Could friendlier relations between China and Japan be on their way?China’s new President appears to be looking to repair relations with Japan, and the military is in on the softer approach. As we noted last Sunday, Xi Jinping recently appointed new diplomats to top positions in the country’s foreign ministry, and the stars of like-minded generals in […]

The jury is still out on Georgia’s democracy. Despite its impressive parliamentary elections last October, in which Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition surged into power, it’s not altogether clear whether the turbulent Caucasian republic has cleared a major hurdle on the democratic road or is in the process once again of exchanging one strongman for […]

Forget compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)—LEDs are the new smart choice for lighting. Americans probably won’t want to hear this, after finger-wagging greens and Congress hectored us into changing from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents, but CFLs have big problems.Most notably, the bulb contains a small amount of vaporized mercury, which is damaging to […]

Hipsters are not the great saviors of American cities. The theory that the “creative class” would flock to and revive urban centers has finally been disproven, argues Joel Kotkin in the Daily Beast. Even Richard Florida, one of the biggest proponents of this theory, has admitted defeat, Kotkin says: Florida himself, in his role as […]

Earlier this month, Anne-Marie Slaughter toured the country, visiting companies and educational institutions to provide “a week’s snapshot from the front-lines of the work-family debate.”What she found is encouraging. Not only are women pushing harder for flexibility and equality in the workplace, but employers are also coming to see such policies as more than a […]

The Venezuelan government is making a frenzied effort to combat shortages of food and medicine. The FT reports that on Monday the country will begin auctioning off dollars to certain business in hopes of spurring them to import the basic goods it desperately needs. But critics claim that the new system won’t really do much to solve the problem: […]

A massive “blob” is stifling progress in public education. So writes John Stossel, who is challenging the notion that teacher’s unions are the sole obstacle to meaningful education reform. The other menace is the local politicians, PTA bureaucrats, and school boards who pool their influence to block any reforms that might upset the status quo. From RCP: […]

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has just fought off a threat from within her own party. A member of Gillard’s ruling Labor party called for a leadership vote last week, worried that her faltering poll numbers would lead to wider defeat in September’s national elections. Though she won the vote unopposed, the Labor party’s outlook […]

There has long been a rift between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country’s clerical edifice, led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which once supported him. That rift threatens to widen as Iran’s presidential election draws near. Ahmadinejad’s time is up, and between now and June’s election, a two-way battle could be waged between […]

Thank goodness that dreadful Bush administration has come to an end. Otherwise the US would be threatening to militarily intervene in a Muslim country to prevent the development or use of weapons of mass destruction.Except…in yesterday’s talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama did threaten just such an intervention. Amid growing concerns about […]