Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite cleric and vocal opponent of the American occupation, recently declared that all Iraqis who assisted foreign forces are now “outcasts”. When Britain pulled its troops out of Basra a few years ago, 17 such “outcasts” were murdered, their bodies dumped in the streets.Today, there are thousands upon thousands of interpreters, […]

The Game of Thrones in the Middle East took a strange new turn this week with Iran launching a charm offensive to improve relations with longtime nemesis and archfoe Saudi Arabia.  Last week, the Saudis were threatening to get their own bomb unless Washington “cut off the head of the snake” — ie stopped Iran […]

A chunk of the American intelligentsia is permanently convinced that the American people are waiting for a genuinely left-populist message before turning out in large numbers to transform the American political system, and that if the Democrats in particular would just embrace left economic ideas, they could become the dominant party for the foreseeable future.Unfortunately […]

In another sign of the looming apocalypse, Via Meadia finds itself in strong agreement with Screamin’ Howard Dean, onetime presidential candidate and leader of a grassroots political committee.  There is a lot Dr. Dean gets wrong, but he is right about innovation in the US. Here’s what he said recently in DC, from the Washington […]

One of the world’s most important developing economies, “Europe’s BRIC” (according to David Cameron), and a rising political power not just in its neighborhood, but the world as well, might be heading for a fall. As the FT reports, Turkey could be in trouble: Ankara’s current account deficit in absolute terms is the second biggest […]

Newsflash from Gallup: Fewer and fewer Americans see the country as divided between haves and have nots: Americans are now less likely to see U.S. society as divided into the “haves” and “have nots” than they were in 2008, returning to their views prior to that point. A clear majority, 58%, say they do not […]

The war on the young continues: this time in the healthcare sector. The WSJ reports that that while Obamacare remains stubbornly unpopular among the unwashed masses, one of its provisions is well-liked — the ability for young adults under 26 to be included on their parents’ health plans: The results could help President Barack Obama’s […]

Those oil sands must be a bigger draw than committing to anti-global warming measures, and who can blame Canada for that decision? Ottawa would have faced huge fines for failing to keep its emissions levels within the regulations of the Kyoto agreement, which Canada signed in 1997. The BBC has the news: Canada will formally […]

In a landmark case against political corruption, former French president Jacques Chirac was found guilty of embezzlement today. The Washington Post reports: The court said Thursday it had found Chirac guilty in two related cases involving fake jobs created at the RPR party, which he led during his 1977-1995 tenure as Paris mayor. He was […]

Clueless incompetence meets western and third world greed over and over in the fantasy world of do-gooding NGOs; a particularly chilling example comes from a Bloomberg story today about how children in Burkino Faso are beaten and abused to produce “fair trade” cotton and high priced Victoria’s Secret underwear.  After describing the horrific conditions under […]