I’m not sure what’s happening to the climate, but the controversy over global warming seems to be heating up.  The latest twist, an outcry over stolen emails that seem to document a nasty conspiracy among some climate scientists to silence and discredit their critics while manipulating evidence to strengthen the case for human responsibility for […]

Today we are commemorating (not, I think, celebrating) the anniversary of the first untethered hot air balloon flight in world history.  On November 21, 1783, two brave French adventurers rose into the heavens and were carried about nine miles across Paris in twenty five minutes.A heroic feat, no doubt, but as I prepare this morning […]

I’ve been back in Turkey for about thirty six hours, and I’m remembering all the reasons why I love this place.There is, for one thing, the sour cherry juice, something that is everywhere in Turkey but rarely seen anywhere else.  You can get it on airplanes, at breakfast in my hotel, in kiosks at the […]

Possibly because they assume I have no life and spend my time buried among the tottering piles of books and overstuffed bookshelves at the stately Mead manor in the storied and exclusive residential borough of Queens, my students and younger colleagues often ask me for advice about what to read.Many are surprised when I advise […]

It’s been almost twenty hours since I left the storied borough of Queens and I’ve spent most of that time in the air.I’m happy to be back in Turkey and looking forward to a series of meetings with Turkish academics and journalists.  This is a fascinating country and both Turkish society and Turkish foreign policy […]

For the next couple of weeks I’ll be leaving the storied halls of the stately Mead manor on a European trip to Turkey, Germany and Italy.  Ably assisted by the tech wizards at The American Interest and Sam the official Team Intern at the vast and sprawling Mead Global HQ, I’ll be blogging from the […]

The Gallup polling organization recently reported that a majority of Americans no longer believe that the government has a responsibility to ensure that all citizens receive health care.  Three years ago, two thirds of those polled agreed with this statement; in the latest poll 47% agreed and 50% begged to differ.This is bad news for […]

At first glance there does not seem to be much in common between Acorn–the deeply corrupt ‘community’ organization engaged in a variety of electoral and financial fraud while disguised as a selfless band of anti-poverty warriors–and William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, stiff necked High Churchman and counselor of Charles I.But Acorn, or it least its […]

Winston Churchill called the surrender of 80,000 British troops to Japanese forces at Singapore in 1942 the most ignominious defeat in British military history.  It also marked the end of the British Empire in Asia; British prestige never recovered from this stunning debacle.Something similar is happening in Singapore this week as the APEC summit brought […]

Dan Drezner points out today on his blog that we are having a spate of ‘end-of-the-world’ movies these days and wonders if this is a product of bad economic times.That’s part of the answer, but end of the world thinking is permeating our culture more ways than one.  ‘End of the world’ scenarios shape our […]