Charles Landow and Courtney Lobel trace the evolving similarities between Pittsburg and Bangalore's economic development.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon outlines the biggest challenges facing recently appointed State Department Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador James Dobbins.

Edward Alden writes that the GOP should embrace immigration reform and follow the Canadian Conservative Party's example on how to woo the immigrant vote.

Elliott Abrams discusses the latest House hearing on the Benghazi embassy attack of September 11, 2012.

Despite an extended period of economic difficulty, Pew pollsters Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock show that Americans' core values and beliefs about economic opportunity remain largely optimistic and unchanged.

Frank Klotz discusses France's new defense white paper and its implications for France's nuclear policy.

Outside of a humanitarian crisis—such as a famine or a natural disaster—it is hard to make the case that any country deserves another's economic support. To paraphrase Britain's Lord Palmerston, countries do not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.

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The prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing the Federal Reserve's bloated balance sheet has created an "exit strategy" dilemma for Chairman Ben Bernanke. CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening.

Gregory Koblentz argues that the United States' best option for a response to the conflict in Syria is not simply arming the rebels, pushing for UN sanctions, indicting Assad, or pressuring Russia—rather, it is a combination of all four.

Nawaz Sharif appears poised to return as Pakistan's prime minister, which would create new challenges for the country's already fractious politics and add strains to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, writes CFR's Daniel Markey.

Washington Post journalists interviewed South Korean President Park Geun-hye after her meeting with President Obama on May 7, 2013, and the newspaper published excerpts.

CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening as a solution for the prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing its bloated balance sheet.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held this press conference after their meeting on May 7, 2013, focused primarily on U.S.-Russian cooperation in regards to Syria.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye held a press conference on May 7, 2013. They discussed trade and threats from North Korea.

Since North Korea conducted its latest nuclear test in February 2013, a spiral of heightened international pressure and increasingly threatening provocations by Pyongyang has ensued.

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President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued this joint declaration on May 7, 2013. The statement confirms both nations' commitment to the U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) Mutual Defense Treaty, U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Joint Vision for the U.S.-ROK Alliance, and Six Party Talks with North Korea.

The Mountain View investors are the partners of Y Combinator, an organization that can be likened to a sleep-away camp for start-up companies. Y.C. holds two three-month sessions every year. During that time, campers, or founders, have regular meetings with each of Y.C.'s counselors, or partners, at which they receive technical advice, emotional support and, most critical, lessons on the art of the sale. There is no campus, only a nondescript office building in Mountain View — on Pioneer Way, around the corner from Easy Street. Founders are advised to rent apartments nearby, so that they can run to the office in minutes should an important investor pay a visit.

The Administration has given the Syrian opposition more than six hundred and fifty million dollars in nonmilitary aid, but Obama has consistently opposed arming the rebels or intervening militarily on their behalf. The United States has taken a tenuous position: not deep enough to please the rebels or its allies in Europe, or to topple the regime, or to claim leadership in the war's aftermath—but also, perhaps most important, not so deep that it can't get out.

Under reciprocal treaty obligations, host nations are obligated to provide security for the diplomatic facilities of sending states. However, instances in which host nations have been unable or not fully committed to fulfilling this responsibility have sometimes left U.S. facilities vulnerable, especially in extraordinary circumstances. U.S. facilities therefore employ a layered approach to security including not only the measures taken by a host country, but also additional, U.S.-coordinated measures, to include armed Diplomatic Security agents, hardened facilities, U.S.-trained and/or contracted local security guards, and sometimes U.S. Marine Security Guard detachments (whose principal role is securing classified information).