Not so long ago, President Joe Biden was being talked of as a transformative president, a second Franklin D. Roosevelt in terms of the domestic agenda he would enact. And there was substance to the claim. Early in his presidency, Biden had passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. While his majorities in both houses of Congress were razor-thin, they proved sufficient to push through a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. A follow-on $3.5 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill to rival New Deal and Great Society measures has broad support — though not for its sticker price — and, even today, still seems…

Supporters of Canada’s anti-mandate, trucker-led Freedom Convoy movement shut down traffic on the Ambassador Bridge on Monday. Located between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, the bridge is part of the busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States. Protesters blocked the Ambassador Bridge exit onto Huron Church Road in Windsor on Monday, obliging the police to recommend an alternate route for motorists. The resulting traffic jam spread through Windsor and eventually reached across the border into the United States. The Ambassador Bridge was closed entirely for part of Monday night and Tuesday morning. Police advised motorists, particularly those driving commercial vehicles, to reroute…

On Jan. 9, in response to food shortages that have crippled the Algerian market since last summer, the Ministry of Commerce banned the sale of cooking oil to minors. According to the minister of commerce, Kamel Rezig, unspecified suspicious parties have been recruiting children to buy large volumes of staple products for resale at inflated prices. This statement triggered a wave of condemnations and criticism, demonstrating the widespread and growing popular discontent in the North African country. Beset by severe socioeconomic grievances, Algeria is now facing the most challenging economic situation since the 1988 October Riots, when thousands of young people took to the…

When the normalization agreement between the UAE and Israel was announced in August 2020, the response from the heavily policed and surveilled Emirati population was — understandably — muted. Social media accounts tied to government officials, or those thought to be close to the regime, were quickly vocal and aggressive online in support of the new policy, threatening retribution for anyone who might disagree. One Emirati writer who expressed dissent was banned from travel only a few days later. Opposition to the policy has come from within the Emirati exile community instead. These exiles found themselves pushed out of the country following…

The eagerly awaited "written response" from the U.S. and NATO to Russia’s security proposals are now in the hands of President Vladimir Putin. And yet there is no sign the West caved in on Moscow’s insistence that NATO rescind its 14 year-old invitation to Ukraine to join NATO. Those who expected the Russians to react to the West’s refusal to "redraw the security architecture of Europe" by promptly attacking Ukraine can breathe a bit easier. Although Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Thursday that the responses from the US and NATO provide "little ground for optimism," he quickly added "there always are…