Problems Brewing for the BRICS

This Country Club Has Problem Members, Newsday, October 31, 2015. "For the past 15 years, if you wanted to sound smart about the world, you talked about the rising power of the BRICs. Today, it's the struggles of the BRICs that are making news. But those weaknesses were there all along. The rise of the BRICs, as a term, was a triumph of slick marketing."

Freedom, Not Goals, Brings Development

The UN Has Yet to Learn Its Lesson, Newsday, October 18, 2015. "The announcement last week that Angus Deaton of Princeton University won the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics offers an opportunity to celebrate the gains the world has made, and to reflect on how we can do better. Unfortunately, the United Nations has not taken that opportunity."

Meet the Ohio Light Opera Company

Awake and Sing, Weekly Standard, October 12, 2015. "No works of the late Victorian age are remembered with more affection than those of Gilbert and Sullivan. Yet it’s not been easy to keep those masters of light opera on the professional stage. Since it closed in 1982, the D’Oyly Carte Company, the legendary troupe that staged Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy operas, was revived in 1988, and again in 2013​—​each time to limited success. Today, there is no Mikado, and certainly no Ruddigore, on or off Broadway, or playing in London’s West End. In addition to other challenges, the Victorian bards now face the perils of political correctness: Just a few weeks ago, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players canceled their planned production of The Mikado after accusations of racism."

When the Tory Music Stops

Tories Count on Labour’s Looniness – For Now, National Review Online, October 9, 2015. "The annual conference of Britain’s Conservative party, which commands a slender but welcome parliamentary majority after the May elections, wrapped up on Wednesday in Manchester. If last year’s conference was an exercise in nerves and jitters, this year’s was a display of confidence — coupled with quiet grumbles from within the party, and shouts of rage from outside of it."

Treating Energy As A Trade Commodity

The Economic and Geopolitical Benefits of Free Trade in Energy Resources, with Nicholas Loris, Luke Coffey, James Phillips, Dean Cheng, Ana Quintana, Lisa Curtis, and William Wilson, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3072, October 9, 2015. "America has an abundance of natural resources, including sufficient energy reserves to provide Americans with affordable and reliable energy well into the future. With its plentiful reserves of coal, natural gas, and oil, the United States is already a global leader in energy production and has the potential to be a major supplier to the rest of the world. As is the case for many other countries around the world, the United States benefits from free trade because of private property rights. Individuals, in large part, have owned and had the ability to produce America’s natural resources—which is a primary reason why the U.S. is a global energy leader. Individuals extract and sell the energy sources, and the market—not Washington, D.C.—should determine where it goes. Allowing U.S. energy exports would provide a huge boon to the American economy, creating jobs, expanding the economy, and strengthening relationships with global trading partners and important allies."

Insiders and Outsiders, Risks and Safety

Tory Safety First Strategy Is Not Without Its Risks, Yorkshire Post, October 7, 2015. "One striking fact is that Conservative voters in Britain appear to be the only ones in both nations who aren’t hungering for an outsider. A new poll from ConservativeHome finds that safe George Osborne is now the Tory favourite to follow safe David Cameron as Prime Minister."

Contra the EU

Time for the U.S. to Rethink Its Support for the European Union, Daily Signal, October 4, 2015. "It is time for the U.S. to recognize that the policy of supporting the EU is now longer in the interests of the United States, or of Europe itself. The time when that policy was wise has now passed."

The Bear in the Desert

For Every Russian Tank Sent to Syria . . ., Newsday, October 2, 2015. "The Russian airstrikes in Syria make it clear that Vladimir Putin has joined yet another war. The bear's entry into the desert offers opportunities for the United States. Unfortunately, the Obama administration shows no interest in seizing them."