Reacting to the removal of U.S. sanctions on Burma last Wednesday, two experts on Asia policy say we’re rushing rapprochement. In the Washington Post, Michael Green and Daniel Twining write that the administration rushed this decision through the National Security Council to time a new policy with Clinton’s visit to the region this week: By […]

Via Meadia has been commenting on the energy revolution taking place all around us these days (Energy Revolution: Part One, Part Two). Thankfully, we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed.Chrystia Freeland: [T]hanks to new discoveries and new technologies, the end of fossil fuels is not looking quite so imminent. From the oil sands of northern […]

If you read only one thing about Mormonism this election cycle, read Walter Kirn’s moving essay in The New Republic, “Confessions of an Ex-Mormon: A Personal History of America’s Most Misunderstood Religion.” Kirn, author of the novel-turned-film Up in the Air, TNR’s new national correspondent and a former Mormon convert, tells a story one never […]

China’s second quarter GDP numbers are in, and the news isn’t very promising. Growth dipped to 7.6 percent—the lowest level since the country emerged from the depths of the financial crisis at the start of 2009, and down from 8.1 percent in the first quarter. Part of the slowdown has been attributed to weak demand […]

A survey commissioned by Sallie Mae revealed that parents and students reported spending less on college costs than in years before, bucking a long-term trend of increasing spending.Some of the specific data are particularly surprising. From the AP: Spending on higher education has fallen by an average of 5 percent overall since last year. Parents […]

The Supreme Court has spoken: the controversial Obamacare bill does not, at least in its most important parts, violate the Constitution. Yet as Chief Justice Roberts alluded in his deciding opinion, the fact that the law is constitutional does not make it a smart solution to America’s healthcare problems.In fact, Obamacare doesn’t even do anything […]

As the diplomatic impasse over Iran’s nuclear program continues, the threat of war and the display of preparations for war loom ever larger. Both sides are hoping to frighten the other into backing down as the moment approaches when either one side gives way or war comes.On the Iranian side, we see ever more dire […]

New numbers reveal that the collapse of the Episcopal Church dramatically accelerated in the last ten years. The denomination is literally falling apart, with attendance down 25% between 2000 and 2010.For a link to the PDF file with the numbers, and for Rod Dreher’s comments on them, look here; but it’s important to note that […]

It seems that each week brings with it another news item about some jaw-dropping development in drone technology. Take, for example, the recent report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper that scientists at Northrop Grumman and Sandia National Laboratories are working on plans for nuclear-powered drones capable of loitering over target areas for months at a time. […]

Forget peak oil; forget the Middle East. The energy revolution of the 21st century isn’t about solar energy or wind power and the “scramble for oil” isn’t going to drive global politics. The energy abundance that helped propel the United States to global leadership in the 19th and 2oth centuries is back; if the energy […]