The most talked-about global economic trend in recent years has been “the rise of the rest,” with Brazil, Russia, India, and China leading the charge. But international economic convergence is a myth. Few countries can sustain unusually fast growth for a decade, and even fewer, for more than that. Now that the boom years are over, the BRICs are crumbling; the international order will change less than expected.

Iraqi Kurdistan is reveling in its newfound oil wealth and growing more estranged from the violent and dysfunctional central government in Baghdad. Yet statehood -- the ultimate dream of Iraqi Kurds -- will likely be deferred once again, as Kurdistan shifts from Iraq’s suffocating embrace to a more congenial dependence on Turkey.

The U.S. military’s ban on women in combat rests on false stereotypes and an outdated understanding of war. Irregular warfare has blurred the concept of frontlines, meaning that many female American soldiers already risk their lives in battle. And research suggests that women can meet the functional requirements of fighting and that mixed combat units are no less effective than all-male ones. It’s time to abandon a policy that does no good -- and treats half of Americans as less than equal.