Outside the Beltway

The “Obama Doctrine,” such as it is, seems to boil down to moral self-certainty combined with a glaring ignorance of reality. That’s a dangerous combination.

President Obama’s grand coalition against Libya is a lot less than meets the eye.

Natural disasters in Japan have lessened the supply of pigments necessary to make black paint.

It has become quite apparent that neither the White House nor our coalition partners have any idea what the path to an endgame in Libya even looks like. That’s not good.

The uneasy coalition that coalesced around action in Libya will be strained by decisions to come.

America is about to enter a third war in the Muslim world with no clear idea of the end game.

The Obama Administration is asking the U.N. Security Council to authorize direct military intervention in Libya. The question is, why now?

A new biography of Adolf Hitler analyzes new documents about his World War I service and “concludes that he was not the hero he was later made out to be and that his radicalization shouldn’t necessarily be attributed to his wartime experiences.”

John Kerry’s Washington Post op-ed supports U. S. leadership in establishing a no-fly zone in Libya.

Former French president Jacques Chirac is being tried on corruption charges stemming from misconduct as mayor of Paris.

The last American veteran of a conflict which ended nearly a century ago has died.

The continuing chaos in Libya could have a serious impact on the U.S. economy, especially if it spreads to other oil producing nations.

The Wall Street Journal is joining the modern era and dropping the practice of referring to people as “Mr.” and “Ms.” But only on the sports pages.

Facebook has come up with new settings to meet the needs of users in same-sex relationships.

While most Americans consider themselves “conservatives,” some conservatives exclude most Americans from the definition.

Mohammed el-Baradai had harsh words for Hosni Mubarak and the United States when he spoke today from house arrest.

Republicans in Idaho are talking about resurrecting the foolish and discredited idea of nullification as a weapon in the fight against ObamaCare.

The last thing that Haiti needed was for a former dictator to return, but that’s exactly what has happened.

Information made public by Wikileaks appears to have played a role in sparking the protest movement that has brought down the President of Tunisia.

Andy McNab writes books for people who like video games.

The lawyer who argued The Pentagon Papers case points out how Julian Assange is not Daniel Ellsberg, and how prosecuting him could have disastrous results for press freedom in the United States.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

For the first time in 35 years, the Senate may finally be on the verge of reforming the filibuster.

Is calling Côte d’Ivoire “Ivory Coast” linguistic colonialism? Where do we draw the line when English names for countries go out of vogue?

Red States should gain 10 seats while Blue States should lose eight.

The battle over the individual mandate is really just nothing more than the latest round in a batter that has been ongoing for 221 years.

The hunters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

The Feds famously got notorious mobster Al Capone on tax evasion charges. Will WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be done in by sex crimes?

The major outlets that received document drops from Wikileaks are covering the story in different and interesting ways.

World Politics Review has published a special issue on “NATO’s Identity Crisis” ahead of next month’s Lisbon summit and the unveiling of a new Strategic Concept. I contributed the lead essay, “NATO in an Age of Austerity.”

Should the UN expand the number of permanent Security Council members?

Daniel Larison’s “The Case Against NATO” makes compelling reading. In my New Atlanticist post “The Case Against the Case Against NATO,” I explain why it’s wrong.

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.

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.

America’s elite universities have proportionately fewer slots than their English and French counterparts. Does it matter?

Is our Federal system a mere political compromise? Or were the Founding Fathers visionaries with a plan?

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