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.

Just a few weeks ago Romney accused people who use these tactics of "demagoguing [the] issue" and said such rhetoric "harms America." Now he is engaging in the same demagoguery himself.

The world is still far from safe. Not only have democratic hopes faltered, but long-time foundations of regional stability are crumbling, to our detriment and that of our friends.

The ham-handed Barack Obama campaign attack ads on Mitt Romney's former firm Bain Capital have drawn a lot of ire from other Democrats.

The past two weeks of turmoil and drama in Sino-American affairs may well be the new normal, not an exception to an otherwise placid bilateral relationship. While Friday brought news of a possible deal allowing dissident Chen Guangcheng to leave China to study in America, that deal is no more certain than the earlier, failed deal, announced just days before

Tension between the United States and Iran reached levels not seen in more than 20 years when, on Wednesday, Iranian military officials threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile wide channel through which more than one-third of the world’s oil tanker traffic passes. 

All levels of government face growing pressures to restrain spending. One downside to the rapid growth in tax-financed health spending that I have documented in several prior posts is the vulnerability of the health system to measures taken to curb government spending. But the degree of such vulnerability varies dramatically across different components of the health sector.

Chinese strategists are thinking how to win a nuclear war. What is the U.S. doing?