The bad news just keeps coming. Coming close on the recent revelation that economic growth is slowing faster than expected in France and Germany, British labor figures have disappointed forecasters and it seems that Greece is heading for yet another recession despite optimistic predictions to the contrary.A familiar pattern is emerging here. European leaders attempt to […]

With the Middle East in flames and news coming faster than governments can react, nothing is more important than to step back from the fray, take a deep breath and get some perspective.  Historical perspective.  That is particularly true when looking at what historians may consider the most important change in the Middle East recent […]

Hamas has some interesting political ideas; it appears that it is only a bad thing to kill Palestinians and shell refugee camps when Jews do it.  When anti-Sunni Arab dictators shell peaceful Palestinians, that is perfectly OK.The breathtaking cynicism of the leadership of this terrorist organization is rarely so openly on display, but when the […]

The “green jobs” idea — that we could vitalize the economy by spending tons of money on promoting ‘green energy’ and other green ideas — is running into trouble. Prominent (and much subsidized) solar manufacturer Evergreen Solar is filing for bankruptcy, citing lower prices and increased competition from a familiar source: “When margins are getting […]

Welcome to August, the annual peak of the “climate IS weather” phase of green propaganda.  Every heat wave, every drought, every hurricane proves that the world is melting NOW and if we don’t immediately do whatever Al Gore is currently suggesting we are all going to die!!!  Horribly.In the fall green propagandists begin their great […]

Ethnic hate violence in the New York of Pakistan is out of control. Gunmen aligned with two competing ethnic/political groups, are carving up the city, each other and bystanders in brutal attacks on a scale not seen in the city in decades.Matthew Green takes a look at the city and the violence in yesterday’s FT: […]

China, once self sufficient in corn, startled world grain markets and bought millions of bushels of American corn this year to satisfy accelerating domestic demand, driven mostly by the evolving eating habits of the Chinese middle class. They want more pork, and pigs want more corn. The Chinese also want more corn-sweetened drinks, like Coca-Cola. […]

From the Washington Times: Three out of four graduates aren’t fully prepared for college and likely need to take at least one remedial class, according to the latest annual survey from the nonprofit testing organization ACT, which measured half of the nation’s high school seniors in English, math, reading and science proficiency.Only 25 percent cleared […]

Moment is a journal on Jewish affairs, founded in 1975 by Elie Wiesel and currently edited, with great imagination and verve, by Nadine Epstein. In its issue of July-August 2011 it carries a cover story, with a shorter piece, on Jewish thinking about life after death. A symposium ranges across the spectrum of contemporary Judaism. […]

It turns out that ruthless, blood-thirsty crackdowns aren’t all that great for business –Bashar Assad’s survival plan is beginning to show some cracks in the form of waning investor confidence and a deteriorating economic outlook.The Syrian central bank is instituting emergency measures to limit the convertibility of the Syrian pound — a sign that its foreign currency […]