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President Obama, usually cautious, has made bold statements on Syria and Iran, but by drawing red lines, he risks being backed into a corner. He could take a lesson from Teddy Roosevelt when it comes to foreign policy.
Some in Congress sharply question how a law that sprang from the Sept. 11 attacks can be applied so broadly. Panel is also told war with Al Qaeda could last 20 more years.
President Obama on Thursday ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria even if proof emerges that Syrian forces have used lethal chemical weapons.
The long history of American support for Guatemala’s military was not raised during the genocide trial of the former dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt.
As part of President Enrique Pena Nieto's strategy against drug violence, Alberto Reyes, a Mexican general was given control over all police and military operations in the western state of Michoacan.
Quitze Fernandez, a columnist for the El Guardian newspaper in this capital of Coahuila state abutting Texas, picked up the phone in his newsroom one day. “Either you come or we are coming for you,” he heard. Within minutes, he was in an SUV surrounded by heavily armed gangsters.
American companies are looking to make up for lost time in Southeast Asia’s last untapped market.
Wang Yang says tourists spitting, speaking loudly and other uncivilised bahaviour is damaging the country's reputation.
Donors have pledged billions to help rebuild Mali after battles with militants, but the collapse of many institutions there has raised doubts about the effort.
Despite comments by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn suggesting the pending withdrawal of his country’s troops from Somalia, many experts have voiced doubts that Ethiopia will pull out of Somalia before it is capable of handling its security without assistance.
A Spanish court ruling and investigations spurred by whistleblowers are aimed at scaring tax evaders and raising revenue. One watchdog's list could lead to some 300 billion euros in tax havens.
Japan has posted a robust growth rate, but economists said that Europe was not willing to learn from Tokyo.
The gas-rich state of Qatar has spent as much as $3bn over the past two years supporting the rebellion in Syria, far exceeding any other government, but is now being nudged aside by Saudi Arabia as the prime source of arms to rebels.
A constellation of armed groups battling to advance their own agendas is creating the outlines of separate armed fiefs, and the war’s biggest casualty appears to be the integrity of the Syrian state.
Fueled by war in Syria, Iraqi Sunnis say the prospect of a regional power shift has emboldened them to confront their government.
Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator and a contender in the June presidential election, sat down with the Monitor to share his views about an 'unbalanced' nuclear offer made by world powers.
Russia sent warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Syria, an apparent warning to the West and Israel not to intervene in Syria's civil war.
The Syrian city of Qusayr lies just 10 miles over the border from Aarsal in northern Lebanon. But the Syrians now crowding into Aarsal said the trip to get here from Qusayr required walking for days.
The United Arab Emirates has arrested more than 100 alleged dissidents since 2011 in a bid to maintain the Gulf state's reputation for stability.
The war in Syria is spilling over into Turkey and threatening a decade of economic gains — and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political future.
The IRS scandal targeting tea party and conservative taxpayer groups ensnared foreign policy and national security organizations as well.
If we want to understand what drove the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to terrorism, the answer almost certainly does not lie in Dagestan, where the brothers lived before moving to the US, or in Chechnya's two wars in the last 20 years. Instead, the key to the Tsarnaevs’ behavior lies in developments in England 500 years ago.
The events surrounding the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, look dramatically different depending on your politics.
How to keep America in the game when our enemies are trying to shut us out.
We’ll start with the gold of Havana’s women, who hearing you needed money for your revolutionary war offered their wedding rings and necklaces, to be melted, to finance your white-wigged revolution.
Two man-made tragedies have shaken Bangladesh recently: riots over Islamist demands for blasphemy laws and the garment factory collapse. Bangladesh's response to both will show how well it can meet citizens' needs. US retailers must also take responsibility for factory conditions.
Nationalists are seeking leverage for the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute. Japan shouldn’t play into their hands.
China's new ambassador to the United States (and a rising star in Beijing) sets out his vision for U.S.-Chinese relations, discusses whether China is a revisionist power, and how it plans to deal with cyber security -- and Japan.
After serving a brief, undistinguished term as Japan’s prime minister in 2006–7, Shinzo Abe seemed destined for the political sidelines. Then, last December, he surged back into the limelight, retaking office in a landslide victory.
It hardly qualifies as breaking news that Europe is in the middle of a deep and protracted economic contraction. When a story, no matter how shocking, goes on for years, the natural inclination is to let it fade to the background of our awareness.
Russian leaders have always been concerned about the failure of the country's universities to make it into the top 200 of the global university rankings — and rightly so.
The campaign to elect Israel’s top rabbis is more competitive, fractious and, yes, dirty than running for the Knesset.
As Washington surveys the landscape of the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, it becomes clear that the ensuing chaos resembles something closer to a long, harsh winter than a hopeful beginning.
While Saeed Jalili appears the early frontrunner, the early chaos of Iran’s presidential elections underscores the unpredictability of the race.
It is easy to dismiss the presidential election in Iran as a charade. The exercise is flawed from the start because of the pre-selection of candidates.
With friends in high places, law-evading ploys and piles of money in the bank, veteran settler leader Ze'ev Hever and his organization Amana are seemingly immune to Israeli legal action.
Have you learned about the new cabinet reshuffle in Egypt? Shocked? Egyptians aren’t.
Vigilantes in Mexico launched an audacious assault on a Michoacan town and were apparently on the point of executing the local police when they were beaten back by a military counterattack.
Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena will visit China from May 19 to 20, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei announced at a press conference Friday in Beijing.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala on Thursday denied reports that Rafael Roncagliolo resigned as foreign affairs minister because of a diplomatic impasse earlier this month with Venezuela.
Bolivia’s Lower House passed a bill this week which would allow President Evo Morales to run for a third mandate in next years’ elections.
Hundreds of miners, teachers and other workers have marched in Bolivia's capital on the 11th day of protests called by the country's largest union to demand higher old-age pensions.
Myanmar President Thein Sein has pardoned political prisoners just ahead of a state visit to the United States, maintaining the momentum of warming ties between the countries.
French President Francois Hollande has called for the creation of a eurozone government as a solution to the wide-spread recession that threatens "the very identity" of Europe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday and called for a stronger partnership between the two nations, with both having a rich traditional culture.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Thursday that Russia is ready to help South Africa develop an advanced nuclear power industry.
Syrian rebels have seized three U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights in the third abduction in two months in the zone between Syria and Israel.
Egyptian police closed the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Friday in protest at the kidnapping of colleagues in the Sinai peninsula, a security source and witnesses said.
Shortly after Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s return from an overnight visit to Egypt, a source close to his cabinet revealed that the visit was centered on developing bilateral economic relations, including through the establishment of a free trade zone.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran must take part in a proposed international conference to end Syria's civil war, but that Western states wanted to limit the participants and possibly predetermine the outcome of the talks.
