Outside the Beltway

As expected, Donald Trump yesterday signed Executive Orders targeting Muslims and refugees.

A movement motivated by hurt and fear turned into a political force eight years ago. Can another follow suit?

A controversial retired General has been tapped to be President-Elect Trump’s top White House foreign policy voice.

One of the last survivors of Israel’s founding generation has passed away.

A true, albeit largely anonymous, hero of humanity has passed away.

An EgyptAir jetliner with 66 on board disappeared from radar just before beginning its decent into Cairo.

A treasure trove of documents from a law firm in Panama could prove problematic for a large group of international leaders.

The godfather of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine has passed.

Get ready for an expansion of the war against ISIS into Libya, because it’s probably not far away.

Some analysts are already suggesting that Russia’s two month old intervention in Syria is becoming a quagmire. That seems to be a premature judgment, but it’s not accomplishing much more than anything the West is doing.

Donald Trump’s plan to exclude Muslims from the United States is provoking condemnation, and confusion, around the world.

For an Oval Office address delivered on a Sunday night, President Obama’s speech last night sounded more like a statement read from the podium in the press room.

The United States and Europe are giving everything the perpetrators of the Paris attacks hoped for.

Confirming speculation that had already been all but confirmed, we now know that it was a bomb that brought down a Russian passenger jet on October 31st.

The news that at least some of the men who were involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris were among the refugees who have arrived in Europe since the summer is likely to complicate an already complicated situation.

The investigation continues, but the consensus seems to be growing that Metrojet 9268 was taken out by a bomb.

America’s much touted international coalition against ISIS is, essentially a Coalition In Name Only.

President Obama has apparently come to the same realization as many of his predecessors, that trying to craft a legacy by single-handedly bring about “Middle East Peace” is largely a waste of time.

As Ben Carson rises in the polls, it’s worth noting his many examples of having what can only be called a very odd relationship with truth and the basic facts of history.

American intelligence officials are saying that a Russian passenger jet that went down over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula was most likely brought down by a bomb.

There are mutual embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time in 54 years. It certainly took long enough.

For the first time since 1961, there will soon be an American Embassy in Havana, and a Cuban Embassy in Washington. It’s well past time that this happened.

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first truly-elected president, has been sentenced to death by the government which ousted him in a coup.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.

Conditioning an Iranian nuclear deal on recognition of Israel is foolish, unrealistic, and very bad diplomacy.

More than ever before, even mild criticism of Israel seems to be verboten among Republicans.

The gang calling itself the Islamic State has destroyed another historical site.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

The intrepid foreign correspondent and editor Arnaud de Borchgrave has died, aged 88, of cancer.

ISIS apparently now has a foothold in Libya, and is making inroads in Yemen.

A big change in an important nation in the most volatile part of the world.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

Well, so much for that “people’s revolt” that brought down a military dictator.

Who should own antiquity?

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

While the world pays attention to Syria and Iraq, Yemen is once against lurching into chaos.

Everyone knows that Israel has had nuclear weapons for decades. Don’t tell anyone—it’s a secret.

Despite the President’s assurances of an international coalition, the rest of the world doesn’t seem all that interested in joining the fight.

The two sides in Gaza keep extending the humanitarian cease fire, but remain miles apart on the major issues dividing them.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.