Having established a base on the Syrian coast, Vladimir Putin last week began air strikes on ISIS and other rebel forces seeking to overthrow Bashar Assad. A longtime ally of Syria, Russia wants to preserve its toehold on the Mediterranean, help Assad repel the...

While the American media was enamored by the charismatic pope's "historic" visit to the United States (I seem to remember popes have visited before), more important earthly developments occurred. The leaders of the next two most powerful countries in the...

The US regime change policy for Syria has been a catastrophe. More than 200,000 killed and an entire country reduced to rubble at least partly because President Obama decided that “Assad has lost his legitimacy.” How is it that the president of a country...

Bombers struck in several town across Iraq, including Baghdad.

Russia’s airstrikes on rebel strongholds in Syria, now in their fifth day, are a game-changer. To borrow an aphorism from philosopher Yogi Berra, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Yogi also warned, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”...

This past weekend marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reunification of Germany, an event that formalized the end of the cold war. The so-called “German Democratic Republic,” one of the most repressive of the Soviet-imposed regimes established in the wake of...

The number of cholera cases has now surpassed 800 cases. Cholera was first reported in the Abu Ghraib area, but it has since spread along the river system to several southern cities, including Basra. Authorities blame old infrastructure and low water levels for the...

Bombers returned to the Iraqi capital where they tried to strike at a shrine in northern Baghdad. At least 89 were killed.

The New York Times reported last week that U.S. soldiers still fighting the war in Afghanistan – 14 years on – are under orders to be “culturally sensitive” regarding different attitudes among our Afghan allies about, uh . . . the sexual abuse of children....

After midnight on August 15, 1947, India and Pakistan became separate countries. What should have been a joyous occasion – a celebration of independence from three centuries of British colonial rule – quickly turned into one of the greatest tragedies in...