As much as the events in Mumbai are a shock to the world, India is no stranger to such terrorism. The Global Terrorism Database estimates that since 1970, 4,108 acts of terrorism have occurred in India, leading to over 12,000 fatalities. Notably, in 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated...

So once again we have to suffer through yet another one of Al Qaeda's anti-American diatribes -- this one constituting a pre-inaugural attack on our president-elect by Al Qaeda's propogandist and ideologue-in-chief "Dr. Evil" Ayman al-Zawahiri. When, pray tell, are we going to put al-Zawahiri out of his misery once...

The hour of national redemption we've been waiting for is at hand, and President-Elect Barack Obama is about to lead our nation to a new city on that hill. Inspiration, gratification, and a desire to guaranty his success runs deep through my veins as I watch the hundreds of thousands...

Having just gotten off the plane from the Middle East, one thing is for certain: whether you are pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian or pro-whatever, there is hardly a soul who is not rooting for a big Obama victory on Tuesday (except for extremist settlers and extremist Islamists) .

The obsession with...

Kudos to Sen. Obama for hard-wiring an empathetic connection to the beleaguered American middle class at last night's debate. His winning performance inspired me to go outside my normal national security box to consider how he could construct a greater economic recovery program to meet dead on the fear and...

As a follow up to my earlier blog on debate prep (McCain's likely lines of attack), forthwith are just a few suggested lines of attack against McCain's vaunted foreign and national security experience. Although the financial crisis may become the centerpiece of the debate, this is focused just on foreign...

Friday's national security debate will take on a certain surreal quality, what with the financial crisis preoccupying both campaigns. But Sen. Obama is prepping amidst the chaos, and as a public service to him, I am writing this the first of a series of debate prep checklists of possible McCain...

Seven years later, as we pause to remember those who perished in New York City, in Washington, D.C. and in Shanksville, PA, I know that in the heat of a presidential campaign, the absurd captures the obvious. Today it is fitting to recall the obvious and (at least temporarily) shelve...

The conventions are over. So now, my Democratic friends and allies, it's time to arrest McCain's bump. It's time to take out the big guns. Time to dispatch the battle tanks and set sail the fleet. Time to stop the niceties about oh, how John has been a good friend...

So Sarah Palin can wrestle a moose and since Alaska is so close to Russia she has foreign policy gravitas -- that qualifies as "experience" according to McCain surrogates and, notably, Fred Thompson who went on to camouflage the GOP's record of domestic and global failure by wrapping his remarks...

Incredibly stunning to say the least, yet even on reasonably practical reflection, we may be witnessing another Dan Quayle selection moment in American politics. First termer and former beauty queen Gov. Sarah Palin! Was she that fully vetted? Can't wait to read all of her speeches in support of those...

Rather than face impeachment, Pakistan's disgraced President Pervez Musharraf finally resigned. So ends (more or less) America's first post-9/11 bilateral era with Pakistan, and the scorecard is utterly mixed at best with ominous prospects for the second era under Pakistan's newly-elected democratic government.

For nearly 9 years, Gen. Musharraf...

Russia's brazen blitzkrieg-syle military attacks on the independent and democratic state of Georgia warrant worldwide condemnation, and much more. In the past few days, Moscow has conveniently used Georgia's internal dispute with the unrecognized breakaway territory of South Ossetia (which desires to split away from George and join the Russian...

Today's WashPost article citing a General Accounting Office Report released yesterday on Iraq's oil surplus caught my eye because it harkened back to the pathetically painful boast of leading war advocate Dep Sec Def Wolfowitz's immortal words : "...the cost of the occupation, the cost of the military administration...

ROME -- Here in Rome this evening, the images of Barack Obama's European tour are streaming non-stop across European television sets. His every move is being reported in the Italian and broader European media -- rockstar status to say the least. Italians understandably feel a bit left out of all...

Dateline: July 4th

There's nothing like staring out over the clouds and Atlantic Ocean below en route home from Europe on the 4th of July to idyllically daydream what a President Barack Obama could do, I mean really do, to bring positive change to the world and restore international...

In the past few months, Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been skillfully skating one step ahead of a potential criminal indictment by launching a full blown, unprecedented diplomatic offensive on 3 major fronts -- which strategically plays into Israel's goal of clearing the decks, so to speak if...

I tearfully watched Tom Brokaw and his colleagues provide the nation an extraordinary and wonderful celebration of the life of Tim Russert during this morning's Meet the Press tribute to its fallen host. I lost it a bit myself when Mr. Brokaw momentarily choked up during an especially personal moment...

So George Bush is in Slovenia tonight on the first stop of his last trip to Europe, where he will attend the annual U.S.-European Union Summit -- lame duckedness dripping from every feather, and a hearty "good riddance" on the lips of millions throughout the "old" and "new' continent. His...

My very reliable sources inform me that John McCain just sent Senator Obama his latest travel guide to Iraq entitled: "Great Green Zone Escapes" (GGZE). Being the intrepid Iraq travel promoter he is, McCain wants to get Obama over to Iraq before the mid-summer heat makes visits to Baghdad so,...