Race for the Arctic Russian television contacted me asking me to go on a program about the race for Arctic resources. The ice is melting fast, and it was all the usual stuff about how there will be big strategic conflicts over the seabed resources especially oil an..
NASA does gold medal dismount on Mars The most elaborate, technically difficult and demanding dismount came not in the London Olympics but 352 million miles away in a vast Martian crater.
Romneys fumbling foreign-policy foray Did the Obama presidential campaign stage-manage Mitt Romney's foreign policy trip to Britain, Israel and Poland? Of course not, but then it didn't have to.
Asian tiger stalks Brazilian jungle This year Brazil is commemorating 40 years since the arrival of the first Korean immigrants in the country. They initially settled in the city of Sao Paulo, and mainly engaged in small business ventures. With an innate understanding of the importa..
Worrying about friends made on a visit to Syria It was only five years ago that I happily traveled across Syria, much of the time by public bus. I found hospitality everywhere. Giggling young women who were students at the University of Aleppo took me to see their dorm. My bus seat companion, a ..
Job market recovery better but still not good How you view July's unemployment figures depends on where you sit.
Chick-fil-A controversy reveals hypocrisy NEW YORK "I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage."
Mitt Romneys stance on tax returns says a lot WASHINGTON It took me a while to get interested in Mitt Romney's adamant refusal to release past years' tax returns.
Congress takes needed rest from inactivity After seven months of short work weeks and near-zero accomplishments, Congress has awarded itself a five-week vacation, deferring a series of tough legislative decisions until the members return after Labor Day, presumably tanned, rested and ready ..
Black pastors press Democrats on gay marriage Support for same-sex marriage is now in the Democratic Party preliminary platform. Once approved by the full platform committee and voted on at the convention, same-sex marriage will have the party's formal support.
Bad days in Burma By Gwynne Dyer At last somebody in an official position has said something. United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay has called for an independent investigation into claims that Burmese security forces are systematically targeting the R..
Discouraged Republican moderate calls it quits All GOP Rep. Steve LaTourrette had to do to win a 10th term from his northeastern Ohio district was to show up for his swearing in.
Obama's haters spin fictional unbelievable web When you write a newspaper column that some people don't agree with, they send you mass-circulated emails of unknown provenance to show you the error of your ways. These emails are usually ridiculous.
Capitalism, not culture, drives economies Mitt Romney has explained that his comments abroad were simply truth-telling. ``I tend to tell people what I actually believe, he said. With regard to one much-debated comment on the cultural differences between Israelis and Palestinians man..
Congress avoids federal shutdown Congress can be bipartisan when it wants to, and it wants to avoid the political embarrassment of a pre-election government shutdown caused by lack of agreement in funding for the coming year.
We need budget plan before party conventions It's time for us to lead our leaders.
Reviving rural Russia MOSCOW In 1906, Pyotr Stolypin, my great-grandfather, was appointed Prime Minister of Imperial Russia. Among his first undertakings was a series of agricultural reforms aimed at creating a new class of smallholding farmers. Five years later, the..
