State of Foreign Policy: Not a Sharp Picture
The blogs and newspapers tell us President Obama will be firing on all cylinders when he delivers his State of the Union speech Tuesday. He plans to push the reset button, reassert command and drive an agenda, and declare a…
Why the Global Economy Could Go Off the Rails in 2014
You do not have to go far to hear that financial hard times are over in 2014. But no one looking around the global economy could possibly miss the work still undone. Some see potholes deep enough to send the…
As Democracy Grows So Does Global Corruption
It is hard to miss the democratic longings of so many of the world’s citizens as their voices rise these days. In number and diversity, these are surely among the distinct sounds of 2013. It is, however, impossible to miss…
Is China Trading a Fly Zone for a Growing Economy?
There is a simple way to look at the complicated crisis that arises as China pressesnew claims to jurisdiction over air space above the Pacific. Beijing’s recent announcement that it will assert rights over a newly declared “air defense identification…
The Dark Cloud over Europe’s Nascent Recovery
Europe seems to be right on time—for once. The comforting consensus a year ago was that the crisis gripping the European Union since 2009 would begin to fade in the third quarter of this year. And here we are: •…
Washington’s Mess Damages U.S. Global Standing
Nobody will ever put up a neon sign or a billboard announcing that the U.S. has taken another step toward decline in its global position. Neither is American decline inevitable, as the so-called “declinists” habitually assert. It is not. Decline…
The Global Economy Takes a Baby Step Forward
It’s starting to look like that longed-for moment many of us thought would never arrive. Economies around the world have just clocked in with some good news. How shall we read it? It is too soon to declare we have…
How the Spooks Will Sink the Trade Pact with Europe
It is supposed to be the largest trade agreement ever forged between two countries. But the Trans–Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership never looked promising. And now that the US and Europe have completed a first round of talks, it is…
China’s Bank Crisis Could Pummel the U.S. Economy
Do we still have to worry about the US economy even though the Fed seems to think we’re out of the woods? Think “China,” where growth is slowing, corporate debt is out of control, and the banks are looking wobbly….
Post-Austerity Europe Gropes for a Game Plan
In Spain, King Juan Carlos proposes to give up his 136–foot yacht (although there is bickering over who should get it). In France, President Francois Hollande just raised $390,000 by selling 1,200 bottles of wine from the Élysée Palace cellars…
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