Outside the Beltway

The world is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Dan Drezner believes those worrying that we’re seeing the global meltdown of 2008 repeat itself are kidding themselves.

Upon further review, S&P’s downgrade of the United States bond rating . . . still makes no sense.

The debt talks in Congress are moribund now, and both sides are working on their own versions of a plan, again.

What we don’t know might hurt us.

Despite what appear to be the fond hope of European central bankers that it will just all go away, something needs to be done. But what?

Local newspapers in Belgium inexplicably don’t want to be linked by Google and are using copyright law rather than a robots.txt file to enforce their wishes.

The free world rallied around the United States after the 9/11 attacks–but not all back the killing of the man who ordered it.

A capsule look at the world situation as 2010 draws to a close.

Have credit cards and ATMs eliminated the value of large currency zones?

The long awaited new strategic concept, launching what has been termed “NATO 3.0,” has been published under the banner “Active Engagement, Modern Defense.”

Once again, Angela Merkel has held her ground and forced the other EU leaders to accommodate Germany’s policy concerns. This time, it’s a set of amendments to the Lisbon Treaty to deal with sovereign debt emergencies.

We already knew that Hamid Karzai was corrupt, now we know he takes bribes from the Iranians.

Responding the near-collapse of the Greek economy, forestalled only by a massive bailout from their brethren, the EU’s finance ministers agreed this morning to submit the outlines of their budget plans for approval by the European Commission.

What do the critics mean when they say that the United States should be more like Germany?

84 of 91 European banks passed their stress tests. How will investors react?