Last week, Russia and China obstructed the Obama administration’s Syria policy by vetoing an anti-Assad Security Council resolution backed by the Arab League, Britain, France, and the United States.  As harmful as this defeat was in its immediate consequences, it may bode even worse for efforts to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

Pakistan is at a crossroads. With the massacre of scores of security forces in an apparent retaliatory attack by militants, and US demands for tougher action against al Qaeda and the Taliban, room for Pakistan to play both sides of the war on terror is rapidly shrinking. The big questions raised by this watershed moment may force Islamabad into making existential choices.

Here is another good news/bad news column about the 112th Congress.

The American Enterprise Debates delve deeper into the core issues at the heart of our societal fabric. The series aims to challenge conventional wisdom and inform policy in a sequence of one-hour debates that center on simple yet provocative questions.

Michael Rubin reviews Losing the Golden Hour: An Insider's View of Iraq's Reconstruction by James Stephenson.

With a new American president in 2009, Europe has a chance to reestablish a strong transatlantic partnership in addressing war, nuclear negotiations, and climate change.

Martin Meredith's new book offers a painful look at the formation of modern South Africa.

Children's poems in Washington! To remind ourselves that not everything in the District of Columbia absolutely must concern politics, Michael Novak has invited Joseph Bottum and friends to read new and classic poems for children at AEI. Bring your kids, young and old, and join us for an evening of...