This week marked the end of the most recent installment of the Economist’s online debate series. The motion was about social networking: “This house believes that society benefits when we share personal information online.” Jeff Jarvis, Director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY presented an eloquent closing rebuttal to Andrew Keen, the technologist author […]

A ray of light may be breaking through the Eurogloom. The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.K. government deficit is smaller than expected. The Krugman catastrophe has not occurred despite the belt-tightening of the Cameron/Clegg coalition. Public sector net borrowing was negative in January—meaning a surplus—to the tune of £7.8 billion ($12.36 billion), the Office […]

h/t @Zerohedge:How many EU officials does it take to change a light bulb?None. There’s nothing wrong with the bulb; its condition is improving every day.The latest news from Europe: the new Greek package agreed last night will almost certainly fail — just like all the other bailouts agreed over the last two years.  A memo […]

Gallup is out with a poll from Nigeria that has a few hopeful hints about the social situation there. The poll asked Nigerians for their views on the anti-West, pro-Sharia sentiment espoused by Boko Haram. About 6 in 10 Nigerians believe greater interaction with the West is more of a benefit than a threat. In […]

Will the heirs of Hitler’s secret French love child get the royalties from Mein Kampf? Inquiring minds want to know. Hitler apparently sired the child, the recently deceased Jean-Marie Loret, in a brief encounter with a French woman during his service in WWI. The Telegraph has the story: Hitler is said to have had an […]

After lashing out futilely at Israel through botched terror plots in India, Thailand and Georgia, as well as punting on threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and boycott old Europe, the mullahs are suddenly feeling conversational. Writes the Times: Iran dropped previously unacceptable preconditions for talks in a letter this week from its senior […]

There’s really nothing wrong with existing U.S. drug policy, except that all but one of its underlying ideas is false. The one true idea is that drug use can be a dangerous activity for drug-takers and others, both because people under the spell of intoxication partially lose control of their behavior and because people under […]

The failure to move ahead with the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, as regular readers will know, has cost the U.S. in all sorts of ways—in diplomatic relationships, in energy security, and in jobs. About a month ago, Via Meadia covered a story that pointed to yet another loss: By forcing American refineries in […]

The government of (north) Sudan is waging terrible war in South Kordofan. Rebels there aspire to independence like their neighbors in South Sudan, the world’s newest country. Khartoum doesn’t intend to make the same mistake twice.The NYT‘s Nicholas Kristof returned from South Kordofan this weekend. His report paints a dire and tragic picture. “They said […]

For years, slaves brought from Indonesia under deceptive labor contracts have been beaten, raped and abused on fishing ships operating in New Zealand waters. Some have died. New Zealand officials have witnessed brutal attacks and inhuman exploitation, but many chose to remain silent.  It wasn’t their job.They were there to protect the fish.Meanwhile, the slave-caught […]