Another bump has appeared on the road to Palestinian unity. Last week’s agreement in Qatar seems to be doomed. The WSJ reports: A move to unite with the rival Fatah party in a Palestinian government has opened up a split in Hamas.The discord escalated this past weekend as Gaza leader Mahmoud al-Zahar criticized an agreement […]

The latest news from Europe is, as usual, not good. The weekend’s riots in Athens were significantly worse than expected, suggesting that the Greek political system is closer to a break point than many understood. Yet on examining the fine print of the latest Greek budget cuts, and taking note of a statement by the […]

Last week, the New York Times carried a front-page story on Libya entitled “Libya Struggles to Curb Militias as Chaos Grows.” If the headline were not enough to clarify the main point, the subheads in the print edition were: “Government Paralyzed” and “Officials Confronted by Rivalries, Grievances and Old Habits.”To my knowledge, this is the […]

Not long ago, I was shown at a provincial university the quotas for admission that the faculty of economics had received from the ministry for this academic year, derived from the national admittance threshold points: “Students on basic training 750, students on the masters’ course 120,” and so on. I could hardly believe my eyes. […]

Pro- and anti-Assad forces are engaged in a bitter fight not only within Syria, but outside it too, and Lebanon, not surprisingly, is once again a proxy battleground for troubles in the Levant.Street fighting erupted in Tripoli, on Lebanon’s northern coast, between Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities this weekend. Automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades […]

Millions of Americans will get new health coverage under Obamacare, which means that millions of new patients will need doctors—specifically, primary care providers. According to the Washington Post, Obamacare will require almost 30,000 new primary care physicians by 2015.Unfortunately, primary care is the road less traveled through medical school, less lucrative and prestigious than the […]

Liberal activists called for a day of strikes and protests in Egypt over the weekend. Only a few people turned out, to “very little impact,” reports the BBC: Strikes at universities attracted small numbers of protesters, and public transport in Cairo ran as normal……there was no disruption at Egypt’s airports.The industrial action also had no […]

During the worst days of the recession, many warned of coming catastrophes in state and local governments, whose massive revenue losses were supposed to force draconian cuts in employment and services. Only Federal aid could avert disaster in America’s states and cities.Maybe Washington should hold on to its money. A new story in USA Today […]

Turkey’s evolving foreign policy toward Syria remained the central topic covered by the press this week. Outcries over escalating violence and Russia and China’s veto of the recent UN Security Council resolution were followed by an endorsement of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement on Monday that Turkey would shelter all fleeing Syrian refugees. Prime Minister […]

Over the past several years, American envy of Asia’s manufacturing boom has gone mainstream. Each new factory and infrastructure project in China or India seems to remind Americans of the glory days of U.S. manufacturing.We should be careful what we wish for: A new Reuters report warns that Indian manufacturing capacity may be outpacing demand. […]