When an imperious bully like Fidel Castro starts to fear, his instinct is to try to sow fear among his enemies. Today, with his student and benefactor, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, dying of cancer, what the Cuban dictator fears most is that his bankrupt regime in Havana is about to lose billions in critical aid and oil.

Upon returning from several years of "self-imposed" exile in Iran--which the "firebrand" cleric chose after two uprisings by his Mahdi Army militia were badly defeated--Muqtada al Sadr declared, "We are still fighters," and has threatened attacks if US forces remain in Iraq past 2011.

President Obama is right to send troops to advise African forces going after the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.

The new president will need to decide whether democracy in the process is more important than democracy as the final result. How should the United States react if, as the new regimes rewrite their constitutions, they turn from democracy toward theocracy? (INCLUDES VIDEO)

A weak Basij will be a serious problem if the Iranian regime becomes embattled.

While President Obama's decision to deny Taiwan a credible air force adds to Taipei's defense burdens, all may not be lost. Washington and Taipei are hinting at combined work on a new Taiwan defense policy.

Faced with the likelihood of spreading violence and Iranian influence in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, will the next president make the hard choices to confront those threats to American national security, or will he or she seek to remain aloof?

The Iranian Basji, or "people's militia," were initially intended to have a security role, and have made more frequent political interventions since the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.