Former Soviet bloc countries today bear no resemblance to the liberated nations dreamt of by the underground intellectual resistance movements.

Hopefully the bipartisanship that exists now on the 9/11 commission can be extended--not snuffed out by the larger corrosiveness of contemporary politics.

European Union leaders will never construct an effective trans-national Europe by consistently avoiding the judgment of the people.

There was no Reagan "mystique"--study him closely and you see that he worked very hard at becoming a good politician, and part of that was concealing just how hard he worked at it.

The potentially negative consequences for transatlantic solidarity of the European Union's navel-gazing and American lack of concern are very real.

Hugo Chavez is not long for governing, but he can dangerously retard democratic progress in Latin America.

Putin's decision on Monday to end the system of direct popular election of Russia's governors, and to have the Russian parliament elected on the basis of slates chosen by national party leaders he mostly controls, is an unambiguous step toward tyranny in Russia. It cannot be justified as part of the war on terrorism. Putin has had these plans ready for months. He is cynically using the horrific terrorist attack in Beslan as his excuse.

Is it advisable for the government to require the Bells to lease their old-fashioned copper lines to competitors?