Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani became a convicted felon last week, sparking loud cries from opposition leaders for his resignation. But what does his conviction really mean for Pakistani politics?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates leaves office this month as widely respected as any public figure in America today, appreciated for his willingness to return to public service at a moment of high danger in Iraq and to faithfully serve presidents of both parties.

On December 27, 2010, businessmen and entrepreneurs Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev received the maximum sentence, fourteen years, on patently fabricated charges. What is the impact of the sentencing on the Russian economy and foreign investments? How will the democratic opposition proceed in this political climate? And how should US policymakers deal with this new reality?

AEI Director of Russian Studies Leon Aron is available to comment on the trial verdict--announced on December 27--of former Yukos oil boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky's fate is almost certainly being decided not in Judge Danilkin's chambers, but in the Kremlin by two people: Vladimir Putin and his protégé, the haltingly liberal president, Dmitri Medvedev.

The near-total acquittal of an al Qaeda agent in New York should be the last gasp for President Obama's misguided effort to fight the war on terror in the courtroom.