Far from yielding to the FBI's call to help it gain access to messages stored in a terrorist's cell phone, Apple is doubling down: Apple is working to increase its iCloud encryption, which would inhibit even Apple itself from retrieving password-protected customer data stored in its cloud.

Apple uses...

News reports that were almost completely ignored by the American media indicate that a considerable amount of radioactive material went missing in Iraq. There are reasons to believe that ISIS has acquired this material, which it needs to make a dirty bomb. I wonder what Tim Cook, the CEO of...

The Obama Administration just announced that it will, one more time, reorganize its failing campaign to counter ISIS's message. The large number of agencies involved will be better coordinated; message-making will be localized; and new leadership--the fourth in recent memory--will be installed.

None of this will do any good...

The media is full of the antics of various Republican candidates about who came close to match Trump's last vulgarity, or who seems to be even less informed than the other ones. Meanwhile, with little fanfare, heavy duty conservative thinkers are contemplating what new policies could allow the GOP to...

Me quedé preocupado cuando escuché la propuesta de los candidatos republicanos a las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses de prohibir toda la inmigración procedente de Siria, así como los argumentos de los candidatos demócratas de que cualquier restricción ante esa inmigración estaría violando nuestros ideales compartidos como americanos. Para superar este debate...

I was troubled by Republican presidential candidates who sought to ban all immigration from Syria--and by the Democratic candidates' arguments that any limitations on such immigration would violate our shared ideals as Americans. To leap frog this debate I suggested that the United States should invite 25,000 Syrian...

In response to the almost daily mass shootings in the United States -- which could be expected to rise now that they are also promoted by ISIS -- good progressive persons are calling for some measure of gun control. They may well know, in their heart of hearts,...

The United States should invite 25,000 Syrian families to send one child 10 years or younger to the United States. There they would stay in foster homes until the war is over. The family could reclaim them any time they choose (they should leave instruction if the child would be...

During the recent Democratic debates, and more generally during the current presidential election campaign, we heard very little about the inheritance tax, even from the progressive candidates. This despite the fact that the amount of money the estate of any single person can exempt from the inheritance tax has consistently...

The United States' sailing of a Navy warship within 12 miles of the Chinese-built island of Subi Reef militarizes the growing conflict over which state (or states) has sovereignty rights over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Moreover, this military exercise is more aggressive than previous ones...

At first I was skeptical. A close friend, a rather sensible fellow, told me in no uncertain terms (not his usual style) that I should become "mindful." When I humbly asked what this means, he told me "to be in the moment," to "suspend judgment," and to "run off the...

If you want to know what Pope Francis has in mind when he points out that capitalism is running amok, or -- in his words -- has become "unbridled" and needs to be reined in, you do not have to go far.

On September 18, Volkswagen admitted to cheating on...

The time has come to accept that there are only bad options in Syria, and to choose the least tragic one. It entails accepting the call of the Assad regime -and its allies, Russia and Iran--to negotiate a political settlement. The most that one can hope for, at this point,...

It takes an author of much greater talent than mine, a satirist of the stature of Jon Stewart, to do justice to the recently developing tragicomic series of what unfolded in Syria when the US fielded the force of "moderate" locals it trained. After months of preparation, the president declaring...

The media's reports on Vice President Joe Biden's possible presidential campaign have focused on his personal attributes--his tragedies, gaffes, charm, warmth, age, and even his odd habit of giving unexpected backrubs to startled public officials. Instead of focusing on these traits, the media should pay more attention to Biden's policy...

Ces derniers jours, les commentateurs ont pu faire leurs choux gras sur les récentes propositions politiques d'Hillary Clinton. Leurs critiques portaient cependant plus sur le fond que sur la forme: l'ancienne première dame a pris le risque de noyer son effet d'annonce en exposant ses...

In recent days, the commentariat has made much out of the fact that news about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server has drowned out the policy proposals she has unveiled. These proposals indeed deserve public attention. However, they also reveal one of her campaign's great weaknesses: its tendency...

A common argument holds that one cannot defeat ISIS because it is not merely a group of brutal terrorists, but also an idea. And, the argument goes, how can you kill an idea? Thus, former CIA operative Robert Baer warns that while "we're capable of militarily destroying ISIS and eliminating...

I have been called "irresponsible" by one of the greatest cryptographers, the famous Ronald Rivest of MIT. (His name provided the "R" in RSA, a computer security firm and a widely used encryption scheme, on both of which he worked.) I gained that dubious distinction for arguing that a new...

For the past two hundred years, much public discourse has centered on the relative merits of the government versus the private sector. However, both liberals and conservatives ignore that the two sectors are ever-more closely linked.

This is especially evident in the ways that privacy is undermined or protected....