In a chaotic, problem-filled world — compounded by a lingering recession — it is easy to feel helpless and frustrated. However, it is also possible to make a difference in a surprisingly big way, as my wife and I found out during a yearlong sponsorship of a young woman in sub-Saharan Africa. To protect the [...]

Will the recruits training for Somalia’s new navy — its first in decades — prove capable against threats such as piracy? Considering that Mogadishu is also beseeching neighboring states to send more troops to assist in its struggle against rebel forces, I wonder.

In Iran, Lebanon and North Korea, a familiar lesson has played out dramatically in recent days: When freedom reigns, human life has greater importance and security; the opposite prevails under repression.
Why not start with the just-concluded sham election in Iran, a country that once experimented with genuine democratic practices? It is easy to join with [...]

As negotiations continue to force North Korea to end its dangerously irresponsible nuclear program, the most important player clearly is China. So far, many Americans have been understandably dismayed by Beijing’s apparent reluctance to do more than criticize Pyongyang for its disruptive behavior. But is the Chinese response to the crisis as glove-soft as it [...]

WASHINGTON — Instead of looking for what the Obama administration accomplished in the first 100 days or what it might achieve in the next 100, we should focus on the longer term. The 1,000-day mark interests me far more than the sprouts of the administration’s early seeds.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Facing the old slave market from the sea, you can try to imagine what it was like to arrive here as a captive in the 1500s, with a future of forced servitude as your fate. You can try, but you can never grasp the totality of the horror. In those long-gone [...]

The U.S. Navy’s sudden rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips from pirates this week ended an ugly episode of what has become a familiar drama. Sadly, the problem is occurring not only off the coast of Somalia but around the world. From Africa to the Middle East to Latin America to the Asia-Pacific region, pirates have [...]

The future of the United States and India, in broad terms, beckons largely from the same direction. Thus, it was encouraging to learn that a substantive meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in London recently went well. Obama called India a critical partner, and Singh described the president as [...]

Similar to the main player late in a traditional bullfight, the American newspaper industry staggers a bit, shows some blood and perhaps even draws a few jeers. Some perceive its wounded, winded condition as an indication of eventual collapse. But the matador who adopts such an attitude should beware. This bull still has muscles that [...]

After viewing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s interview on “60 Minutes” and then, soon thereafter, “Watchmen” — a new movie about flawed heroes with special powers in an alternate world — I wondered which was more fantastic: fact or fiction.