The Cuban missile crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union closer to nuclear war than any other event during the Cold War. President John F. Kennedy put the odds of war at “somewhere bet…

Republican presidential candidates participate in a Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, on December 15, 2011.(Pool/courtesy Reuters) Above the Fold. Iran was the obligatory foreign p…

The most important foreign policy speech of the year so far was delivered not by any of the presidential candidates, nor by any of their advisors, nor by President Obama or his officials. It was give…

Politicians give speeches all the time. Most of what they say is quickly forgotten, or perhaps better never said in the first place. But occasionally a politician gives a speech that defines an age. …