Secretary Clinton’s visit to Myanmar this week has been billed as a “significant shift in policy”, a “huge gamble”, and a “real opportunity” as the commentariat comes to grips with the latest twist in the new Great Game. True, it is the first visit of such a high-level American official since John Foster Dulles ran […]

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 […]

What many saw as a revolutionary conflict at Tahrir Square fizzled away yesterday as an astonishing (and peaceful) turnout of Eygptians all over the country demonstrated their preference for voting over Molotov cocktails and strikes. Although much too early for final results in the multi-round Egyptian election process to be clear, observers from all over […]

Here at Via Meadia, we have written extensively about how reports of impending American theocracy have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, put into historical perspective, the religious forces acting upon American politics today are far gentler than those of generations past. But it appears that the New York Times remains unconvinced, as evidenced by a recent spate […]

Years ago I had some friends in a klezmer band in New Orleans; one of the members of the band was an African American musician whose church was so taken with the music that they wanted to produce a klezmer gospel album.  This unfortunately never happened, but something almost as remarkable has just been published […]

Readers whose memories extend back to those days when Tea Party protests were springing up across the land can probably also remember the howls of accusatory rage that went up from the mainstream media about the relative paucity of African-American faces in Tea Party crowds.Many a brow was furrowed in concern, many a chin was […]

With the accelerating euro crisis in Europe, the geopolitical revolution in Asia and increasing doubts about the Chinese economy, the increasingly misnamed Arab Spring sometimes has to struggle for airtime these days.  But the struggle in Egypt has entered a new phase, one which will test the strength of the various groups struggling to control […]

Throughout our history, Americans have benefited from the extraordinary riches and resources of the wealthy land in which we live.  Compared to any other country on earth, Americans enjoy more fertile farmland, better internal communications by water, rich and diverse mineral resources, a more favorable climate, a more favorable position in the world’s commerce,  and […]

The public sector labor wars are heating up all over, and both parties are fighting the unions.  In California Governor Jerry Brown is cutting union pensions; further wage cutbacks for state and local workers are clearly on the way.  The events in Wisconsin and Ohio are well known, but in Detroit and Chicago Democratic mayors […]

The cascade of statements, deployments, agreements and announcements from the United States and its regional associates in the last week has to be one of the most unpleasant shocks for China’s leadership — ever.  The US is moving forces to Australia, Australia is selling uranium to India, Japan is stepping up military actions and coordinating […]