Portside

At the end of 2014, President Obama announced the "responsible conclusion" of the longest war in U.S. history, leaving behind an Afghanistan that everyone acknowledges is still a very "dangerous place." Despite more than 130,000 U.S. and NATO troops, the effort to eliminate the Taliban has ended in total failure. Year 2014 was the worst of America’s 13-year war, and a weak, divided, and vulnerable government in Kabul faces severe challenges in 2015.

After 53 years the United States and Cuba have restored diplomatic relations, with the U.S. formally ending its unsuccessful attempts to isolate the socialist island republic. One commentator termed President Obama's decision to restore diplomatic relations his most positive foreign policy decision. Another said the accord proves "dignity wins battles." Many hope the Cuba decision will augur more realistic U.S. approaches to countries such as Iran and Venezuela.

The Demise of Acute Health Care in Quincy, Massachusetts - Implications for Surviving Community Hospitals. On Friday evening December 19th at midnight, Quincy Medical Center ceased admitting patients. The last in-patient was discharged on December 23th.

Analyzing page views of Wikipedia articles could make it possible to monitor and forecast diseases around the globe.

Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz talks about what forces are driving economic inequality and a policy framework for reversing the trend.

The game has changed, and the bosses are operating on outdated software. They are losing in a contest where they barely seem to grasp the rules. Meanwhile players, fans and political activists have been able to take the carefully scripted narrative of corporate sports and engineer a series of dramatic rewrites.

Even amid the racial turmoil of 2014, we are making progress.