Outside the Beltway

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

A word that has come in recent years to be used to refer chiefly to Muslim fanatics obviously applies to a man who murdered nine people because they’re black.

A well-founded fear of ISIS seems to be drawing many of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia closer to Moscow.

Nine people died overnight in a shooting at an historic African-American Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Thanks largely to a series of court decisions, same-sex marriage is effectively legal in all of Mexico.

In what seems to be a clear signal to Russia, the U.S. is considering pre-positioning military equipment in nation’s very close to Russian borders.

The head of the Spokane NAACP has apparently been lying about her racial background, and that’s led to a whole other argument.

In a case that took seven months to decide, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Presidency’s broad authority in foreign affairs, and inserted itself just a little bit in the thorny politics of the Middle East.

Turkey’s governing party suffered big setbacks at the ballot box yesterday.

Several of the top representatives of soccer’s governing body have been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in New York.

Some unusually blunt, but true, language from the U.S. Secretary Of Defense.

Voters in Ireland have overwhelmingly approved a referendum legalizing same-sex marriage.

North Korea now claims it has miniaturized nuclear warheads sufficienctly so that they can be placed on missiles. They also say they can launch missiles from submarines.

Pollsters on both sides of the Atlantic have been trying to figure out why the polls released right up until the eve of the British General Election were so wrong. Here’s one theory, and it’s very compelling.

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first truly-elected president, has been sentenced to death by the government which ousted him in a coup.

Fresh off an election victory, British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to propose a series of new measures to crackdown on extremism that raise serious civil liberties concerns.

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has seen better days.

The Vatican has announced that it will recognize Palestinian statehood, but this is not going to resolve the underlying issues that prevent a Palestinian state from actually coming into existence.

With the election behind him, David Cameron’s biggest problems may be yet to come.

A plan to distribute migrants from the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa across the entire European Union seems destined to cause political conflict.

Like most Republicans, Jeb Bush either fails or refuses to recognize what an utter, unjustifiable disaster his brother’s decision to invade Iraq actually was.

Congressman Darrell Issa says that America’s poor are generally better off than the poor in the rest of the world. While he’s correct, he’s also incredibly tone deaf.

The just-concluded British General Election was also a clash between two former top advisers to President Obama.

Jeb Bush told a group of supporters that his brother is his top Middle East policy adviser. This strikes me as being a bad idea.

Largely in reaction to revelations about N,S.A. surveillance, Germany has cut back on its intelligence cooperation with the United States.

Former President Clinton doesn’t seem to get it. Or, does he?

Saudi Arabia’s new King has shaken up the Royal Family, and that could have interesting results.

Far from being a positive, Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State provides ample material for those who would attack her over the next eighteen months.

Pot, meet kettle.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

For months, Ted Cruz said the nomination of Loretta Lynch must be blocked. Then, he failed to show up when the Senate voted on her nomination.

An attack on al Qaeda outposts in January resulted in the death of two hostages, but also resulted in the death of two high value al Qaeda targets.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.

The Holocaust was a very atypical case of genocide.

150 years later, Abraham Lincoln continues to inspire us.

Another step forward for U.S.-Cuban relations.