Commentary

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The Monitor's View
Artful diplomacy with Syria and Iran

Kofi Annan and Catherine Ashton each relied on delicate diplomacy to bring some fragile hope to two big security issues – Iran's nuclear program and the civil war in Syria.
Opinion
Bigger scandal in Latin America than US secret service: US drug hunger

The secret service prostitution scandal overshadows renewed calls at the Summit of the Americas for the US to stanch its drug consumption. A viral 'Drug Violence 2012' video (think 'Kony 2012') would help young Americans connect US drug use to violence in Central and South America.
Opinion
Gregg Williams audio and Saints bounty program test my football faith

Football for me has always been a kind of faith. But now the audio of former New Orleans Saints defensive coach Gregg Williams instructing his team to injure players is testing that faith. As a lifelong NFL fan, I need to know that I’m not financing cruel blood sport.
Readers Write: Is America's gun culture useful or dangerous?

Letters to the Editor for the weekly print edition of April 16, 2012: One reader argues that a recent cover story ('Inside America's gun culture') didn't give adequate coverage to the use of guns for hunting, competition, and sport. Another worries that 'any angry malcontent with a short fuse and a chip on his shoulder, could pull a loaded gun.'
The Monitor's View
The Ann Romney flap and women's roles

The flap over the Hilary Rosen comment about stay-at-home mom Ann Romney only exposes a deeper issue about self-sacrifice – for both men and women.
Opinion
North Korea rocket launch: Why Kim failed the test

North Korea's failed rocket launch symbolizes the inefficacy of Pyongyang's economic and political system and the crash of brief hopes that the new Kim regime might lead to rapprochement with South Korea and the United States.
Editorial Board Blog
No crusty journalist complaint here: Caine's Arcade is more than a distracting fad (+video)

We sometimes complain that fickle Internet fads drive our news coverage. But Caine's Arcade made the virtual front pages for all the right reasons. The phenomenon provides another example of how the Web 2.0 world informs media coverage – and better yet – inspires action.
Opinion
Iran talks: Why time is ripe for compromise

Positive signals from Iran and the United States are encouraging as talks on Tehran's nuclear program get underway, writes a political expert from Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Monitor's View
Lift Latin America's 'drug curse'

At the Summit of the Americas, Obama will likely be asked to discuss alternatives to the get-tough tactics on the drug trade – even to endorse legalization. He should point to Latin America's successes in giving economic alternatives to drug trafficking.
Editor's Blog
The tax man taketh -- and sometimes giveth

From outside, the workings of a big bureaucracy like the IRS seem mysterious and arbitrary. From the inside, it all makes perfect sense. Actually, you could say that about most workplaces.
Opinion
The danger that Saudi Arabia will turn Syria into an Islamist hotbed

A tentative UN-brokered ceasefire does not settle Western concerns over Saudi intervention in Syria. While the US and its allies are wary of seeing Syria become a sectarian battleground, the power brokers in Riyadh seem to have been hurtling toward it – with a form of state-sponsored jihad.
Opinion
Hey SCOTUS, we already have a federal mandate for health care

US law requires emergency rooms to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. As a hospital CEO, I assure you, we already have a form of universal health care. We simply fund and supply it in an exorbitantly expensive way. Obamacare's individual mandate provides the solution.
The Monitor's View
A tsunami-warning system makes waves

Big lessons can be learned from Wednesday's giant earthquake off Indonesia that led to an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami warning. The new system, set up since the big 2004 disaster, worked.
Opinion
Post-parenthood: When adult children move home, is it OK to be friends?

Facing a slow economy, three of our children moved back home after college. New unemployment figures show we're not alone. I worried: Are these roommates? What are the rules? Beyond the questions, something strange and wonderful was taking place. Mirth. And laughter.
Political dynasties (Romney, Bush, Kennedy) betray basic American values

Families like the Kennedys, Bushes, and Romneys will likely ever seek political power – and the public may well respond with a certain star-struck awe. But hereditary ambition and home-grown royalty run counter to the American Revolution premise ‘that all men are created equal.
Political dynasties (Romney, Bush, Kennedy) betray basic American values

Families like the Kennedys, Bushes, and Romneys will likely ever seek political power – and the public may well respond with a certain star-struck awe. But hereditary ambition and home-grown royalty run counter to the American Revolution premise ‘that all men are created equal.
The Monitor's View
North Korea rocket launch: fireworks of fear

North Korea plans to launch a missile by April 16 in violation of UN sanctions. It will be yet another provocative act by a regime that has long used blackmail and crisis to simply survive and to win concessions.
Remembering Fang Lizhi: 'hero of the people,' hated by China's regime

Fellow dissident Wei Jingsheng pays tribute to Fang Lizhi, who inspired pro-democracy students in China. Fang warned in 2010: 'Regardless of how widely China’s leaders have opened its market to the outside world, they have not retreated even half a step from their repressive political creed.'
Remembering Fang Lizhi: 'hero of the people,' hated by China's regime

Fellow dissident Wei Jingsheng pays tribute to Fang Lizhi, who inspired pro-democracy students in China. Fang warned in 2010: 'Regardless of how widely China’s leaders have opened its market to the outside world, they have not retreated even half a step from their repressive political creed.'
Opinion
A weakened Putin is questioned abroad, under siege at home

Russia's President-elect Vladimir Putin may have won the presidential election, but he lost Moscow. And he faces an engaged, active generation that did not grow up as Soviets. Political legitimacy is more than an official election result; it requires trust.