Germany’s role in the ongoing Euro crisis is a reminder of its economic superpower status in Europe. But Germany plays another leading role: defining European policy toward Russia. Brussels and other European capitals often follow Germany’s lead when it comes to dealing with Russia. And with the United States distracted with its recent election and […]

Nobody in human history has ever been entirely sensible and rational about the Big Five subjects, at least not for long: sex, power, children, money and God have been agitating and confusing human beings since time began.Note which comes first on the list: sex is both inescapable and inescapably confusing.America’s own peculiar forms of sex […]

Barack Obama’s sweeping triumph in the presidential elections, including in critical battleground states, prompted a sigh of relief in numerous quarters and most capitals of Europe, where Obama, despite his emphatic orientation away from Europe, is seen as representing more closely the ethos and Weltanschauung of the old continent.In his victory speech, which described the […]

The question posed by my title doesn’t quite hit the mark. Just as one cannot really speak of a single “America”, there is no one “Russia” anymore but rather several Russias. But while each different Russia has its own interests, attitudes and moods, there is something that unites them all with respect to America: The […]

We briefly interrupt this multi-part series on “What’s Wrong and How to Fix It” to comment on—you guessed it—the elections.What can I possibly say that hundreds of other people have not already said, or are about to say? It’s a challenge, I admit. There’s obviously no point in telling you what happened, only the possibility […]

The online periodical Huffington Post had the following story on October 10, 2012: Paul Broun, a Republican congressman from Georgia, made a speech at a Baptist church in which he affirmed his creationist convictions. Broun is a doctor and on the basis of this claimed to speak “as a scientist” (if only he were right […]

I voted this morning between 6 and 7 AM; if the early turnout at one Queens polling station is any indicator, expect a blowout today. But also expect a civil and peaceful election. While we were using paper ballots rather than the voting machines most of us have grown used to, there were plenty of […]

The final tally is not in yet, but Superstorm Sandy may have left as much as $18 billion of damage in its wake in New York State alone. Reuters reports that plans are afoot to price out and potentially build a series of dams, levees and barriers which will protect the area in case another big […]

Now that the three groups of explanation for American political dysfunction have been laid out and their mutual connections sketched (in parts one, two and three), we can begin to discuss programmatic solutions for our problems. The ten proposals below represent “torque points” in American politics—places where positive change would resonate throughout our political culture. […]

No one who pays even casual attention to Ukraine’s politics should be surprised to learn that President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions (PR), whose bastions lie in the country’s Russophone south and east, emerged with a plurality in October’s parliamentary elections. With top opposition candidates (most notably former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko) in jail, and […]