Gayle Tzemach Lemmon weighs in on the U.S. government shutdown.

John Campbell explains Boko Haram's presence in Nigeria and potential implications for U.S. foreign policy.

Jendayi Frazer argues that the United States "should work closely with Kenya to the East/Horn of Africa coalition against terrorism."

A diplomatic dance will be no waltz for either Iran or America, writes CFR President Richard N. Haass.

Elliott Abrams review Like Dreamers, by Yossi Kelin Halevi, for the Wall Street Journal.

Fred Kaplan urges the United States to work with Iranian president Rouhani in light of his speeches at the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's role in advancing women's rights on the U.S. foreign policy agenda.

Tension between senior civilian and military officials over where and how U.S. armed forces should be used has been visible in recent debates on intervention in Syria. Micah Zenko discusses reasons for and consequences of the civilian-military split.

Ray Takeyh explains how Iranian president Rouhani's diplomatic agenda shapes and is shaped by his relationship with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Jonathan Tepperman profiles Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in light of this week's first United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

Marking the 500th anniversary of the The Prince (1513), Stewart Patrick explains why Machiavelli's primer on statecraft still has the capacity to shock half a millennium after it was written.

Julia Sweig responds to the question, "As Brazil Snubs the U.S., Who Loses?" on the New York Times' Room for Debate blog.

Ties between Brazil and the United States will continue after Brazilian president Dilma cancelled her trip to Washington, but a prime opportunity to forge a new relationship has been lost, writes Julia Sweig.

Les Gelb gives advice to Iranian president Rouhani.

Fred Kaplan advocates a meeting between President Obama and Iran's president Rouhani over the course of this week's meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ray Takeyh analyzses a recent op-ed in Iran's newspaper Bahar and President Rouhani's leadership team and implications for country's nuclear program.

Peter Orszag writes that the federal government can learn from the evidenced-based focus of some organizations that are targeting childhood obesity.

The interventions that U.S. policymakers have proposed to address Syria are based on a "deep misunderstandings of how U.S. force was used on behalf of humanitarian missions in the past, and have almost nothing to do with how Syrian non-combatants are actually being killed," Micah Zenko writes in his latest article. Micah discusses the "misleading characterization" that policymakers have repeated throughout the Syrian civil war.

"Faced with the unenviable choice between violent instability and repression, U.S. policymakers chose the latter" in Pakistan, writes Daniel Markey.

Gayle Tzemach-Lemmon discusses the possible consequences of the U.S. government's inaction in Syria and the disconnect between President Barack Obama's approach to the situation and the national security intervention proposals he was reviewing.