In the aftermath of a disaster, the strengths of any society become immediately visible. The cohesiveness, resilience, technological brilliance and extraordinary competence of the Japanese are on full display. One report from Rikuzentakata — a town of 25,000, annihilated by the tsunami that followed Friday’s massive earthquake — describes volunteer firefighters working to clear rubble and search for survivors; troops and police efficiently directing traffic and supplies; survivors are not only “calm and pragmatic” but also coping “with politeness and sometimes amazingly good cheer.” Read on »

I don’t know why, exactly, Barack Obama was so hesitant to intervene in Libya or why he has been reluctant even to say much about Libya in public. Maybe, as his critics say, it’s because he’s indecisive, or instinctively reluctant to deploy American military power. Maybe it’s because he thinks two wars are enough, and at a time of massive budget cutbacks we can’t afford a third, optional engagement. But it doesn’t matter: As French planes and American missiles began to bombard Libya on Saturday, his reluctance and his silence suddenly became his most important tactical assets. Read on »

I’m listening hard, but I just can’t hear the “voices around the world” that my colleague Charles Krauthammer said last week are “calling for U.S. intervention to help bring down Moammar Gaddafi.” It’s true that John Bolton, former U.N. ambassador and present Fox News employee, has declared that “strong American words (and actions) were amply warranted” in Libya. It’s also true that a clutch of American politicians and writers have come out in favor of a similarly muscular response as well. Read on »

Every British newspaper worth its salt has written about Saif Gaddafi lately, but the Sunday Times had by far the best graphic illustration. A photograph of Moammar Gaddafi’s second son — clad in a white jacket and tasteful silk tie, with a carefully pressed keffiyeh draped elegantly over his shoulders — occupies the center of a large box. Read on »

“Each revolution must be assessed in its own context, each had a distinctive impact. The revolutions spread from one point to another. They interacted to a limited extent. . . . The drama of each revolution unfolded separately. Each had its own heroes, its own crises. Each therefore demands its own narrative.” Read on »

I didn’t have a pen in hand when I heard the broadcast from Cairo over the weekend, and I didn’t write down the precise words used by a woman demonstrator, interviewed at length by a BBC radio journalist, just after she heard the news of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation. But I remember the sentiments with great precision: Exhilaration, excitement, elation, euphoria. She was proud to be an Egyptian. She had never thought it was possible that Egyptians could achieve so much. Her life had changed forever: She had helped force the Egyptian dictator from office, and nothing would ever be the same again. Read on »

MUNICH - If you closed your eyes at the right moment during the security conference here on Saturday, everything suddenly melted away. The German luxury hotel vanished, replaced by cement walls and fountains. The northern European winter became a hot summer day along the Nile. Hillary Clinton, in a brown suit and gold necklace, morphed into Condoleezza Rice, in a gray suit and pearls. Read on »