Outside the Beltway

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

More odd developments inside the modern day version of the Hermit Kingdom

Ok, Saudi Arabia has less freedom than the US. Why do some people think that should form the basis of an argument about appropriate behavior in the US?

A combination of news and some lunchtime satire.

Not surprisingly, Radical Islamists are taking notice of the tone of debate in the United States over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate is about more than just a “mosque” near Ground Zero. He’s right, but that also means the debate is likely to get uglier.

While American politics concerns itself with trivial issues, Pakistan finds itself dealing with a devastating natural disaster that could have real geo-political implications.

America’s mission in Iraq is shifting from an active combat role to a smaller security presence. But the war that gripped our attention for years is now off the radar screen.

Some of our politicians and commentators are looking to odd places for guidance over the application of fundamental American values.

A quick flip-flop from Swedish authorities on a very serious charge.

Once again, an American President is stepping into the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and, once again, he has no idea how to accomplish the goals he’s established.

Why are people’s views about Islam so screwed up ? Mostly because the only things they know about it tend to be the worst possible aspects of all.

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama Administration has convinced Israel that Iran is much further away from developing nuclear weapons than Tel Aviv fears, but there seems to be something else going on here.

Colombia’s Constitutional Court has struck down a US basing rights deal.

What do the critics mean when they say that the United States should be more like Germany?

According to John Bolton, Israel has a deadline of August 21st to attack Iran’s nuclear program. This is the fourth deadline he’s set in the last three years.

As many American soldiers have died in Afghanistan under Obama as under Bush.