Every four years, the Islamic Republic of Iran engages in a closely choreographed farce of elections, aimed at maintaining the illusion that the Iranian people have a say in how their country is governed.
Iran is moving forward with a contested uranium-enrichment program, a slap in the face to the West which has charged the nation with unlawful pursuit of nuclear weaponry.
A key House panel pushed through legislation Wednesday calling on the Obama administration to significantly broaden U.S. sanctions on Iran, just as the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency released a report saying the Islamic republic's nuclear program had made measurable advances.
The United States and several key allies sought Wednesday a strategy to end Syria's civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime's military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan mused that if the world were about to be devastated by an alien force - perhaps a collision with a large asteroid - peoples of all nations, ideological persuasions and political parties would come together to save the planet and our civilization.
Iran says it has new air defense missile technology that can take on low-flying craft, and it's in process of mass producing the system.
Authorities have executed two men convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Iran's state radio said.
As Washington surveys the landscape of the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, it becomes clear that the ensuing chaos resembles something closer to a long, harsh winter than a hopeful beginning.
Just in case further evidence is needed of the damage done to our nation and our hapless people by the Internal Revenue Service, it comes through the news that at some level or levels the terror-inspiring institution targeted Tea Party and related groups for scrutiny and investigation ("Holder: IRS probe will be national, 'dispassionate,'" Web, May 15). This phenomenon should be alarming to the American people, regardless of one's political stripes.
