Canada held an election last Monday and the result was anything but boring. The headline story is that the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has headed minority governments since 2006, won an absolute majority of seats, 167 of 308, in the House of Commons. The Conservatives' triumph offers a couple of lessons that may be relevant to U.S. Republicans.

The Cold War strategic reality that existed in 1988 has passed into history. And yet the U.S. (and Russia) remain constrained by the INF Treaty's terms, even while today's strategic threats—China, Iran and North Korea—come from states outside the treaty.

Day traders and their acolytes tried to pressure the Federal Reserve to open the money spigots wider this week. Fortunately, the Fed said no to QE3, at least for now. But it did vote to continue its super-easy, zero-interest-rate policy until mid-2013, well after the next presidential election.

A book review of Ted Morgan's My Battle of Algiers.

An American defeat, or even an American humiliation in this war on terror, will have the gravest consequences for our common enterprise.

Striving for international popularity does not translate into the power needed to persuade allies or rivals to cooperate with our policies.

Review of Aron's book Yeltsin: A Revolutionary Life in Kirkus Reviews.

Don't be fooled by the bond market. Banks are holding prices down because they can buy Treasuries with free money from the Fed.