Michael Olson
Discuss America’s role in the Middle East. How do we strike a balance between our national interests, moral obligations, and the maintenance of world order? Read more →
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International affairs
Obama conspicuously did not say he would ask lawmakers to vote on whether to approve this military action. Read more →
In an address to the nation, President Barack Obama will outline an expanded military and political effort to combat Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, possibly including airstrikes in Syria, officials said. Read more →
The Obama administration is faced with a growing challenge by Islamist militants. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS, now controls parts of those nations. Read more →
Declaring that “America is coming to help,” President Barack Obama is authorizing U.S. airstrikes if necessary and airdrops of humanitarian aid in northern Iraq to counter advancing Islamic militants and the threat they pose to Americans as well as Iraqi civilians. Read more →
MPR News Staff
Militant group advances in Iraq, taking another northern town By Eyder Peralta – NPR A militant Sunni group continues its offensive in Iraq, taking the northern town of Tal Afar in the early morning hours. The Associated Press reports Tal Afar is a city of about 200,000 people and with an ethnic mix of Shiite Read more →
Tom Engelhardt argues that the U.S. approach to war is pointless. “The United States has been at war — major boots-on-the-ground conflicts and minor interventions, firefights, air strikes, drone assassination campaigns, occupations, special ops raids, proxy conflicts, and covert actions — nearly nonstop since the Vietnam War began. That’s more than half a century of Read more →
I will be headed to Kyiv, Ukraine tomorrow night for discussions there Tuesday. — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 2, 2014 “As Russia dispatched more forces and tightened its grip on the Crimean Peninsula on Sunday, President Obama embarked on a strategy intended to isolate Moscow and prevent it from seizing more Ukrainian territory even as Read more →
“Saying that Edward Snowden has ‘contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order’ by exposing U.S. surveillance practices and forcing a new debate over security and privacy, two Norwegian politicians nominated the former intelligence contractor for the Nobel Peace Prize Wednesday,” writes NPR’s Bill Chappell. If he were to win the award, Snowden, who Read more →
“Nelson Mandela, who was born in a country that viewed him as a second-class citizen, died Thursday as one of the most respected statesmen in the world. He was 95,” writes NPR’s Jason Beaubien. In April 1994, the world watched as millions of South Africans — most of them jubilant, but many wary — cast Read more →