The Federal Reserve will almost certainly take steps to start reducing its $4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year. The central bankers made that clear in the minutes from their meeting. At first blush, this seems as if it would be bad for longer-term debt, which is yielding much less than it has historically in large part because of the …

The effects of this month’s global ransomware attack seem to be fading, fortunately. But a crucial question the incident raised is only getting more urgent. When it comes to online security, the U.S. government’s priorities — preventing terrorism and protecting cyberspace — are in permanent tension. Is there a way to resolve it? The National Security Agency (NSA) routinely seeks out …

Germany wants good relations with both Russia and the English-speaking world, but it can’t really trust either, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Such admissions don’t advance her re-election campaign as some claim, but her aim is much broader than that anyhow. Merkel’s remarks that “the time when we could fully rely on others is pretty much gone” and that …