Tighter Western sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine may be necessary but could bring unwelcome consequences, explains CFR’s John Bellinger.

Julia E. Sweig, the Council on Foreign Relations’ top Cuba expert, says there is considerable pressure from congressional Republicans to ease the U.S. trade embargo on Havana by opening up travel and…

The vote by some Crimean citizens to join Russia violates Ukrainian and international law and could come back to haunt Moscow, its primary backer, says CFR’s John Bellinger.

A senior economic adviser to Sen. John McCain calls free trade an essential element in reviving U.S. economic fortunes.

The pope’s encyclical on the environment carries a profoundly religious message about care for the earth, wedded to a new call for activism, say religious scholars Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim.