Well-written, thought-provoking articles about the USA and its current woes (some are more polemical than others, but I have an anti-rant filter): 

1. 15th August, Nick Bryant in The Age.
2. 6th August, Wade Davis in RollingStone
3. 23rd July, Fintan O'Toole in The Atlantic
4. 24th June, Tom McTague in the New York Review of Books
5. 3rd June, Max Boot in The Washington Post