A profile of a militant Islamist Kurdish separatist movement seeking to transform Iraq into an Islamic state.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy team included veteran Clinton administration officials seeking to revive U.S. leadership through a balance of soft and hard power.

Whether to engage heads of rogue states, a perennial foreign policy dilemma, has emerged in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.

Experts warn there is slim hope to control this area given its long history of resisting intervention.

Political volatility among the world’s leading oil producers suggests deeper causes for recent price spikes.