Top 5 Contradictions in Obama’s Emerging ISIL Strategy by Juan Cole "Here a some of the more important obstacles to a smooth alliance or coherent war plan."

Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault; The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin by John J. Mearsheimer "U.S. and European leaders blundered in attempting to turn Ukraine into a Western stronghold on Russia’s border."

Can a Nation's Soil Explain Its Economic Fortunes? by Joe Pinsker If your ancestors could grow crops easily—and thus get proof that patience pays off—you're more likely to value distant payoffs, argue two economists in a new paper.

Football: Unsafe at any level by Jonathan Zimmerman We need to think long and hard about why we're putting so many kids at risk to subsidize a league that's already awash in money.

Ken Burns’s ‘Roosevelts’ Fine But Flawed by Harvey J. Kaye Arguably America’s most influential historian, Burns fashions a fascinating documentary from the lives of Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor. But his story has grave gaps.

Why trying to make government more accountable has backfired by David Frum Transparency is useful for lobbyists—it lets them keep track of their competitors.

The Case for a Unified Kurdistan by Daniel Pipes Is a united and independent Kurdistan a prospect we should welcome, or a dangerous idea that would create more problems in the Middle East than it would solve?

What both conservatives and liberals are missing in the fight over the new AP U.S. History standards by Nicholas M. Gallagher The old test was better. It emphasized facts.

Don’t Throw the Bums Out by Jon Grinspan If you know nothing about presidents like Benjamin Harrison or William McKinley, this is why. After the tumultuous 1870s, parties learned to stop nominating speechifying demagogues, so easy to caricature, and put dull, harmless men at the top of their tickets.

Is It Time to Ditch the Star-Spangled Banner? by Ted Widmer We should remember Francis Scott Key was a defender of slavery.