"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," sayeth Rahm. Opportunistic and cynical, yes. But also savvy political counsel that transformational presidents have always followed. ...more

February 4, 2009

The international to-do list President George W. Bush hands to his successor has a lot of boxes marked "incomplete." Some of Bush's foreign policy and security priorities were overtaken by the two expensive wars that outlast him. In other cases, Bush ran out of time or political capital, or was vexed by the realities of a new world where even close allies don't always cater to American whims. ...more

January 4, 2009

Retired Lt. Gen. Ruslan Aushev, 54, served for five years in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union's nearly decadelong battle with mujahedeen there. He was wounded and named a Hero of the Soviet Union. ...more

December 7, 2008

The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO. ...more

August 22, 2008

With 68 percent of Americans believing George Bush has done a poor job, and 82 percent saying the country is on the wrong track, the election of 2008 will turn on one issue: Barack Obama. ...more

July 12, 2008

With 68 percent of Americans believing George Bush has done a poor job, and 82 percent saying the country is on the wrong track, the election of 2008 will turn on one issue: Barack Obama. ...more

July 9, 2008

With the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics now only 75 days off, the dreaded and not-so-unfamiliar B-word is once again being mentioned by a few invited nations looking to make a statement on one of the world's biggest stages. That word, of course, is boycott – the political tact used by nations wishing to show their displeasure with either the game's host, or just something they don't agree with in the world. ...more

May 24, 2008

There is too a difference between the two major parties. Republicans want us to spend, die and lose in Iraq. Democrats want us to spend, die and lose in Afghanistan. ...more

December 25, 2007

Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television. ...more

November 30, 2007