Politics

Submitted by Yonathan Amselem via The Mises Institute,

Progressives are often good people with good intentions. However, modern Progressivism has evolved into something so shapeless and amorphous as to amount to little more than a belief in “things that sound nice.” Mainstream Progressives have done an abysmal job of outlining precisely, in their view, the proper role of government and what (if any) limiting principle(s) apply to the state as a whole.

Everything Is Now a Taxpayer-Funded “Right”

Two weeks ago, we noted - with some amusement - that Ukraine has defaulted to Russia on a $3 billion obligation. To be sure, the move wasn’t unexpected. 

“I have a feeling that they will not pay us back because they are crooks,” Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said previously. 

Here, in a nutshell, is what happened. 

On our way to documenting Turkey’s arrest of two generals and a colonel who dared to stop a weapons-laden MIT truck in route to Syria, we said that “if there’s a silver lining to last Tuesday’s downing of a Russian Su-24 warplane by two Turkish F-16s it’s that the world is now starting to scrutinize President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia released budget numbers which showed that the kingdom ran a deficit in 2015 that amounted to some 15% of GDP. 

To be sure, that was far better than feared, but it’s still a disaster and reflects just how much damage Riyadh’s two wars are inflicting on the monarchy’s finances.

Authorities in Belgium’s capital have decided to cancel the city’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities and fireworks because of the threat of terrorist attacks. The decision comes following the arrest of two people suspected of planning an attack over the holiday. RT reports: In a Wednesday meeting, Brussels’s mayor Yvan Mayeur and Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon took a joint decision to cancel Thursday evening’s festivities. “Together with the interior minister, we’ve decided to not have the celebrations on Thursday evening,” Mayeur told the state broadcaster RTBF Wednesday night.