Kenneth M. Pollack, a leading expert on Iraq, says his latest trip to Iraq showed the country was “a mess,” but there were also significant improvements on the ground as a result of the U.S. “surge” …

Russia’s parliament ratified the New START treaty, but Russian domestic issues like terrorism, as well as U.S. and Russian presidential elections in 2012, make it unlikely that any further accords wi…

James M. Lindsay, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, and a former director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the first presidential debate between Senator John McCain and Senat…

Vladimir Putin’s reelection as president raises concerns over domestic reforms and relations with Washington. Russia’s future will be determined by Putin’s handling of opponents and whether oppositio…

The future of Iraq depends as much on melding the many differences between its Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish groups as on integrating its smaller ethnic and religious communities. Among its largest mino…