Outside the Beltway

What are the contours of “mainstream” religious thought in today’s America?

My first piece for CNN has been posted at Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square.

The U.S may be on the verge of committing the next decade to the future of Afghanistan.

My latest for The National Interest is posted under the somewhat misleading headline “NATO Fails in Libya.”

Dick Cheney’s long-awaited book’s out and he promises lots of bombshells that will have heads exploding in DC.

Success in Libya does not make the American mission any less unjustified than it was on the day President Obama announced it.

There are 164 technically acceptable transliterations of the name of Libya’s soon-to-be-former dictator.

The Atlantic has published an essay I wrote yesterday morning titled “Libya After Qaddafi: Lessons from Iraq 2003.”

Steve Benen has coined the phrase “Thank America Last” to describe those avoiding praise of President Obama for success in Libya.

Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet.

After months of fits and starts, it appears anti-Gaddafi forces are on the verge of victory.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the strongest signal ever that there will be some U.S. military presence in Iraq after December 31st.

Not only is the US outspending all our allies and competitors combined in real dollars on defense, we’re doing so in terms of GDP as well.

The U.S. and its allies are calling on Bashar Assad to step down, but there’s little we can do when he says no.

British courts are handing out swift and harsh sentences for people involved in last week’s riots, including four-year prison sentences for two 20-somethings for Facebook postings in support of the mayhem.

Michele Bachmann is promising $2.00 gas. Not surprisingly, she has no idea how to achieve this seemingly impossible goal.

Iraq has become so dependent on Iran for its survival that it is endorsing the brutal tactics of Bashar Assad.

The First Lady takes a lot of days off from her unpaid “job.”

The Telegraph’s chief political commentator sees moral decay at the top as well as the bottom.

What’s a little thing like freedom of speech when there are shops being looted and burned?

Examining the impact of current events requires stepping back from them just a little bit.

What you think you know about the U.S.-China trade relationship may not be entirely true.

Some thoughts on the riots (especially some US partisan responses to it).

Honoring the fallen by ensuring that the didn’t die in vain is a recipe for getting more good men killed.

Joseph Nye explains why China’s “demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets” is really just talk.

Michele Bachmann’s view of history is based in a world view that would be foreign to most Americans.

Lost in the hubbub of S&P downgrading the US bond rating is news that the Italian government has the ratings agencies under criminal investigation.