The news from the region over the past few days constitutes, as always, more of the same and yet something new. Let me take you on a selective tour, ending with the most attention-arresting story of our time—Syria.Of all the developments in the Arab world, none come close to being as important as those in […]

On June 1, 2012, The New York Times carried a story by Ellen Barry about the Russian Orthodox Church giving moral support to the Russian policy in the current crisis in Syria. That policy has been marked by persistent vetoes in the Security Council against all attempts to take strong steps against the Syrian regime. […]

After we expressed our concerns during NATO’s Libyan war that the afterparty was likely to be chaotic and unpleasant, we’ve been watching the horrific humanitarian and political consequences unwind in several places.Most recently, Via Meadia has been keeping a careful eye on the growing troubles in northern Mali and the storied historical city of Timbuktu for […]

The History of TodayThe European Union Delegation’s headquarters rests just a block from Washington Circle Park, mere minutes from the George Washington University campus. The several dozen diplomats who operate out of this red-brick facility are drawn from the EU itself, as well as its member states. The delegation handles a carefully proscribed set of […]

By far the biggest political story of the weekend, and one likely to be with us in one form or another for a while, concerns Administration leaks of sensitive national security matters (mainly) to the New York Times.The basics of the story are already well known. On Friday Attorney General Eric Holder directed two U.S. […]

Reports that the public is losing “faith in science” have caused a lot of chin stroking, head wagging and even some and finger pointing among the intelligentsia — especially since the studies point to a particularly sharp decline among conservatives.Via Meadia isn’t so sure all this is on the right; the last time we looked, […]

The $125 billion Spanish bank bailout announced this weekend is more of the same: another temporary dose of pain meds that (we hope) prevents a market meltdown for a while but does not address the underlying conditions.Fair enough, in a way; Via Meadia has no desire to see a full blown European financial panic and […]

The rhetoric and political optics of the Iran issue are anything but second-order determinants of the outcome. Senior Israeli policy-makers already know this. Why don't we?

If American power recedes from the Middle East in the advancing post-Cold War era, Israel's strategic circumstances, not least its concern about a nuclearizing Iran, could start to look a lot like they did in Isaiah's time.

If Iran does get the bomb, there is a tight logic to military cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to match it. U.S. options for preventing a Pak-Saudi nuke may diminish sharply over time.