After 43 years of eccentric, zany, or comical rule, underscored by Western charges of terrorism, it appears the era of Libya's Col. Muammar Gadaffi, once called by Ronald Reagan, "the mad dog of the Middle East," is over. Col. Gadaffi has been the longest-ruling Arab leader. His sons, who were positioned to succeed him, are... Read More

My parents, who lived through the 1930's Depression, taught me two rules: don't buy anything until you can pay for it with your savings; and always save a sizable portion of your income. The United States, once powerhouse to the world, is hooked on debt. America has become so addicted that regular hits are necessary... Read More

Do we need more proof that politicians should never be given national credit cards — unless, of course, they are German, Swiss or Scandinavian. The thunder of crashing equity markets, the humiliating downgrade of America's once gold-standard credit rating, and stern lectures on financial rectitude from the Chinese Communists of all people are the latest... Read More

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — This vast, pulsating city of ten million seems to have doubled in size since my last visit ten years ago. In spite of its gigantic scale and increasingly modernistic image, Seoul remains far calmer and better ordered than most of Asia's frenetic cities. Dynamic, optimistic, high-tech South Korea is flying at... Read More

PARIS — The golden dome of Les Invalides shone majestically in the summer sun. Tricolor French flags bravely waved in the breeze. Before me, in Place de La Concorde, where poor king Louis XVI lost his head to Dr. Guillotine's supposedly painless invention, was a huge reviewing stand filled with hundreds of the great and... Read More

In 1922, Greek armies trying to conquer western Anatolia were routed by Turkey’s military leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks were uprooted from Ionian coastal areas. After this debacle, Greek officers took three former prime ministers, a general and two other politicians who had led the Turkish-Greek War and shot them.... Read More

Sacré Bleu! Last Friday, US prosecutors revealed that the hotel maid who had accused former International Monetary Fund chief Strauss-Kahn of raping her in his hotel suite was a serial liar. She had lied about being raped to get into the US, lied on her tax returns, and lied on numerous other issues. She had... Read More

In his majestic poem "Recessional," Rudyard Kipling was writing of the fading British Empire, but his words are as vivid and pertinent today as a century ago: Far-called our navies melt away — On dune and headland sinks the fire — Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! The objective... Read More

The most important revolution to occur in the Mideast has taken place with little notice or understanding in the west. The Muslim world's uprisings against dictatorship did not begin in Tunisia, but in Turkey. The first seeds of revolution in Turkey were planted in 2002 when its Justice and Development Party began the long, arduous... Read More

Those Cassandras who believe Cathay is about to rule waves after launching its first aircraft carrier are getting way, way ahead of themselves. One swallow does not make the spring, and one aircraft carrier does not make a battle fleet in being. The Red Chinese Navy is not about to steam up Chesapeake Bay and... Read More

BARCELONA — Viva la revolution! Spain's youth are staging boisterous but peaceful protests across the country that many call the Iberian version of the popular revolutions sweeping the Arab world. Plaza Catalunya, the center of this marvelous city that pulses with life and fun, is packed with young demonstrators waving placards calling for revolution and... Read More

PARIS — This week, the big buzz for "le tout Paris" (all Paris) — at least until Sunday's "le grand bombshell" — was that President Nicholas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni were boycotting the Cannes Film Festival which just opened with the film, Le Conquest (The Conquest). No wonder. This acid film is all about... Read More

My Pakistani security intelligence sources told me five years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in an urban area in Pakistan. If I, a humble journalist, had a good idea where OBL was, why did it take CIA so long to find one elderly man who had brazenly set out to defeat the mighty... Read More

Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but last week’s Great Escape from Kandahar Prison II was almost as exciting as the 2008 original in which 800 Taliban prisoners were busted out of Afghanistan’s Sorpoza Prison. This time around, 541 prisoners, including 106 Taliban commanders, tunneled their way out of the notorious maximum security... Read More

The assassination of Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces in Abbotabad, Pakistan will likely assure Barack Obama's victory in the 2012 presidential race. Republican hawks will have a hard time pressing their claims that Obama is "soft on terrorism." Details about the killing of bin Laden remain obscure. The mission, a joint operation between... Read More

Once, while driving in rural Virginia, I saw a billboard that proclaimed, "Jesus Saves." Some wag had scrawled across the bottom, "But Moses invests." Today, change that to "the US borrows while China lends." As my friend and veteran columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave writes, while the US has wasted $1.5 trillion on its Afghan and... Read More

There has been a revolution in Egypt, but we still don't know what kind it is, how far will it go, and who stands to gain. Last week, deposed president Husni Mubarak and his two sons were arrested and are facing judicial interrogation. Egyptians are jubilant. Few Egyptians believed the man they called "Pharaoh" would... Read More

Japan’s nuclear calamity has shown once again the remarkable courage, patience, and stoicism of that nation’s people. As a visitor to Japan for the past 36 years and former columnist for one of its leading newspapers, Mainichi Daily News, the giant earthquake and ensuing tsunami that savaged northern Japan filled me with anguish and sorrow.... Read More

Muammar Gadaffi's Libya may not be sinking yet, but it's low in the water and springing new leaks by the day. Italy, a key player in North Africa, sniffed the winds of change, then decided to abandon old ally Gadaffi and recognize the revolutionary junta in Benghazi. Last Wednesday, Libya's Foreign Minister, Moussa Koussa, dressed... Read More

Libya, in spite of its oil treasures, is strictly a sideshow in the great game of nations. We should be keeping our eyes on highly strategic Syria, a potentially combustible nation of 22.5 million that lies at the very heart of what we call the Mideast. Sizeable demonstrations have erupted in the Syrian port city... Read More

The finest strategic thinker of the 20th century, Britain’s Maj. Gen. J.F.C. Fuller, wrote the object of war is achieving political goals, not military victory. Politicians keep forgetting Fuller’s dictum. The last examples of wars without defined political objectives were Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Welcome a fourth: Libya. US foreign policy is becoming permanently militarized.... Read More

The US government just decided Islamic shariah law is not so bad after all – at least not in the case of jailed CIA agent Raymond Davis. The burly Davis, an ex-US Special Forces soldier, former Blackwater gunman, and now CIA “contractor” (jargon for mercenary) was jailed in Pakistan after shooting dead two Pakistanis, who... Read More

With déjà vu we see US cruise missiles being launched from the sea, Libyan AA firing helplessly into the night sky at invisible B-2 heavy bombers, and the burning wreckage of armor and vehicles on desert roads. Here we go again! It's Iraqi-style shock and awe for Libya. Let's get that nasty Saracen, Muammar Gadaffi,... Read More

I recently wrote that Libya's "Leader," Muammar Gadaffi, had used up all of his nine lives. After being written off by great powers and world media, Gadaffi, the dictator we love to hate, is still in power and making rude gestures at his assorted foes. We should call Gadaffi Mr. Lucky. As the western powers... Read More