While Western officials debate the efficacy of sanctions, the one certainty regarding Iran’s economy is that the primary cause for its weakness is mismanagement. Iranian press analysis of domestic problems is often illuminating, as economics is the subject most immune from press censors.

Kroenig is correct then to argue that a military strike should be in the cards. But he is wrong to suggest that a limited strike is the only one that should be on the table.

There are three things to keep in mind about Kim Jong Il’s death.

Failures in the regulation of large complex financial institutions played an important role in the financial crisis.

We must engage with China when it is in our interests to do so. But our most urgent task is to successfully play balance of power politics in Asia until a new regime emerges in China that is more accepting of the international order and less afraid of its own people.

Venezuelans may have to wait to sift through the rubble of the Chavez regime before they get a clear explanation for Mr. Chavez's recent reckless decisions. In the meantime, regardless of whether Mr. Chavez knows he is dying sooner or hopes he is dying later, it is apparent that he doesn't give a damn about the harm he is doing to the Venezuelan people or the mess he will leave behind.

The Obama administration’s recent focus on finding a compromise to allow the Iranian regime to maintain some enrichment capabilities “for peaceful purposes” distracts from the underlying nuclear threat at hand.

Much could be done now to shift that balance against the regime--and hasten the end of Gaddafi’s massacres--without escalating foreign military involvement and perhaps even without supplying weapons to the opposition.