Outside the Beltway

Peace between the FARC and the Colombian state appears nigh.

International relations prof mostly assign readings by male scholars. Female profs are slightly less likely to do so.

The U.N. Security Council has approved the Iranian nuclear deal, and now the ball is in Congress’s court.

There are mutual embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time in 54 years. It certainly took long enough.

For the first time since 1961, there will soon be an American Embassy in Havana, and a Cuban Embassy in Washington. It’s well past time that this happened.

Wherein I take the view that as our understanding of language changes, so too does our application of the Constiution.

Turkey’s governing party suffered big setbacks at the ballot box yesterday.

Another step forward toward ending a U.S. policy regarding Cuba that was outdated twenty years ago.

If a Russian solider dies, it’s now a secret thanks to a new decree signed by the Russian President.

Disturbing developments on the part of the Ukrainian government.

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first truly-elected president, has been sentenced to death by the government which ousted him in a coup.

If a new campaign succeeds, Harriet Tubman could replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

The Holocaust was a very atypical case of genocide.

New allegations regarding foreign government donations to the Clinton Foundation seem likely to become a campaign issue.

Some thoughts on a column by Roger Noriega on the Obama administration and Latin America,

A federal judge has ordered the people of California to foot the $100,000 bill for sexual reassignment surgery for someone serving a life sentence for murder.

Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia may soon see the same battle over RFRA laws that is playing itself out in Indiana

Hillary Clinton addressed the week-long email controversy, but her explanations only raised new questions.

Roy Moore and six of his fellow Judges on the Alabama Supreme Court have a rather bizarre view of Constitutional Law.

My latest for War on The Rocks, “IS OBAMA REAL(IST) CONFUSED?”

Another commentary on the National Security Strategy, this one at The Hill.

The same-sex marriage battle is on in Alabama

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

President Obama criticized Sony for backing down, and said that the U.S. would respond to North Korea’s cyber attack “at a place and time we choose,”

In the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on C.I.A. torture, some have suggested that eight years of Jack Bauer helped make torture more acceptable to the American public.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

The resumption of diplomatic relations between U.S. and Cuba, and expansion of some commercial trade ties, is historic but it’s only the first step toward the goal of ending an outdated embargo.

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

Well, so much for that “people’s revolt” that brought down a military dictator.

The U.S. embargo of Cuba, and our lack of diplomatic recognition of the government in Havana, is an outdated relic of the Cold War. It’s time to end it.

In the current situation, speaking out forcefully as some are demanding can only do more harm than good.

After keeping his distance from them for three years, President Obama is placing much misplaced hope in the “moderate” Syrian rebels,

If the President is going to increase American involvement in the Middle East, he needs to address some fundamental questions first.

Dan Froomkin says Obama is as bad as Bush, if not worse.

Later today, President Obama will sign an Executive Order barring Federal Contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation. But that’s not even the most controversial part for some conservatives.

Political irony, perhaps, but probably less than meets the eye.

The Supreme Court’s next term doesn’t start for three months, but it’s becoming clear that the Justices will have to deal with marriage equality when it does.

And odd report from Washington Post and Stars and Stripes.

Obsessing over what a politician believed in the past accomplishes nothing.

After two and a half decades, the images of June 4, 1989 resonate with many, unless you happen to live in China.