Via Meadia has been watching the situation in the Maldives (population 350,000), waiting for the situation to become clearer before offering a reaction. If anything, things have gotten more complex. Here’s a quick timeline:1. 2008: Protests sweep the Maldives against a hated dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had reigned since 1978. In November, protest leader […]

As European heads of government assembled to sign the super-strict fiscal treaty the Germans insist on, Spain’s prime minister came with an announcement for the group: Spain plans to break the rules in year one.Under the agreement, Spain is supposed to slash its budget deficit this year to 4.4 percent of GDP, but Prime Minister […]

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced this week that Ireland would hold a popular referendum on a German-led fiscal treaty in May or June. The shifting sands of local Irish politics makes a No vote a real possibility.Reuters reports: …pockets of protests [in Ireland] on emotive issues like hospital closures and job cuts for teachers […]

February polls in Israel and the United States provide some guidance for those trying to see how the two longtime allies will or will not coordinate policy in the standoff with Iran.From a Brookings poll of 500 Israelis in February 2012: A plurality of Israelis (42%) would support a military strike by Israel against Iran’s […]

The case against NGO workers in Egypt brought to light some deep anti-American sentiment in the Egyptian government and public, but it also sheds light on a gray area of U.S. foreign policy. “Quangos”, as the Brits call them—quasi non-governmental organizations—operate partly as non-affiliated promoters of democracy and freedom abroad. But they receive U.S. government […]

It is the best of times and the worst of times for Russia’s once and future President Vladimir Putin. Victory in this week’s Presidential election is almost certain, but the Prime Minister is no longer the absolute master of Russian politics. Not only does he face a protest movement that includes some of the most […]

There isn’t much to say beyond the obvious about Arthur Jones, the Holocaust-denying former member of the Nationalist Socialist Party who is now a candidate for the Republican nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ third Congressional district. Suffice it to say, Via Meadia hopes to be spared the sight of Mr. Jones […]

Last weekend, a cold snap spread across Germany as hundreds of thousands found their heating shut off due to an inability to pay staggeringly high (and rising) energy bills. Gas prices have risen 15 percent in the past two years, and are poised to rise even higher, leaving a large number of Germans in the […]

The sky-high costs of higher education look all the more scandalous when you consider that few graduates are better prepared for the workforce than they were when they first enrolled in school. Some colleges, at least, are belatedly taking steps to change this. The New York Times describes how some have begun to tailor their continuing-education […]

The foundering U.S. Postal Service has taken modest steps toward stability, mostly by closing offices and cutting back on services. Yet the institution is running into a new set of obstacles—uncooperative lawmakers. Despite a general consensus that the Postal Service needs to cut costs, a number of lawmakers are doing everything in their power to […]