Outside the Beltway

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. He probably doesn’t know it, though, because he’s currently sitting in a Chinese prison.

While Americans concern themselves with domestic politics and mid-term elections, the situation in Pakistan seems to continue to get worse.

Would non-violence really have failed against the Nazis? History suggests maybe not….

The State Department’s terrorism threat warning for Europe is probably meaningless. If it isn’t, it’ll be perceived that way.

Mohandas Ghandi pioneered the idea of non-violent resistance, but there are times and places where non-violence is little more than a ticket to a death camp.

Western athletes who’ve complained about the conditions at the Commonwealth Games are coming in for a firestorm of criticism.

Pakistan yesterday blocked NATO’s primary supply line into Afghanistan in retaliation for an air strike that killed three Pakistani paramilitaries. Are the two countries truly allies?

Nine months after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, more than a billion dollars in reconstruction aid still hasn’t reached the country.

Yesterday’s NATO Beyond Afghanistan conference was a depressing day for fans of the most successful military alliance in history.

Kim Jong Il’s reclusive third son is now on a path to inherit leadership of the country founded by his Grandfather.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady takes Jeffery Golodberg to task over his interview with Fidel Castro. Much hilarity (or, at least, poor analysis) ensues.

If the United Nations has its way, E.T. will be meeting an obscure Malaysian astrophysicists if he arrives.

Apparently, riding in a gilded carriage with footmen does not preclude one from seeking welfare funds in the United Kingdom.

If it’s September, it must be time for Mahmoud Ahmadinjad to stand up before the United Nations General Assembly and say something completely insane.

According to a new book from Bob Woorward, American policy in Afghanistan is the result of a decision making process that can only be described as chaotic at best.

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections were marked by another round of allegations of widespread voter fraud, once again bringing to the forefront the question; what exactly are we trying to accomplish in Afghanistan ?

A US military platoon was apparently able to target innocent Afghans for murder. Without senior commanders suspecting a thing.

Conservatives have latched on to a few words in a decade-old article by Democrat Chris Coons in their efforts to boost the candidacy of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.

Turkey reformed its constitution over the weekend, in what Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised “will go down in history as a turning point in Turkish democracy.” But there’s strong disagreement over which way it’s headed.

Ted Koppel thinks our actions since 9/11 have helped Osama bin Laden fulfill his goals. He couldn’t be more wrong.

Steve Walt, Steve Clemons, Matthew Hoh and others have released a provocative new report arguing for a change in our Afghanistan strategy.

Fidel Castro is back in the public eye, but he’s singing a slightly different tune now.

Lost amidst the welcome news of British-French cooperation on military cost-sharing in some tough talk from their ministers of defense on NATO.

Responding the near-collapse of the Greek economy, forestalled only by a massive bailout from their brethren, the EU’s finance ministers agreed this morning to submit the outlines of their budget plans for approval by the European Commission.

The plan by one fringe church in Gainesville, Florida to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th is igniting fires of protest across the Muslim world.

Will Israel attack Iran ? You’d better hope not.

If you think anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States is running high, a look across the Pond will put things in perspective.

President Obama didn’t use the words “Mission Accomplished” last night, but the message was the same.

Terrorism dry-run or just weirdly packaged items and a few coincidences?

An obscure U.N. human rights report has become the latest political outrage of the day in the battle over Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

The floodwaters are starting to recede, although the disaster is far from over.

Epic flooding in Pakistan is a humanitarian crisis which dwarfs the combined devastation of the 2004 Asian tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Why aren’t we paying attention?

Elation at discovering 33 miners still alive after over two weeks of looking for them is giving way to the reality that it will take roughly 4 months to get them out.

The task of getting aid to the 20 million victims of Pakistan’s floods may have just gotten a lot more difficult