The History of TodayThe European Union Delegation’s headquarters rests just a block from Washington Circle Park, mere minutes from the George Washington University campus. The several dozen diplomats who operate out of this red-brick facility are drawn from the EU itself, as well as its member states. The delegation handles a carefully proscribed set of […]

The Battle of Spain is over; the Battle of Italy has begun.This morning we noted the first signs of falling confidence just hours after Europe’s announced $125 billion bailout of the Spanish banking system. By late this afternoon the news is all about fears that Italy will be next in line.A Spanish collapse tests Europe; […]

In a sidebar during last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Iran to play nice in next month’s round of nuclear talks. This time, the West and China hope to avoid the runaround Iran gave everyone in last month’s flop negotiations.BBC reports:  According to Xinhua news agency Mr Hu urged the […]

Every so often, a group of self-proclaimed experts will predict some new dire threat to civilization as we know it. Via Meadia has documented many instances of modern-day doomsayers who insist that the end is near, whether due to overpopulation, peak oil or rapidly melting glaciers, only to be proven wrong by unforeseen events and […]

By far the biggest political story of the weekend, and one likely to be with us in one form or another for a while, concerns Administration leaks of sensitive national security matters (mainly) to the New York Times.The basics of the story are already well known. On Friday Attorney General Eric Holder directed two U.S. […]

The political and economic liberalization underway in Myanmar has been hailed as a major breakthrough by human rights groups, and rightfully so. After decades of repression, Myanmar’s military junta has surprised many by following through on its commitment to create an open society that is more tolerant of dissent. This startling about-face has less to do […]

Public pensions are not safe.Providence, Rhode Island, has embarked on a high-profile round of cuts to public employee pension plans, and voters in the much larger cities of San Diego and San Jose both passed referendums last week to do the same. But other municipalities, whose elected officials fear blowback from public employee unions or […]

The hundreds of millions of Americans who haven’t read Newsweek in years will not have noticed that former Bush speechwriter and respected commentator David Frum has a piece in the most recent issue arguing that Romney’s Mormonism, though currently a political problem, can be an asset to his campaign if it is framed properly for […]

It turns out that pornography and journalism have even more in common than media critics think: the Internet is wrecking business models in both industries in similar ways.The woes of journalism get the most ink. Lines upon lines have been written about the inexorable decline of the journalistic profession—most of them scribbled by nervous, hand-wringing […]

First it was Paul Krugman, denouncing the inadequacy of the Obama administration’s response to unemployment and slow growth. Then it was Maureen Dowd, unleashing a fiery salvo at what she sees as the President’s shortcomings.And now, it is “Et tu, Nick Kristof?” as the Times‘ most indefatigable voice for human rights and the protection of […]