Toyota’s reputation for quality has been severely damaged by the latest problems with their cars. After decades of gridlock and the resulting inability to accomplish anything, the reputation of Congress can hardly be damaged further.  At this point, it looks as though the Democrats, who failed utterly to use the power handed to them a [...]

The attempt by the Taliban to prevent the Afghan election evidently failed miserably. True, the vote totals were down from the last election, especially in areas controlled by the insurgents, but the people of that poor country genuinely want to choose their own government, and few want to return to the insane rule of the [...]

The genie, as they say, is out of the bottle. The hard-line leadership of Iran is trying to do two opposite things at the same time–promote a partially open society and try to control it. Having given the people of Iran, who increasingly chafe under the limits of a rigid authoritarian society, at least the [...]

It remains to be seen if the current unrest in Iran leads to genuine reform, or if it will end in a bloody repression. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, apparently badly misjudged the mood of the people, and he’s clearly having trouble putting the genie back in the bottle. The Iranian population, young and [...]