leader, Vladamir Putin risks enflaming protests that have already begun to accuse him of rigging last weekend’s vote. Here’s the story from the New Yorker: The problem for Putin’s government is that, unlike the other two hundred and ninety-nine or so people arrested, Navalny is as close to a real […]

Remember when India and Afghanistan agreed to cooperate on security matters? The first concrete plans under that arrangement are appearing: India is looking forward to training thousands of Afghan National Army officers and enlisted men. Here’s the story from The Diplomat: Under the agreement, India, which has the world’s third-largest army, agreed to train, equip […]

Remember those dynamic, world beating BRICs?  Russia, China and India have all stumbled recently; now comes Brazil.  From FT comes this story on Brazil’s slowed growth: Gross domestic product was unchanged in the three months ended September 30, from the previous quarter, as weakness in the industrial sector spread to Brazil’s once vibrant consumer… For Brazil, […]