It’s that time of year again—time for yet another of the  profoundly unimportant and overhyped summit meetings. Once again, the G-20 is meeting for a vapid talkfest, and once again the legacy press, as always determined to utter platitudes to power, is trying to whip up some interest in the recurring photo-ops when heads of […]

Financial markets staged the usual relief rally overnight at what looked like good news from Europe. It appears that the pro-bailout parties New Democracy and Pasok won a parliamentary majority in Greece, so that if they can agree on a coalition, Greece will have a government that can work with the EU.But these relief rallies […]

Our big essay this week focused on the consequences of this administration’s humanitarian intervention in Libya—the most prominent of which has been the destabilization of Mali to the south, where Gadaffi-armed Tuareg rebels have partnered with an al-Qaeda affiliate against the relatively weak central government and have taken over the north of the country. The […]

While we try to make sense of the Greek election returns, it’s worth stepping back for a moment to think about the bigger picture. For the past few decades Turkey has been seen as a country on the border between East and West. Countless articles have been written about “Turkey’s turn towards the East,” and […]

As anyone with children well knows, raising a child is expensive. What is surprising, however, is just how expensive it truly is. ABC News reports that the US Department of Agriculture has released a report that quantifies the cost of raising a child —from birth to age 18—and the resulting figure is staggering: $234,900.This is […]

With a typhoon conveniently churning in the distance, the Philippines has withdrawn its forces from the Scarborough Shoal in what Manila said was a temporary, weather-related move. So far, a larger, Chinese naval deployment shows no signs of going away.Philippine sources say there was an agreement that both sides would withdraw if the Philippines left […]

Recently the Wall Street Journal reported on findings about federal college aid that no one will like: Studies of the relationship between increasing aid and climbing prices at nonprofit four-year colleges found mixed results, ranging from no link to a strong causal connection. But fresh academic research supports the idea that student aid in the […]

Governor Romney told a Washington audience via a video uplink today that if elected he’ll do “the opposite” from Barack Obama when it comes to Israel.In policy terms, it’s not exactly clear what that means. President Obama’s policy toward Israel (far and away one of his least successful foreign policy ventures in the first term) […]

The European financial disaster (after two years it can hardly be called a crisis anymore) continues to get more complicated and more dire. With the world watching the election in Greece, matters in Spain and Italy are going from bad to worse.As national and local governments from Cyprus to Portugal come under greater pressure, we […]

The Postmaster General has historically been a “do-nothing” job; a post where Presidents could indulge in a bit of nepotism by appointing loyal supporters or friends without much outside scrutiny. The job is relatively cushy by Washington standards—don’t rock the boat, and you’ll be guaranteed a long and happy tenure, at least until the next […]