The Syrian civil war is about a lot more than just what goes on inside Syria’s borders. Syria’s neighbors—Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan—are all feeling the effects of the war in the form of refugees and fighters moving back and forth across the region. Iraq in particular is very worried about spreading violence. Its porous […]

After months of talk and an unusual amount of behind-the-scenes wrangling, California Governor Jerry Brown’s pension reform deal was a bit of a disappointment. A piece in the Mercury News explains how Brown’s and the Democrats’ political ties to unions convinced them to water down pension reform and once again stick California taxpayers with the bill: This […]

While Hillary Clinton is launching a high profile push for cooperation in Southeast Asia and China, India is hosting a less-publicized meeting of its own. At the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation meeting in New Delhi, India and the countries of the Mekong Delta (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, and Thailand) are getting together for a diplomatic effort aimed […]

Apparently academic journal editors are beginning to get worried that no one is reading what they publish; so worried, in fact, that they have been manipulating the numbers to make published research appear more influential than it actually is. The WSJ reports: In July, a publication called Scientific World Journal retracted two papers about regenerative […]

South Africa is facing its biggest political challenge since President Mandela first took the oath of office: Security guards at a South African gold mine fired rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters armed with iron rods and sticks, injuring four people and offering another glimpse of the turmoil upending the country’s mining industry.The incident, […]

Since 1979, Egypt has been among the top non-NATO recipients of American foreign aid, garnishing over a billion dollars annually in recent years. Last year’s revolution cast doubt on the future of that tight relationship, as the White House braced itself for the uncertain future of the Arab nation’s leadership. After a tumultuous year and a […]

It has been pointed out to me that the last three posts on this blog were overly didactic, as if I were giving classroom lectures. Contrary to my earlier statement that I disclaim any pretension to being a Renaissance man, I may give the impression of pretending just that by holding forth consecutively on Catholicism, […]

China continues to lose its edge at producing low-wage goods. In the face of rising wages and waning Western demand, the production of textiles and other manufactured goods is shifting out of China and into Southeast Asia, where wages remain low. The Financial Times reports: The association of Chinese textile exporters said last week that […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently began a six-nation tour of Asia, visiting Indonesia yesterday and China today. On the agenda: promoting peaceful diplomatic solutions in the Asian Game of Thrones. The Associated Press reports: “It is time for diplomacy,” she said. “We have the East Asia Summit coming up. This should be the goal that […]

The world’s attention is currently focused on the travails of EU member states, but the European Union as a whole isn’t doing so hot either. At the moment, it is halfway suspended somewhere between an organization for regional cooperation and a functioning government. It’s a failed federation, a little bit like the United States under […]