Iran

Iran’s New President
How can we deal with the nuclear threat from Iran? By encouraging democracy in Iran. By Abbas Milani.

Israel

The Gaza Pullout
The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza represented a dramatic new development. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Robert Zelnick reports on the new—and old—realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain

Did Success Spoil the Tories?
After 18 years of uninterrupted power, life by 1997 must have seemed rosy for Britain’s Conservatives. Then they were booted from office. Is Labour walking down the same primrose path? By Gerald A. Dorfman.

Russia

Back in the USSR
Crowded Internet cafes dot the new urban landscapes of St. Petersburg and Moscow, yet Russians still yearn for the terrible simplicity of the old days. Niall Ferguson explains.

Alexander Yakovlev, RIP**
After helping to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, Alexander Yakovlev became the conscience of the new Russian state. Russia has lost its moral leader—when it needs him most. By David Satter.

Uzbekistan

The False Promise of Autocratic Stability
He rules Uzbekistan with an iron fist, and now he’s cozying up to Russia and China. Why it’s time for the United States to wash its hands of Islam Karimov. By Michael McFaul.

Asia

High Hopes—and High Anxiety
Economic growth and prosperity in East Asia have proven stupendous, yet security in the region represents a perennial worry. How Washington should navigate the tricky geometry of the Asian Triangle. By John Raisian.

Europe

Chords of Memory
The uncertain nature of the European-American relationship in these distinctly uncertain times. By Dennis l. Bark.

National Security

National Security: A Better Approach
How can we reform our dysfunctional national security system? By letting the White House call the shots. By Bruce Berkowitz and Kori Schake.

The Rogues Are Losing
Why the rogues of the Middle East have a very short future. By Charles Hill.

Democracy

Development and Democracy
Economic growth and democracy don’t always go hand in hand. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and George W. Downs explain why.

Giving Peace a Chance
Can the new century prove an age of peace? Niall Ferguson considers the question by examining conflict in three of the last century’s hot spots: Bosnia, Guatemala, and Cambodia.

Politics

Dubya and the Roiled Right**
By failing to fight for a domestic agenda, the president has given his core supporters little reason to stand by him—and numerous reasons to drift. By Clark S. Judge.

Race

Witness**
Racism cannot explain the images of deep black poverty that emerged in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If Katrina was a wake-up call for government, it was also a wake-up call for black America. By Shelby Steele.

Health Care

Be Afraid**
The avian flu is already responsible for more than 60 human deaths. If it mutates into a virus transmissible between humans—a real possibility—we could see a worldwide pandemic. How to fight the flu. By Henry I. Miller.

Reforming Malpractice Liability
The medical liability system functions less like a rational compensation scheme and more like a lottery. How to take luck out of the equation. By Daniel P. Kessler.

Washington’s War on AIDS
The biggest weapon in the global war on AIDS? Money. President Bush has pledged $15 billion—the largest contribution from any nation in history to combat a single disease. By Jonathan Moore.

The Twilight of Socialized Medicine?
Medicaid is gravely ill. The best place to look for a cure? The marketplace. By Jeffrey M. Jones.

Energy

The Nuclear Option**
It’s time to go nuclear. Gary S. Becker explains.

History and Culture

In-Your-Sleep Moralizing
The United States may make an easy target for Amnesty International, the United Nations, and the Europeans. But it’s our military that protects Western civilization. By Victor Davis Hanson.

Stalin the Terrible**
“Stalin the mass killer slept easily at night. Not for him the uneasiness of wearing the crown of state: he adored power.” Robert Service on the face of evil.

When Goodness Won
The recently published KGB file of Andrei Sakharov shows the extent to which he was oppressed—and the magnitude of his heroism. By Robert Conquest.

Fascism—an “Ism” of the Left, not the Right
A fascist White House? Get serious. By Arnold Beichman.

What Rosa Parks Meant
Rosa Parks sparked a great movement. Jeff Bliss on the “power of one.”

Hoover Archives

Revolutionary Eye: The Political Education of Wolfgang Janisch
Looking at the world around him in the 1970s and ’80s, East German artist Wolfgang Janisch saw much to protest: the East German communist dictatorship, the nuclear arms race, and rampant environmental destruction. How a humble man with an ordinary life began making extraordinary art—and helped bring down the Berlin Wall. By Brad Bauer.