There is nothing "normal" or "ordinary" about Pakistan, from the rationale for its creation to the fact that it played a crucial role in the last epic battle of the Cold War, the expulsion of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. It played an equally...
Shinzo Abe has become the youngest postwar prime minister of Japan. He is seen as a reformer, following the lead of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. Of greater significance to the U.S. and the rest of world, Abe also is a nationalist dedicated increasing his...
The media missed the real story regarding the National Intelligence Estimate of the global terror threat. It's not what's in the declassified executive summary of the report – Iraq, which was unavoidable – it's what's absent from it – Afghanistan, where...
At America's behest, Pakistan sent its army into the tribal territories along its northwest frontier. Predictably, its army got beaten. The Pakistani government has now signed a truce with the tribes in North Waziristan, a wise move given that government's fragility....
How quickly we forget. It seems like only yesterday that the headlines were ablaze with news of the color-coded revolutions supposedly inspired by our president's commitment to fostering "democracy" throughout the globe. In an inaugural speech widely derided by those...
I'll probably be sorry for suggesting it. But maybe it really wasn't such a good idea for the CIA to help the British overthrow Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected, secular prime minister of Iran, back in 1953. Maybe we should have been more careful about...
With Salam Talib Few in Iraq have experienced sectarian violence more than residents of Samarra, an ancient, mid-sized city on the Tigris River northwest of Baghdad. For centuries, the areas Sunni majority had lived at peace with its Shi'ite minority – but in...
The Empire Tries to Browbeat Serbia Last week, representatives of the Contact Group met in New York and agreed with the chief UN negotiator on Kosovo that the talks concerning the status of the occupied Serbian province were stalled. The Group – a self-appointed...
Iraqis – especially the majority Shi'ites – are increasingly angry and frustrated about their situation and impatient for U.S. troops to leave, but most do not believe their country will fall apart, according to a major new poll [.pdf] released here...
ROME - Italy is once again torn by bitter controversies over its military presence in Afghanistan after 31-year-old Italian soldier Giorgio Langella was killed and another five were injured Sept. 26 near Kabul. Militants, said to be from the resurgent Taliban,...
