Roundup: Media's Take

Doug Saunders: The Great Shift from Farm to City

Doug Saunders is the European bureau chief of the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail and the author of "Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World."

Erin Aubry Kaplan: For Blacks, a Rift over Obama

Erin Aubry Kaplan is a contributing editor to the Times Opinion pages. Her collected essays will be published in October.It was the kind of insular, issue-driven, black-on-black debate that ordinarily doesn't attract the media spotlight, even on the slowest news day. But thanks to the unprecedented profile of Barack Obama, the most famous black person in modern history, this one got hot.

Nzaar Ihsan: In Pakistan, Denial is Easier than Heartbreak

Nzaar Ihsan is a Pakistani expatriate currently living in Qatar, where he works in the banking sector.

Anne Applebaum: The New World in Dubai

Anne Applebaum is an op-ed columnist for the WaPo.Foreigners visiting New York or Chicago in the 19th century often came away with conflicting feelings. Some found American cities ugly by comparison to their European counterparts: They seemed vulgar, blatantly commercial, lacking in taste. The natives had higher living standards but they were crude, and the ethnic mix — German, Irish, Italian, Jewish — was terrifying....

Michael Lind: Why the GOP Should Nominate Barack Obama in 2012

Michael Lind is Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation and is the author of "The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution."

Jonah Goldberg: Libya and America's commitment problem

Jonah Goldberg is an American conservative syndicated columnist and author. Suddenly and sadly, the Libyan war may be one of the most consequential adventures in recent American history. Libya's not important because it is vital to our national security. Nor is it a particularly significant country. It's important solely because the Washington establishment, led by President Obama, made it important. If you set out to take Vienna, Napoleon advised, take Vienna.

Bret Stephens: A Republican Foreign Policy

Mr. Stephens writes the Journal's Global View column on foreign affairs, which runs every Tuesday in the U.S. and is also published in the European and Asian editions of the paper. 

Peter Beinart: How Romney Is Like Reagan

Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, is now available from HarperCollins. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

John McCumber: RAND, Cold Warriors and the Failure of Rational Choice Philosophy

John McCumber is Professor of Germanic Languages at UCLA. He is the author of “Time in the Ditch: American Philosophy and the McCarthy Era” (2001) and, two forthcoming books, “On Philosophy: Notes From a Crisis” and “Time and Philosophy: A History of Continental Thought.”According to Hegel, history is idea-driven. According to almost everyone else, this is foolish. What can “idea driven” even mean when measured against the passion and anguish of a place like Libya?...

Jay Cost: Blue Smoke and Mirrors

Jay Cost is a staff writer for The Weekly Standard.

Adrian Hamilton: Nato is Dead – It's Just That We Won't Admit It

Adrian Hamilton is The Independent’s comment editor and writes a weekly column largely on international affairs with particular focus on the Middle East, Iran and foreign policy issues.

Peter Wehner: The Importance of History

Peter Wehner is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Previously he worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. In the last of which, he served as deputy assistant to the president.

Michael Honda: Peter King's 'Muslim Radicalization' Hearings Risk Repeating History

Congressman Michael Honda (D-CA) is Senior Democratic Whip and member of House Budget and Appropriations Committees.Who would have thought that my early childhood experience in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II would offer such useful insight, sixty-five years later, in determining the direction America is headed? In reflecting on this week’s second round of Muslim radicalization hearings, planned by Congressman Peter King (R-NY), I feel like a mirror is being held up to my life, giving value to lessons learned as a child.

Peter Trubowitz: Obama's Trench Warfare ... What the Forty-Fourth President Needs to Learn from Van Buren, Hoover and Nixon

Peter Trubowitz is professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft (Princeton University Press, 2011). When former British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan was asked what might blow his government’s policy off course, he replied: “Events, dear boy, events.” Obama took office seeking to lighten America’s geopolitical footprint.

Ryan L. Cole: Positively Shermanesque

Ryan L. Cole writes from Indiana. Republicans, increasingly anxious about the approaching presidential contest, are spending an inordinate amount of time searching for saviors. As a result, accomplished governors, charismatic candidates-turned talk show hosts, and rising congressional stars have been beseeched to run, and all have politely declined. Disconsolate, GOP faithful wonder how any concerned and qualified citizen could possibly resist the call of the White House.

Maritza Stanchich: Obama in Old San Juan

Maritza Stanchich is an associate professor of English at the Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico.

James R. Holmes: Monroe Doctrines in Asia?

James R. Holmes is a defence analyst for The Diplomat and an associate professor of strategy at the US Naval War College where he specializes in US, Chinese and Indian maritime strategy and US diplomatic and military history.

Jeffrey Lord: Is Mitt Romney the New Nelson Rockefeller?

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com....Nelson Rockefeller.Grandson of the legendary billionaire oil man John D. Rockefeller and son of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. -- or "Junior" as he was frequently called. Nelson himself was one of the famed five "Rockefeller Brothers," John D. Jr.'s kids. Along with Nelson that included John D. III (father of today's Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat), Laurance, David, and Winthrop. (The remaining sibling of his generation was the frequently unmentioned sister Abby.) All devoted entire lives to philanthropic causes ranging from finance to architecture to the environment and more. While the others went about their varied interests it was Nelson who eagerly served Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower in various national security, foreign policy and domestic capacities before plunging into his own political career as the longtime Republican Governor of New York, two-time presidential candidate and appointed-Vice President of the United States for Gerald Ford.But as the political world eventually understood, Nelson Rockefeller came to represent something much more than all of the above.

Michael Lind: We Need a New Deal for Information Technology

Michael Lind is Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation and is the author of "The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution." America’s attention is focused on the faltering recovery from the Great Recession. But we cannot neglect another question: Where are we in the long-term technology cycle?

Thanassis Cambanis: For Egypt's Revolutionaries, History Offers Discouraging Lessons

Thanassis Cambanis is the author of A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel. He contributes regularly to The New York Times and The Boston Globe, where he is a columnist, and blogs regularly at thanassiscambanis.com.