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China also is heading over a demographic cliff. The population has peaked, much earlier than once predicted. With a shrinking population, and a potential two-thirds reduction in working-age population by the end of the century, the PRC might not outstrip the U.S. economically. Still much poorer than America, China is rapidly growing older before it grows rich. That might become its permanent status. The PRC also is rapidly aging and suffers a dearth of women, as a result of the infamous “one-child policy,” which encouraged rural dwellers to abort or kill baby girls.

What’s happening in the nearly six-month-old Russo-Ukrainian war? It’s hard to say. Moscow expected a proverbial cakewalk and bungled its initial attack. After rebuffing Russia’s assault, the Zelensky government expanded its objectives, expressing its desire to reconquer portions of the Donbas seized by separatists with Russian support in 2014, as well as Crimea, which had been formally annexed by Moscow.In recent months, however, Russian forces have made slow progress in the Donbas and now occupy a fifth or more of Ukrainian territory. But Ukraine and its advocates have been threatening counteroffensives against Moscow’s supposedly overstretched forces. Conflicting claims have been...

In NATO the smallest members tend to be the most aggressive. It’s probably because they know they wouldn’t be called on to fight any wars they caused. They simply are too small to make a difference. So Lithuania, with an army of just 8,850 active-duty personnel and 5,650 reservists, is now enforcing a blockade of sorts against Russia through Kaliningrad. The latter was seized from Germany at the end of World War II and ended up separated from the rest of Russia after the Baltic States seceded from the Soviet Union. Vilnius is forbidding transport of coal, metals, electronics, and...

Despite much hand-wringing by Republican leadership, the GOP is actually complicit in the persecution of Christians in the Middle East because of its vocal support for Israel, argues Doug Bandow in a Forbes essay Saturday. Bandow rightly notes that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today and are “harassed and harmed in more than 100 countries.” Christians, he writes, “are particularly vulnerable to government abuse, especially in Muslim-majority states.” Yet Bandow takes issue with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 79% ’s Christmas Eve article denouncing attacks on Christian communities, contending that the GOP, rather than the Obama...

With no real issues to promote, Democrats are putting all their eggs into the basket of corruption to restore their political fortunes. They and their friends in the mainstream media are working overtime to connect everyone and everything on the right side of the political spectrum to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies. One channel that Democrats and liberals are working is tying conservative think tanks to the Abramoff scandal. They know that these think tanks have been one of the most effective forces in Washington over the last 30 years in advancing a...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 - A senior scholar at the Cato Institute, the respected libertarian research organization, has resigned after revelations that he took payments from the lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for writing columns favorable to his clients.

WHEN Bill Clinton left office, many Americans felt relief. The era of personal scandal and endless campaigning was over. The adults were back in charge. Five years after his election, only Republican apparatchiks now praise George W. Bush. He is more partisan, less competent and far less mature than his predecessor. Compared with the BushII administration, the 1990s epitomise good government. It quickly became clear that Bush was not a fiscal conservative. He combined support for tax relief with a willingness to subsidise the usual Republican camp followers, especially farmers and businessmen. He pushed through the largest expansion of the...

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "We're all Keynesians now," declared President Richard M. Nixon when he surrendered his fiscal policies to liberal orthodoxy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did much the same with his recent executive order calling for draconian cuts in the emission of "greenhouse gases" linked to global warming. "The debate is over," he claimed. The issue of global warming, though presented as a matter of scientific certainty, is actually highly controverted. Although the planet almost certainly is warming, how much of that is due to humanity -- which contributes only about .3 percent of...

Abortion, gay rights and marriage, euthanasia, and the like are among today's most contentious political issues. They tend to inflame people's worst emotions. Choosing sides often isn't easy. For instance, no one should feel comfortable about having the state rebuff a woman's desire for an abortion, but the procedure destroys a human life. The government should not discriminate against gays, but marriage plays a unique role in providing a framework for child-rearing and family life. What should be a simple decision is allowing people to say no, irrespective of the government's stance. If abortion is legal, no doctor should have...

SAN DIEGO -- The California biotechnology industry recently gathered for its annual CALBIO conference. Participants were excited at the prospect of developing new medical miracles. But the ever-present potential of government interference hung over the proceedings like dark clouds on the horizon. Much is at stake. Nearly $50 billion was spent last year in pharmaceutical and biotech R&D. The big drugmakers devoted $38.8 billion to finding new cures. Biotech companies, in the main smaller and more dependent on investors willing to risk their money on unproven ventures, spent another $10.5 billion. The U.S. dominates the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide. America's big...

WASHINGTON -- Much could change with the death of Pope John Paul II. He was a unique individual chosen at a dangerous moment in time that, thankfully, has passed. No successor, even one as close to him as was the now Pope Benedict XVI, is likely to govern the church or become a spiritual symbol in the same way. But there is one commitment of John Paul II's that should stand: Vatican recognition of Taiwan. The exchange of ambassadors between secular governments and the Catholic Church always has been a bit odd. While the Pontiff's spiritual influence is enormous, the...

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations is a mess. Often corrupt and venal, always inefficient and wasteful, frequently captured by the worst political interests, and commonly motivated by the most extreme ideological impulses, the organization is anything but "the last great hope of mankind." If anyone can push it toward real reform, it is John Bolton. Bolton, nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush to be America's ambassador to the world body, is perfectly qualified for the job. He served as assistant secretary of state for international organizations in the first Bush administration and as under secretary of state for arms...

LOST at Sea By Doug Bandow Published 3/17/2005 12:09:55 AM Attention at Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing focused on Iraq, but that was not the only policy discussed. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) pressed the soon-to-be Secretary of State on the obscure but important Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Ms. Rice responded that the President "certainly would like to see it pass as soon as possible." One of President Ronald Reagan's notable achievements was derailing the omnibus convention. But Secretary Rice argued that the treaty "serves our national security interests, serves our economic interests. We very much...

Washington is hothouse for nutty ideas — and not just in Congress and the federal bureaucracy. D.C. lawmakers are equally capable of generating bad proposals. Councilmember David Catania is pushing the Prescription Drug Compulsory Manufacture License Act. Put simply, Mr. Catania wants to steal the drugmakers' patents. Standing in his way is the 5th Amendment, which limits the power of government to take private property. Which means the city would have to pay for anything it seizes.

Rarely does the U.S. Congress intervene in personal controversies. Yet members held a very unusual weekend vote to save, at least temporarily, the life of Terri Schiavo, who otherwise would slowly starve to death at the Florida hospice in which she is confined. The case is both tragic and complicated. Terri collapsed for unknown reasons in 1990. Although cognitively disabled, she is not in a coma. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, won a $1.3 million medical malpractice judgment, but he used none of the funds to provide her with rehabilitative care. Over the years he had two children with his live-in...

Doug Bandow: No winners in Schiavo case March 22, 2005 THE US Congress held a very unusual weekend vote to save, at least temporarily, the life of Terri Schiavo, who otherwise would slowly starve to death at the Florida hospice in which she is confined. Terri collapsed in 1990, leaving her profoundly cognitively disabled. Michael Schiavo, her husband, won a $US1.3million malpractice judgment that included money for her medical care, which he subsequently refused to fund. Along the way he moved in with a woman and had two children. Seven years ago he petitioned the court to remove Terri's feeding...

The United States is the strongest nation on earth. But it has discovered that power doesn't buy love. Over Washington's objections, the Philippines withdrew its minuscule military contingent from Iraq to save a captive Filipino truck driver kidnapped by Islamic terrorists. After the Madrid bombing earlier this year, the new Spanish government brought home its 1,300 troops from Iraq. The Dominican Republic and Honduras pulled out their small detachments shortly thereafter. In early July Norway withdrew 140 of 155 troops; Moldova and Singapore also have brought home most of their few score personnel. New Zealand and Thailand plan to get...

Trial Lawyer Breath Testers By Doug Bandow Published 7/19/2004 There's nothing new about lawyers attempting to profit from tragedy. When an individual dies after behaving irresponsibly, an attorney always can be found to blame someone with deep pockets. But now many lawyers are as interested in regulating behavior as in making money. So it is with a raft of lawsuits against alcohol producers for having the temerity to advertise their products. After all, some people drink foolishly and illegally. Some have accidents, and die. The state tobacco suits were the mother of abusive litigation. As important as money damages were...

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is challenging the constitutionality of President George W. Bush's recess appointment of Alabama's William H. Pryor to the Court of Appeals. The "language and purpose" of the Constitution, explains Kennedy, suggests that such appointments are not to be made during brief breaks during a congressional session. It's good to see that Sen. Kennedy cares about diligently interpreting the Constitution. Alas, the fidelity of Sen. Kennedy and other Democrats to the rule of law has not been much in evidence lately. And certainly not when it comes to judicial nominations. Democratic Senators have routinely demagogued nominees like...

"Pinocchio Presidency" is the cover story in a recent issue of The American Conservative magazine. The artwork on the cover shows caricatures of George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney with Pinocchio noses. Inside, columnist Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, explains the elongated noses: "A Pew survey found the most common description of Bush was 'liar.' The administration now finds its and America's credibility ruined."