The beatings will continue until morale improves, the saying goes. That’s one interpretation of the European Central Bank’s somewhat convoluted rejig of its quantitative easing program this week. By insisting he’s not tapering bond buying while simultaneously reducing the monthly purchases and extending the time frame, President Mario Draghi is sending a mixed message that likely reflects disagreements among …

  In a speech to her party this week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany, “wherever legally possible,” ought to ban veils that cover the face, and emphasized that German law should not give way to Shariah law. Her audience cheered —but that only confirmed Merkel’s mistake. Pandering to grievances, real or imagined, rarely works. Sometimes it’s meant to soothe …

  Rebel-held east Aleppo continues to be blitzed. The Syrian army tightened its grip on rebels besieged in Aleppo with thousands of civilians. The regime and Russian assaults on rebel enclave go unabated even as US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that regime’s ‘indiscriminate bombing’ amounted to crimes against humanity. US and Russian officials were expected to continue talks …