When rites of passage disappear from public life, civilization does as well, and one result is young men running amok.

In the last twenty-four hours, disorder has engulfed England. Prosperous boroughs in the capital now resemble war zones, as mobs continue to overwhelm police and loot stores.

While rioters ravage the streets of London for a fourth day, opportunistic British political pundits have already begun blaming the Tory-led coalition government.

The problem of rising foodstuff pricesis worsened by a monetary policy in overdrive,exchange-rate chaos, unsound market interventions, and high oil prices.

Imbued with a sense of victimhood, entitlement, and cultivated grievance that can only be taught, today's college students respond to inconvenience with temper tantrums.

Until the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the American view of radical Islam and its many discontents was shaped more by the Middle East than South Asia. The U.S. has long been at odds with the raging Ayatollah in Iran, the murderous truck bomber in Lebanon and the masked Palestinian "freedom...

Riots are fascinating things. How lawless greed, cruelty, and violence suddenly set fire to the minds of men is one of the most mysterious, almost magical (though not in the positive sense) manifestations of human behavior. Already, on both sides of the Atlantic, lots of people are sure they know why England is burning.

The longer the financial crisis in Europe drags on, the greater the risk of a European economic collapse with substantial additional negative spillover effects on the United States and the rest of the global economy.