It looks like climatologists could learn some lessons from salt. A recently concluded massive study on the effects of salt in the human diet found that — contrary to public perception — in people at risk for heart disease, less salt was not always more beneficial. A moderate amount of salt, scientists now say, is better than […]

The eurocrisis is a marathon, not a sprint, Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament yesterday.  Thanks to the massive, Fed-organized central bank interventions of the last couple of days, she could be right.While the European financial system is still under great stress, world business leaders are not going to bed at night wondering if […]

Joe Nocera has been a welcome addition to the New York Times op-ed page since his start there as a regular some months ago. On Tuesday he wrote another fine column, this one on why the current German leadership is on a path to do what he thinks, in retrospect, will look completely insane—not to […]

Welcome to the “Democratic Republic” of the Congo, called the world’s least developed country in the United Nations. (Eat your heart out, Afghanistan.) Elections here are a joke, and not a funny one. The most recent presidential and parliamentary vote is currently being counted, but early reports sound familiar: The incumbent president is accused of […]

Whatever happens at the global green gabfest in Durban, greens will, no doubt, take comfort in assuring themselves that science is on their side.Well, not quite. It seems that Science — that is, one of the world’s most prestigious and influential scientific journals — is open to doubts about some of the more dire premises regularly […]

South Africa’s battle with graft is beginning to unravel. An estimated 20% (R30bn) of the country’s procurement budget is siphoned off by corruption, cronyism and incompetence. President Jacob Zuma’s latest response is reminiscent of something from Silvio Berlusconi’s old playbook. From the FT: Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, on Tuesday removed a high-profile anti-corruption official, […]

In a rare glimmer of good news from the vexed Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israeli government has announced it will turn tax revenues over to the Palestinian Authority, allowing the Palestinians to meet payroll and cover some other basic expenses.  Holding the payments back was Israel’s response to the Palestinian quest for statehood at the UN.The […]

Stocks soared yesterday around the world after the Fed coordinated action to make sure troubled European banks could access dollars, and the financial crisis has eased — perhaps until Europe’s toxic mixture of political impasse and slow reaction time takes the world back to the edge of the abyss.At Via Meadia we are still wondering […]

Some perspective on the twilight of the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is becoming smaller and more dangerous.