Top diplomats from the U.S. State Department and USAID appeared before a congressional subcommittee last week to make the case for the department’s FY 2017 budget, which requests $164.1 million for Central Asia. Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, Daniel Rosenblum of the U.S. State Department detailed the justification behind across-the-board increases …

Microsoft’s acquisition of the social network LinkedIn is not easy to understand. Both companies’ chief executives, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Jeff Weiner, have described the $26.2 billion all-cash deal — one of the largest in tech history — in the blandest corporate-speak, with memos that sounded as if they were part of LinkedIn’s megaboring attempt to create a commentary …

  When he promised a referendum on the U.K.’s membership in the EU, Prime Minister David Cameron was surely not picturing the white-knuckle ride his “remain” campaign is experiencing right now. What was intended as a campaign promise to get his Conservatives elected must seem in retrospect like a reckless gamble. The consequences will be felt long after the ballots …