One of the benefits of writing newspaper articles is that sometimes, instead of sending anonymous insults, readers call you up and tell you interesting things. Two weeks ago, after news broke that a NASA press officer had resigned amid revelations that he’d tried to muffle the agency’s top climate scientist, I got several such calls. Read on »

The trouble started in Denmark, a faraway country of which we know little. It revolves around cartoons, an art form we associate with light humor. It has sparked riots in Surabaya, Tehran, Peshawar and rural Somalia, places where there aren’t many Americans in the best of times. Read on »

The memoir was a bestseller, a literary sensation, a compelling read. Unfortunately, its most sensational and compelling material was invented — a fact that many of its readers learned from a controversial and much-quoted television show. Read on »

New Orleans — A city council meeting is in session. On a high dais at the back of a dim, dilapidated committee room — a room as far from the spirit of an old New Orleans townhouse as it is possible to imagine — sit the council members. Read on »

Enter the Web site: http://www.abfiran.org. Click on “Omid: A Memorial,” and then “Search.” Enter a name — or a religion, a nationality, an alleged crime. One by one, the stories will transfix you. Read on »

Scandal followed scandal. Gaffe piled on gaffe. The ruling party, utterly invincible in the last election, overnight became the symbol of incompetence and corruption. Carefully launched plans and programs fell flat. Legislators were caught taking bribes in brown envelopes. Meanwhile, the party leader hunkered down in his office, controlling all contacts with the media. Read on »

Most Russians celebrate the new year with a few firecrackers, a glass of sweet champagne, perhaps vodka and pickled herring to keep the party going. This year the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, celebrated by switching off the flow of natural gas to Ukraine. Read on »

Like democracy or freedom, “the rule of law” has become one of those things U.S. diplomats advocate so repetitively you’d think they could do it in their sleep. When the secretary of state speaks to the American Bar Association, she explicitly links “the advance of freedom and the success of democracy” to the rule of law. Read on »

In recent months it has become common practice to talk about what it will take to “win” — or what it would mean to “lose” — the war in Iraq. Recently the pace of that talk has accelerated. Just last week President Bush published a “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,” presumably a follow-up to the speech in which he talked of “defeating the enemy.” Read on »

Just a few days ago I spoke to a top government official who prefers to remain anonymous. It wasn’t the first time: We’ve met only once or twice, but whenever I have a question pertaining to this official’s area of expertise, I don’t hesitate to ask his opinion. Read on »