Outside the Beltway

We’re falling further behind for many reasons.

A natural disaster has compounded a man-made one.

A controversial artillery round is being used effectively against Russian forces.

Nobody is keeping the gate.

A possible murder plot in Colombia embedded into a problematic multi-decade narrative.

The longtime public servant has died, aged 100.

Institutional reform is necessary, but we can’t accomplish much in the face of tribalism.

The Natanz fuel enrichment site has been seriously damaged.

An American drone strike has taken out the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a move likely to significantly increase tensions across the Middle East.

Having failed to form governments after two successive elections, Israel is headed for a third election inside of a year.

Just days after President Trump agreed to remove American forces from the scene, Turkish forces are entering northern Syria and Kurdish forces say they ar ready for war.

Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for a massive attack on an important Saudi oil facility.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions toward two Democratic Congresswomen,seemingly at the bidding of President Trump, is the latest example of the growing partisan divide over policy toward Israel.

On a day that called for national unity and empathy, President Trump couldn’t help but revert to form.

The Trump Administration’s policies toward Iran aren’t going to work, but that’s because they aren’t supposed to work.

In a move that is likely to have political and international consequences, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has officially severed ties with Moscow.

In what has to qualify as one of the most horrifying displays of moral depravity on the international stage, the Trump Administration is saying it doesn’t really care if the Saudi Crown Prince is a murderer or not.

The investigation of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is inching closer to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, but it seems unlikely to impact his hold on power.

Saudi Arabia’s story about the disappearance and death of Jamal Khashoggi continues to “evolve.”

The dispute over Ukraine between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Patriarch is widening and nearing the point of a complete break.

The Saudi Arabian Government is finally acknowledging that Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Their explanation for his death, though, is too absurd to be believed.

Jamal Khashoggi’s final column includes a message that should resonate far beyond the Arab world it was addressed to.

President Trump is serving as a knowing apologist for a despotic regime.

Several of the men apparently tied to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi have close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a bombastic speech on Iran yesterday that reveals just how empty and dangerous the Trump Administration’s policy toward Iran actually is.

A blast from the past as Oliver North, who was once at the center of a major Washington scandal, is named President of the National Rifle Association.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

The United States has several options in Syria. None of them are good and one of them would be disastrous.

Just about a year after President Trump attacked Syria over the use of chemical weapons, the Assad regime has again used chemical weapons. There’s not much we can do about, nor should we.

President Trump seems intent on walking away from the nuclear deal with Iran. If he does, he’ll be handing a gift to Iran and harming American national interests significantly.

Americans actings as agents for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working hard to manipulate the President.

The selection of Mike Pompeo as the next Secretary of State makes it more likely that President Trump will take the foolish and dangerous step of withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

Americans were once largely united in their opinions about Israel and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That’s not the case anymore.

The capital of the purported caliphate declared by ISIS has apparently fallen, but that doesn’t mean the end of ISIS. In fact, it may make the group more dangerous.

Kurds in Iraq voted overwhelmingly for independence in a non-binding referendum, and the result is threatening to create a new conflict in the Middle East.

Iranian voters have re-elected Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose election in 2013 was largely responsible for the shifts in policy that made the international agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear research program possible.

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

The 117 CIA officers who have died in our service should not be used to score cheap political points.

While you were celebrating Christmas, Israel was blasting the Obama Administration and cozying up to the incoming Trump Administration.

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

Allegations of influence peddling by Clinton Foundation donors are being rehashed thanks to the release of a new batch of emails.

The godfather of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine has passed.

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.

In the wake of the attacks in Paris, some people have argued that American solidarity with France, in contrast to seeming disregard for tragedy elsewhere, is something we should feel bad about. That argument is ridiculous.

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.