Is John Kerry making progress on peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Good analysis of his efforts has been mostly speculative and hard to come by because, remarkably, there have been no leaks from the negotiating teams. Adam Garfinkle, one of the most astute and persistent analysts of Israeli-Palestinian affairs, wonders why, and where […]

Bill Gates chairs a company called TerraPower that is keen on taking nuclear power technology into the 21st century. The company primarily focuses on a so-called fast reactor that would produce nuclear waste with relatively low toxicity and a much shorter lifetime. But it’s also making inroads on a type of nuclear power with tremendous […]

With clashes overnight between police and Muslim Brotherhood protesters killing ‘scores’ of people in the streets of Cairo, it’s worth taking a step back and remembering exactly how we got here. This excellent Reuters special report on the very recent history of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt serves that purpose.The authors argue that the Brotherhood’s actual downfall […]

Those eager to legalize weed and other drugs should look to Colorado, where the state’s legalized medical marijuana industry is creating serious problems. The Verge reports on the alarming findings of a recent audit of Colorado’s marijuana marketplace:  Despite an influx of weed tax revenue, local agencies remain understaffed, underfunded, and woefully disorganized. Records on […]

A new defense paper published by Japan’s government today urges Tokyo to set up a rapid marine deployment force to counter threats to its territory and acquire offensive weapons, like surveillance drones and missiles that could strike enemy bases. Shinzo Abe’s government is clearly trucking on with plans to revamp Japan’s military and even considering changing […]

President Obama has attracted a lot of criticism for his appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador to Japan. On this one, we stand with the White House. It’s a smart appointment and one that many Japanese will welcome as an assurance of continued strong US and White House interest in this important relationship.There are two types […]

A juror in the Trayvon Martin case has spoken out on television, stating that George Zimmerman got away with murder. Maddy—only her first name is known—said that she wanted to convict Zimmerman, but couldn’t find a good legal reason to do so. NYT reports: “A lot of us wanted to find something bad, something we […]

Egypt’s economy has stabilized this month as loans from the Gulf Arab monarchies start to kick in. $12 billion in aid that was promised immediately following the coup has by now stabilized food and fuel prices and boosted supply, normalized the currency, and stocks are surging, the WSJ reports. That should help Cairo get through […]

A new poll indicates that Hispanic immigrants, just like the many immigrants before them, are assimilating in pretty quick order. More Hispanics get their news from English language sources than from Spanish ones, and the gap is growing as time goes by. Pew has more: The rise in use of English news sources has been driven […]

Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas monopoly, Pemex, is a terribly run organization. It has added 22,000 jobs since 2004, yet production has fallen 23 percent. Mexico’s government uses Pemex as its own personal piggy bank, deriving roughly a third of its revenue from the company. That leaves few pesos left over for Pemex to reinvest […]