The Department of Homeland Security gets little credit for the fact that terrorists have not staged an attack on American soil since 2001, and it is an open question whether it deserves much. Conceived in haste and crippled by its design, the newestaddition to the cabinet desperately needs an overhaul.
An American-inspired redrawing of the Iraqi map along sectarian lines would do violence to the facts of Iraqi history.
The surge of new wealth in America is creating a bumper crop of large foundations. History suggests that they can accomplish a great deal. But it’s not always easy to do good.
Religious conflicts in multi-faith America are mild compared with those in countries that have only one faith or virtually no faith at all.
If rich old King Croesus were living in America today, he’d be hard-pressed to keep up with the Joneses.
Rebuffed by the European Union, angered by U.S. policies in the Middle East, and governed by an Islamist political party, Turkey seems to have every reason to turn its back on the West. To most Turks, however, that would be inconceivable.
The United States has not enjoyed a surge of new wealth to rival today’s since the days when people read by gaslight, yet that era holds valuable lessons about the hazards of new fortunes.
Teddy Roosevelt had no objection to men of great wealth, only to the “malefactors of great wealth.”
Growing violence in Baghdad prompts many to question whether Iraq can survive or should be divided among its Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The first questions to ask ought to be historical: Is modern Iraq built on a solid foundation or is it largely a patchwork cobbled together by European grandees nearly a century ago? What precedents exist for a divided Iraq?