Outside the Beltway

There is a disturbing trend in Western nations toward enforcement of laws against “insulting” religions.

The factors influencing Russian policy in Syria are many, and some of them are quite ancient.

The president has come a long way from his days as a “liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war.”

There may be only one solution to saving the Euro.

The first shots have been fired in cyberspace. How will it end?

An Internet meme that Robert Mugabe has been named UN Tourism Ambassador is untrue.

Mitt Romney is criticizing the President over his Syria policy, but his alternative ideas aren’t very good.

Mark Zuckerberg left at least two Italian restaurants without tipping. Apparently, he read his guide books.

We, as Americans, tend to have a limited knowledge of the institutional variation that exists across democratic systems around the world.

Will more knowledge bring an end to the public debate over evolutionary theory? Don’t count on it.

Meet Flame. A cyber threat that makes Stuxnet seem like child’s play.

China’s economic engine may be sputtering.

Is President Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage helping to create a change in opinion on the issue among African-Americans?

The private office is quickly becoming a relic, despite the loss of morale and productivity that comes from open floorplans.

Since Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón began an all-out assault on drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have lost their lives across the country in a nearly-continuous string of shootouts, bombings, and ever-bloodier murders.

In office less than a day, Francois Hollande has already been forced to admit he can’t withdraw French forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

My first piece for the Christian Science Monitor, co-authored with my Atlantic Council collegue Barry Pavel, has been posted.

A blog post lampooning black studies dissertations got a writer fired, setting off a controversy over the limits of free speech.

Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb isn’t as easy as most think, Jacques Hymans argues in the current Foreign Policy.