Remember when President Barack Obama used to warn Syria's President Bashar Assad to stop his mass killings and step down? Moammar Gadhafi's dictatorship had then just collapsed under Western bombing. The murders of Americans in Benghazi and the

Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents -- Asia, Europe and Africa -- and vibrant birthplace to three of the world's great religions.

Deportation has become a near-taboo word. Yet the recent Boston bombings inevitably rekindle old questions about the way the U.S. admits, or at times deports, foreign nationals.

More than 500 people were murdered in Chicago last year. Yet Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel still found time to berate the fast food franchise Chick-fil-A for not sharing "Chicago values" -- apparently because its founder does not approve of gay marriage.

The idea of a nuclear Iran -- and of preventing a nuclear Iran -- terrifies security analysts.

We can imagine what lies ahead in 2017 -- no matter the result of either the 2014 midterm elections or the 2016 presidential outcome.

Bring up Iraq and expect to end up in an argument. Conservatives are no different from liberals in rehashing the unpopular war, which has become a sort of whipping boy for all our subsequent problems.

For all the Obama-era talk of decline, there is at least one reason why America probably won't, at least not yet.

Until last week, Chief Justice John Roberts was vilified as the leader of a conservative judicial cabal poised to destroy the Obama presidency by overturning the federal takeover of health care. But with his unexpected affirmation, Roberts suddenly was lauded as the new Earl Warren -- an "evolving" conservative who at last saw the logic of liberal big government.

Barack Obama lately has been accusing presumptive rival Mitt Romney of not waging his campaign in the nice (but losing) manner of John McCain in 2008. But a more marked difference can be seen in Obama himself, whose style and record bear no resemblance to his glory days of four years ago.