Outside the Beltway

President Obama overruled his top legal advisors in deciding that the Libya operation does not amount to “hostilities” under the War Powers Act.

The Obama Administration tells Congress that it doesn’t need to comply with the War Powers Act because the Act does not apply to the mission in Libya.

Hillary Clinton is actively lobbying to be the next president of the World Bank, Reuters reports.

Once again, an American President thinks he can bring peace to the Middle East.

Some French politicians and intellectuals seem offended that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is being treated like a common criminal.

Technology has saved the lives of countless American soldiers. But it’s made going to war easier.

An aide’s compliment about the president “leading from behind” has generated controversy.

Ann Coulter says its time for Birthers to shut up.

U.S. officials are making clear that the current mission in Libya may not lead to the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. If that’s the case, then why are we there in the first place?

It looks like things are underway in Libya, with French President Nicholas Sarkozy confirming that French jets are already in the air above Libya.

Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, has died at 85.

Did President Obama pull off a diplomatic masterstroke? Or is he muddling through?

Philippa Thomas has a fascinating take on how she broke the news of (now former) State Department P.J. Crowley’s condemnation of the Obama administration’s treatment of Bradley Manning.

Several “correct” answers on the American citizenship test are technically incorrect.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did not campaign on the union-busting package he’s proposing now.

Calls are coming from both sides of the aisle for the U.S. to do “something” about the situation in Libya. It would be better if we didn’t get involved.

Haley Barbour is making all the moves toward a 2012 Presidential run, but his stand on immigration issues could pose a problem in the Republican primaries.

A new Wikileaks revelation indicates that the U.S. may have paid a heavy price to get a deal on New START.

Some in Washington are claiming the intelligence community missed the warning signs of unrest in Tunisia and Egypt in what looks like little more than an effort to create scapegoats if things go wrong.

Egypt entered a second day of chaos with all signs pointing to things getting worse before they get better.

The Obama administration’s slow and cautious response to Egypt’s protest was frustrating. And correct.

State and AID budgets are a rounding error in the Defense budget.

The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology.

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

Getting an American passport will set you back around $230. Is that reasonable?

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.

President Obama is supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Is this the end of America?

One of the most active American diplomats of the past twenty-five years has passed away.

WikiLeaks’ reveals that DynCorp, a government contractor, provided drugs and child sex slaves to Afghan police–and the State Department helped cover it up.