Our big essay this week focused on the consequences of this administration’s humanitarian intervention in Libya—the most prominent of which has been the destabilization of Mali to the south, where Gadaffi-armed Tuareg rebels have partnered with an al-Qaeda affiliate against the relatively weak central government and have taken over the north of the country. The […]

As anyone with children well knows, raising a child is expensive. What is surprising, however, is just how expensive it truly is. ABC News reports that the US Department of Agriculture has released a report that quantifies the cost of raising a child —from birth to age 18—and the resulting figure is staggering: $234,900.This is […]

With a typhoon conveniently churning in the distance, the Philippines has withdrawn its forces from the Scarborough Shoal in what Manila said was a temporary, weather-related move. So far, a larger, Chinese naval deployment shows no signs of going away.Philippine sources say there was an agreement that both sides would withdraw if the Philippines left […]

Recently the Wall Street Journal reported on findings about federal college aid that no one will like: Studies of the relationship between increasing aid and climbing prices at nonprofit four-year colleges found mixed results, ranging from no link to a strong causal connection. But fresh academic research supports the idea that student aid in the […]

Governor Romney told a Washington audience via a video uplink today that if elected he’ll do “the opposite” from Barack Obama when it comes to Israel.In policy terms, it’s not exactly clear what that means. President Obama’s policy toward Israel (far and away one of his least successful foreign policy ventures in the first term) […]

The European financial disaster (after two years it can hardly be called a crisis anymore) continues to get more complicated and more dire. With the world watching the election in Greece, matters in Spain and Italy are going from bad to worse.As national and local governments from Cyprus to Portugal come under greater pressure, we […]

The Postmaster General has historically been a “do-nothing” job; a post where Presidents could indulge in a bit of nepotism by appointing loyal supporters or friends without much outside scrutiny. The job is relatively cushy by Washington standards—don’t rock the boat, and you’ll be guaranteed a long and happy tenure, at least until the next […]

The indispensable Joel Kotkin, a professor of urban development currently residing in California, has a great piece in Forbes on the fate of his home state, and the way forward from the chaotic mess we currently see there. Governor Brown, he argues, has not turned out to be a man of change like Chairman Gorbachev […]

Midway through his tour of the nation’s swing states, Mitt Romney gave President Obama a somewhat odd, and untimely, piece of advice. Rather than launching his presidential campaign from the Senate, Romney argued, “governor may have been a better job for him to have started with,” Yahoo News reports.Obama won’t thank him for this advice, […]

He had the best defense money could buy; the judge was impartial; the jury wanted to acquit him but yielded to the force of facts. Rajat Gupta has been found guilty of insider trading and faces sentencing for his crimes.So throw the book at him. Hard. It needs to hurt and it needs to be […]