Syria’s President, Bashar Assad, ignored the lessons of the Arab Spring and, in fact, insisted in January that his country was immune to a popular uprising because he was in tune with the people. Today, the 46-year-old eye doctor who inherited power 11 years ago from his father is on the verge of being toppled — by the very people he thought he knew.

We survived the fruitless deliberations of the congressional supercommittee.

Manufacturing is not, as the conventional wisdom would have it, dead. The United States produces more goods than any other country in the world. No. 2, with many more people, is China.

There’s one thing that all Alz-heimer’s researchers agree on: The mind-robbing illness is heartbreaking. But after three decades of study that have produced neither cure nor medications that significantly slow its progress, some researchers are asking: What if it’s not a disease with a cure? What if it’s just an unfortunate but inevitable part of aging, along with wrinkly skin, osteoporosis and heart disease?

Political turmoil in Washington. Economic chaos in Europe. Unemployment everywhere.

As public policy challenges go, this one shouldn’t have been that difficult.

Maybe the recently shuttered Borders bookstore chain did not perish in vain.

While U.S. President Barack Obama puts personal politics ahead of his country’s critical need for oil via the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada’s wooing of the Asian option should move quickly beyond simply courtship.

The National Basketball Association is losing big in the court of public opinion. The damage will be compounded if the 2011-12 season is lost, which appears to be a real possibility after the latest breakdown in negotiations.