The great voices of history are often said to echo down through the generations. But as the New York Times reports, sometimes those voices are more than just a metaphor: Tucked away for decades in a cabinet in Thomas Edison’s laboratory, just behind the cot in which the great inventor napped, a trove of wax […]

Via NPR strategy whiz Andy Carvin come some remarkable prep notes written for Bashar Assad before his December interview with Barbara Walters. Excerpts: It is hugely important and worth mentioning that “mistakes” have been done in the beginning of the crises because we did not have a well-organized “police force”. American Psyche can be easily […]

If Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were an American college president, he’d be fighting for his life right now.  Said Sergei, according to Reuters: “Some of the voices heard in the West with evaluations of the results of the vote in the U.N. Security Council on the Syria resolution sound, I would say, improper, somewhere […]

New debt figures from Europe are encouraging, for a change. Greek debt is up, and so are debt levels in Portugal, Ireland and Spain.But in Italy, as in the eurozone as a whole, debt edged down in the third quarter of last year.If this trend continues, and Italy continues to widen the distance between itself […]

China has passed a law banning Chinese airlines from complying with an EU directive to buy carbon permits to offset CO2 generated on passenger and cargo flights to and from EU destinations.  It’s the strongest step yet in global resistance to the EU requirement, which India, the US and most other countries around the world […]

This week, we published parts one and two of the “Beyond Blue” series.In America, segregation is at an historic low. Claremont McKenna College in California was caught repeatedly lying about its students SAT scores. In New York, the average price for private school tuition is approaching $40,000 each year. Camilla Williams passed away.Two Canadian teens sent […]

The French genocide law controversy did not fade from Turkey’s domestic news this week, with several newspapers endorsing Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s characterization of the episode as an attempt to “Nazify” Turks. Newpapers also cited reported comments by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the law is incompatible with press freedom, and reported actions taken […]

India told the UK last year that it could keep the foreign aid money Britain sends each year to its former imperial possession.  According to the Telegraph, Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister and the head of the powerful lower house of its parliament told the Brits bearing gifts: “It is a peanut in our total […]

If Argentina and the UK ever go from words to war over the Falklands/Malvinas, the Duke of Cambridge (aka Prince William) would fly one of the first (rescue) choppers that would take to the air, the NYT tells us.That probably won’t happen, though, and that decision is mostly Argentina’s to make. Sending Prince William and […]

It’s hard to remember when an American president missed such an easy layup.  Canada has vast oil resources right next door.  Under a conservative prime minister it is ready and willing to enter long term agreements that would provide the US with secure and abundant supplies of oil for decades to come. Those safe and […]