The Realist Prism: Reconciling the New Obama Doctrine With the Old

The run-up to the Libya operation created a great deal of buzz in the
foreign policy community about the emergence of a new "Obama Doctrine,"
one that provides a rationale for the use of U.S. military force to
achieve humanitarian ends. But
President Barack Obama himself recognizes that he cannot completely
dispense with the old Obama Doctrine, which he articulated when he was a
candidate for office.

Saudi-Iranian Tensions Widening Into Sunni-Shiite Cold War

The Saudi intervention in Bahrain has upped the ante in the
Saudi-Iranian cold war, crystallizing it into a wider Sunni-Shiite
schism in the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia has reportedly invoked a treaty with
Sunni-dominated Pakistan to secure troops to stabilize Bahrain and
its own eastern provinces. Riyadh has also asked Turkey to make
it clear to Iran that interference in the Gulf states will not be
tolerated.

Canada's NDP Surges Ahead of Elections

Canada's May 2 parliamentary elections were expected to be a dull affair, with the only question being whether Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper would achieve his long-coveted majority. But a late surge by the left-wing New Democratic Party -- Canada's perennial third party -- now threatens to push the opposition Liberals into a humiliating third-place finish and reconfigure Canadian politics.

Budget cuts pull plug on alien search devices

Astronomers say a steep drop in state and federal funds has forced the shutdown of Northern California's Allen Telescope Array, a powerful tool in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (April 28)

A busy day for federal disaster response

Jeff RobersonDebris is strewn around a damaged home Saturday in Bridgeton, Mo., following a tornado the night before.

Bernanke is oblivious to the obvious: Inflation is looming

You can give some people all the evidence in the world, present hard proof and argue they are in denial but it may not work to disabuse them of their convictions. I’m not talking about the birthers; the subject is the president, Ben Bernanke and the dollar.

1.8% GDP growth isn’t good enough

GDP growth in the first quarter of the year was 1.8 percent. In normal times, that’d be disappointing. In a recovery, it’s downright terrible.

The Morning Plum

* Calling out Trump’s “ugly strain of racism”: It’s good to see that a network figure like CBS’s Bob Schieffer is flatly denouncing Donald Trump’s reprehensible claim about Obama’s alleged lack of Ivy League qualifications for what it is:

China’s brutal repression

Just before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, a group of young Chinese activists was evacuated to the United States for safety reasons. Chinese officials were harassing and detaining people they thought might embarrass them during the Olympics. Three of the activists flew to Philadelphia that summer and slept on mattresses on my dining room floor.

How serious are we really about the deficit?

The deficit debate, now fully engaged, is also an evaluation of political seriousness.

It’s time to fast-track sainthood for Pope John XXIII

The Vatican’s decision to speed Pope John Paul II on the road to sainthood aroused great elation among many Catholics — and a backlash among others in the church who see the rush as unseemly.

A campaign-finance bill that doesn’t pass muster

Memo to Democratic senators eager to vote themselves campaign subsidies in the name of combating corruption: You really should not cloak your self-serving crusade in a claim that could be called intellectual corruption.