Nationwide, as governors and legislators seek to rein in labor costs, public-employee unions are protesting that their members are actually underpaid. But a growing body of evidence strongly suggests that their protests have no basis in fact.

The collapse of the Papandreou government may undo European efforts to restructure debt and hold the union together.

If Republicans allow the 2012 election to become a referendum on the GOP plan for Medicare, Obama will cruise to reelection. But if Republicans make the election a referendum on the economic failures of Obama's first term--and offer a hopeful alternative vision for our economy--he may not get a second.

In Ecuador, Rafael Correa continues to trample democratic institutions, although regrettably nowhere to be found is any expression of concern by the Obama administration.

Political dysfunction. Partisanship at record levels. Attack politics run amok. And public approval of Congress scraping the single digits (Sen. John McCain is fond of saying it's down to blood rlatives and paid staff).

Read this with charts as a PDF 

In the months ahead, there will be a renewed intensification of the European debt crisis that could have major implications for the US economy.

President Obama's efforts to appease Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government have increased Bashir's perception of U.S. weakness and reinforced his inclination and willingness to use military force to suppress Sudanese opposition in the South, Darfur, and elsewhere.