Mike Watson

SINGAPORE—City states have largely disappeared from world politics. Over the centuries, technological and economic advances made great powers rich and strong enough to impose their will far away from their home territories, so there are few places left in the world valuable enough for a free city to thrive and not succumb to foreign domination. Today's few independent cities generally owe their success to an imperial patron's protection, and Singapore is no exception. It exists largely because of the British empire, and now is a barometer for American power in Southeast Asia.

Nearly half of the world's population is experiencing an election this year, which in some respects makes 2024 the most important year yet for global democracy.

Caption Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech as he holds a replica of Liberator Simon Bolivar's sword during a rally in Caracas on August 28, 2024. (Pedro Rances Mattey/AFP via Getty Images)

Is the real story one of social media and AI creating a smokescreen that confounds critical public discourse and derails cogent discussion?

Upon learning that Winston Churchill had died, University of Chicago professor Leo Strauss told his students, "The contrast between the indomitable and magnanimous statesman and the insane tyrant—this spectacle in its clear simplicity was one of the greatest lessons which men can learn, at any time." Last October 7, there was another simple spectacle: the twisted insanity of anti-Semitism in all its horror, and an indomitable Jewish people fighting back.

As Chervinsky puts it, “George Washington created the presidency, but John Adams defined it.”

With the election just around the corner, President Joe Biden and his administration have nearly faded from the news. This week, though, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin returned to the headlines with their latest threat to cut off weapons sales to Israel unless the Jewish state accedes to their vague demands about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Although the timing is convenient for the Democratic Party—their deadline falls after the election—it undermines Israel's campaign to restore deterrence against Iran.

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - A brush fire was sparked in north Reno Tuesday night when electrical equipment on a utility pole exploded.

Long hospital waiting lists, extortionate food bills and rising homelessness. Welcome to life under the most rightwing Finnish government in generations, says author Mike Watson

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Florida senator Marco Rubio (R.) to lead the State Department. Rubio is, among other things, a full-spectrum opponent of China's nefarious activities, and the news of his nomination dismayed the soft-on-China crowd. He is also tough on Iran and should focus America's diplomats on promoting the nation's interests rather than exporting the culture wars. But Rubio's most distinctive foreign policy contribution is likely to be in Latin America, where he can bring the Monroe Doctrine back to the center of U.S. foreign policy.