While America is a young country not as prone as some others to preserving ‘relics’ of the dead, we do appear to have a thing for blood, which, if modern science progresses as some think it might, could result in some interesting historical clones. This article on the subject by El Pais columnist Marcos Balfagon reflects on this odd historical preoccupation, and on the wisdom of someday restoring another Ronald Reagan to the world. For El Pais, columnist Marcos Balfagon starts off...

How confused and ‘dangerous’ has German foreign policy become? For the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, German Vice Admiral Ulrich Weisser [ret.] pulls no punches, as he lays out in detail how Germany has disappointed the United States and its NATO partners in Europe with its U.N. Security Council abstention on action in Libya, its refusal to allow its forces to face the same dangers as its coalition partners in Afghanistan, and its unhelpful attitude toward vital cooperation with Russia on missile...

Is the European “Union” too disunited to keep NATO afloat? For Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a European Parliamentarian from Poland and an envoy to NATO, warns that unless Europeans pool their defense capabilities and start thinking and acting in a more unified fashion, the E.U. and NATO will become increasingly irrelevant – and America will no longer defend European strategic interests. For the Gazeta Wyborcza, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski writes in small part,...

Are Arab states weak because they lack the spirit to fight against enemies other than themselves? For Iraq’s Kitabat, Nashwan al-Jurayssi writes that the ‘Arab nation’ have been knocked off balance by the West, and in order to revive itself, Arab attentions should be turned toward building a martial spirit focused not on one another, but on those who seek to contain them. Fir Iraq’s Kitabat, Nashwan al-Jurayssi starts off this way: Days ago, the Russians held an impressive...

Former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is being charged with yet another sex crime committed in the United States, this time just steps from the White House. According to reporter Emeline Cazi of France’s Le Monde, the alleged victim, a Belgian woman transported to the United States for a party with Strauss-Kahn, has testified that as she struggled to escape, DSK lay on top of her and DSK’s friend, French entrepreneur David Roquet, held her wrists until she gave in. Here are some...

With their resources drying up like a pond in the hot sun, can NATO do what is necessary to ensure the Alliance’s continued relevance in a world that appears increasingly unstable? For Die Zeit, columnist Claudia Major writes that to survive as an institution, NATO members must achieve a far higher degree of integration and trust, and the sacrifice of a greater measure of national sovereignty, which even in Europe, is something that few if any have been willing to embrace. For Die Zeit, Claudia...

German dominance over Europe, particularly since Europe’s foreign debt crisis began, has been a major topic of discussion throughout the continent, with the wounds of World War II clearly on display – particularly in Greece. But when the Germans themselves start satirizing their own influence, it is a sure sign that Berlin is getting used to its growing influence. In this tongue-in-cheek article from Germany’s Die Welt, columnist Hans Zippert pokes fun at these allusions to German...

Rather than imposing conditions on delivering promised funds to Pakistan – such as reopening NATO’s supply route through the country, should Washington give Pakistan the money it has promised with gratitude? With the shadow of the friendly-fire incident at Salala hanging over the NATO Summit in Chicago, this angry editorial from The Frontier Post argues that Pakistan has paid a far heavier price for America’s ‘War on Terror’ than the U.S. and its NATO allies put together,...

In all of the content we have posted since President Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage, it is the content from Africa that has proven the most disturbing. In this 3,000 word investigative report by Modern Ghana correspondent Stephanie J. Wearne, we are offered a glimpse at the bizarre and frightening reality for homosexuals in the nation of Uganda. For Modern Ghana, Stephanie J. Wearne writes in small part: While the debate in other parts of the world is about legalizing gay marriage,...

U.S. Congress members appear to be considering redeploying American nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula. Would such a decision make matters there go from bad to worse? This editorial from China’s state-run Huanqiu warns of the unintended consequences of pointing nuclear weapons in North Korea’s general direction. The Huanqiu editorial says in small part: Right now, the two Koreas target one another with artillery. But if the U.S. redeploys and the South has U.S. nuclear weapons pointed...

Will gay marriage be just the first of a series of societal issues that the Obama campaign will use to win in November? In this interview with Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidien, French author, historian and America watcher François Durpaire asserts that Obama’s embrace of the issue of gay marriage betrays a carefully-calculated strategy by a political master to take advantage of emerging changes in American society. From the Le Journal du Dimanche au Quotidien, here are some excerpts from...

It is hard to believe, but according to this news roundup from around the Western Hemisphere from Spanish-language U.S.-based news aggregator La Informacion, just one Latin American head of state – Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – has come out in support of gay marriage. According to the article, thanks largely to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the few that have spoken out are hedging their bets or are decidedly against. The La Informacion news roundup...

What do journalist Daniel Pearl, Holocaust victim Anne Frank and now members of the House of Orange – the Dutch Royal family – have in common? They are all posthumous members of the Church of Mormon. According to Mormon Church records recently uncovered by the Trouw newspaper of the Netherlands, a number of now-dead members of the Dutch Royal family, formerly members of the Dutch Orthodox Church, have been baptized by ‘overly enthusiastic’ church members. The Trouw news report...

What kind of welcome can France’s new head of state – its first socialist president in decades and only its second ever – expect in Washington? Le Figaro correspondent Laure Mandeville writes that this time around, no alarm bells have been ringing at the White House, but that on a range of issues having to do with Afghanistan, NATO, the euro and eurozone debt, the election of François Hollande promises some uncomfortable discussions. For Le Figaro, Laure Mandeville starts out...

How long will it be before America’s friends and adversaries all have the same drone technology that the U.S. is using to such effect in places like Pakistan’s tribal areas? Based on this article by columnist Laura Gil of Colombia’s El Tiempo, that time has already arrived – along with some of the most complicated questions involving civil liberties, human rights and international law ever contemplated. For El Tiempo, Laura Gil writes in part: “Drones” – unmanned...

Do Chinese leaders have a conception of themselves as being destined to govern the world – in other words, ‘Chinese exceptionalism’? This editorial from The Manila Times outlines, from a Filipino point of view, how resentful Chinese Communist Party leaders are of America, and how little they understand about the meaning of moving from a uni-polar world, to a multi-polar one. The Manila Times editorial starts off this way: China resents America’s continuing power in the Asia-Pacific,...

What do the words ‘rule of law’ mean to China’s leadership? This editorial from France’s Le Monde expresses the hope that those charged with leading the world’s most populous nation have learned something of the profound meaning of the phrase, from the struggle of Chen Guangcheng – a man who overcome all obstacles to fight for the rights of his own people – within the bounds of Chinese law. The Le Monde editorial says in part: Economic interdependence...

Is Washington encouraging the Philippines and Vietnam to challenge China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea? In this at times conciliatory and at other times peppery editorial from the state-run Global Times, which reads like a summary of what the U.S. and China have been discussing since Friday, Beijing unambiguously warns Washington not to try to make up for its economic weakness with what it warns would be foolish military adventurism. From the Global Times editorial, here are some...

What are the ramifications of what now appears to be the irreconcilable relationship between the United States and Pakistan? Le Monde columnist Frédéric Bobin, in this very European examination of all that has gone wrong between the two nations, writes that an unsettling future awaits the United States, Pakistan and all of of South Asia, thanks largely to ‘annus horribilis 2011.’ For Le Monde, Frédéric Bobin starts off this way: Don’t be afraid of the word “divorce.” The...

Based on this column from China’s state mouthpiece, the Global Times, Beijing seems oblivious to how heroes are made. Why is it that Chen Guangcheng, who began as a local activist battling forced abortion and sterilization, has become a worldwide concern? Whether Beijing is willfully ignoring the obvious, or just seeking to discredit a brave man standing up for his principles, this article by columnist Shan Renping suggests that Western media is making much ado about nothing. For China’s...