And New Orleans’ taxpayers are on the hook. Judging by how things have gone in places like Stockton, Vallejo, and even Detroit, the fallout from this won’t be pretty.

Saudi Arabia has quadrupled the budget of the Lebanese military in the past nine months. Is this simply to ward off ISIS, or part of something bigger?

Today’s riots in Kiev remind us that revolution is much easier than real governance and state-building.

China’s current political leaders are pursuing a much more subtle strategy for controlling Christianity in the country than their predecessors: cracking down on churches on the one hand while promoting its own “Chinese Christianity” on the other.

June’s crude oil exports hit their highest level since 1957, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The summer boom is being driven predominantly by big increases in Canadian imports of U.S. oil.

Some entertaining links and enlightening discussions for your Thursday.

Turkey’s ambitious foreign policy has turned into a train wreck. Rather than dominating the Middle East, as its leaders had hoped, Turkey is more isolated and carries less regional influence than in a long time. Here is why a President Erdogan will be unlikely to reboot Turkish foreign policy, and why he may be forced to continue to look inward.

Russia is finding ways to circumvent the U.S. and EU energy sanctions by signing deals with firms from Japan, Switzerland, and Norway.

Terror attacks in Istanbul and oaths of allegiance in Indonesia: Muslim democracies far from Iraq and Syria are beginning to worry.

A recent SEC filing paints a grim picture for China’s state-owned offshore oil company CNOOC, whose reserves seem to be rapidly running out. Energy concerns may play a larger role in Beijing’s South China Sea aggression than previously thought.