"the U.S. can try to be a global leader...or it can get caught up in ideological fights... It cannot do both."

Guilty of having visited Malaysia.

The US Antarctic Program is shutting down for the year.

Nate Silver breaks his silence: GOP may not be doomed.

Best analysis I've seen of the money factor.

Difficult to disagree...

A European take on Snowden.

Are Senators sacrosanct?

US Representative's impassioned plea for helium.

Quite funny (and short).

Emperor Honorius Kept Rome Safe, except that one time it was sacked by the Visigoths.

" this would be magnificent habitation which after all like every thing else in this desolate City is but an half finished Barn"

Short but incisive analysis.

Gabrielle Giffords speaks out.

How the USA increasingly punches below its diplomatic weight.

The great challenge for a senator isn't to go to Washington and represent the problems of his own family. It's to try to obtain the intellectual and moral perspective necessary to represent the problems of the people who don't have direct access to the corridors of power. Senators basically never have poor kids. That's somethin…

Excellent piece, as is the NYT article it links to.

Everyone's linking to this, but it is really worth watching if you haven't already.

Summary of what sounds like an interesting lecture by Stephen Walt.

President mixes up Star Trek and Star Wars, losing geek credibility.

As late as 1950, there were just three Republicans among the South’s hundred and nine congressmen, and none in the Senate; a decade later, the numbers had barely moved.

Nate Silver on the polarisation of US politics.

*shakes head in despair*

Harry Reid: “It is a sad day when we cannot pass a treaty that simply brings the world up to the American standard for protecting people with disabilities because the Republican Party is in thrall to extremists and ideologues."

Thomas Carothers reflects on the post-election situation. "Finding ways to encourage autocratic allies to respond more productively to impulses for positive political change in their own societies is not easy given the varied interests at stake, but it is not impossible."

A lack of resources and skilled management at the State Dept. (At last, some sane commentary!)

A three-letter word was key.

The disconnect between media and political incentives.

Chipping away at the death penalty.