According to reports, militiamen and Butcher Assad’s troops fought a lengthy battle around the town of Tremseh near Homs, using helicopters and artillery to surround and bombard farmers and fighters and their families holed up in the town. Opposition sources say more than 200 people were killed by the regime and its thugs; official media countered […]

Yet another California city is facing bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal reports that San Bernardino has just authorized a bankruptcy filing as it faces the prospect of completely running out of money before the end of the year. The culprits are familiar: San Bernardino, home to 210,000 residents, will run out of cash to pay […]

On Thursday, Via Meadia reported that Japanese companies were rushing to take advantage of new commercial opportunities created by the easing of international sanctions against Burma. Not to be outdone, President Obama announced the formal removal of U.S. restrictions on investment in Burma. The Washington Post has the story: “Easing sanctions is a strong signal […]

The collapse of the latest round of negotiations between the great powers and the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow has prompted the usual soul-searching in Washington and Brussels: Did we misread the mullahs’ psychology yet again? Could a sweeter Western proposal have overcome their natural mistrust? These are worthwhile questions to ask. But the emotional […]

This year’s Bastille Day promises to be a very sombre affair.  In a move being billed variously as a “disaster”, “bloodbath” and “earthquake”, car marker PSA Peugeot-Citröen announced on July 12 that it would be laying off 8,000 workers throughout France and stopping auto production at one of its flagship plants at Aulnay-sous-Bois, not far […]

The past several days have elapsed without my having made a comment here on matters Middle Eastern. That does not mean nothing has been going on, but nothing has happened of such a dramatic nature as to focus any extended comment. Reality does not always pour forth with punctuation marks, so that it seems to […]

The sabre rattling in the Persian Gulf continues with the deployment of the USS Ponce. Up until recently, the vessel was simply an aging transport ship destined for the scrap heap, but it appears that the Navy has retrofitted the ship, turning it into a command and control station for a variety of missions designed […]

It looks like François Hollande’s honeymoon will be short indeed. We’re only two months into the first Socialist presidency France has seen in nearly two decades, and already French automakers are facing significant layoffs and plant closures. The FT reports that French manufacturer Peugeot is planning to cut one of its plants near Paris, as […]

Some disheartening news on the religious freedom front from China. Reports the BBC: A newly-ordained bishop is reportedly being held after announcing he was quitting the body that oversees China’s state-sanctioned Catholic Church…Bishop Ma did not return for mass on Sunday and is said to have been taken away to a seminary in Shanghai and […]

One thing the new US policy in Asia hasn’t managed to do is reduce tensions in the waters around China. In fact, tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea, and between China and it’s neighbors around the South China Sea, are rising. Developing a mechanism to resolve these disputes will be on […]