North Korean communist leader Kim Jong-Il is sick but in command, Japanese officials believe.

According to Japan’s prime minister, Kim is probably hospitalized, but conscious and able to make decisions.

Prime Minister Taro Aso told a Parliamentary committee that Kim is “probably in a hospital.”

“Anyway, his condition isn’t good. But we don’t think that he’s in a state where he’s incapable of making any decisions at all,” Aso said. (more…)

For months, years even, Democrats have argued that President George W. Bush did horrendous damage to America’s image and reputation and alienated important allies in especially Europe by pursuing a hawkish foreign policy.

Bush, Democrats to a degree rightfully said, was too willing to act unilateral. A Democratic president would change all that, they said, and act in unison with western European countries in order to remove the threat posed by enemy regimes.| MORE ›

Michael Yon explains for Pajamas Media why the United States felt forced to act against a building inside Syria this weekend.

The situation can be summarized as follows: Syria does not do anything to prevent extremists from entering Iraq through the Syrian-Iraqi border. These extremists can walk over the border, after which they join forces with other extremists who arm them and tell them what targets to attack.| MORE ›

In what is the most surprising column about Sarah Palin ever since she first became John McCain’s running mate, Democrat Elaine Lafferty defends her, arguing that unlike what the elite media would like you to believe, Palin is actually a highly intelligent, curious and open-minded woman.

Writing about criticism aired by those who have never met Palin, but who deem themselves to fit to judge whether or not she is intelligent enough to be vice president nonetheless, Lafferty writes:| MORE ›

The candidates have promised change in this election, but have they delivered?  McCain called for a move toward the center, away from the divisive policies of George Bush.  Obama called for an end to the old ways of campaigning and governing.| MORE ›

Manfred Gerstenfeld wrote a fascinating column for the Jerusalem Post about ethnic profiling in the Netherlands. According to Gerstenfeld, the Dutch government is increasingly concerned with ethnic profiling in order to combat extremism, but also normal crime, and even high rates of students dropping out of high school.

The Dutch government, led by Christian Democrats and Laborites, has basically declared a war on Moroccan-Dutch who, as figures prove, are more likely to detest democracy, to drop out of school, and to commit crimes than any other ethnic group. (more…)

Campaigning in Ohio, Senator John McCain lashed out at Senator Barack Obama over the latter’s tax and economic plans. McCain used the recently published recording of an interview with Obama on a Chicago radio show, recorded in 2001.

“It’s amazing,” McCain said, “that even at this late hour we are still learning more about Senator Obama and his agenda.| MORE ›

The United States and Iraq continue to negotiate about how long U.S. troops will be allowed to stay in the country they invaded in 2003. The two sides seemed to have agreed to a deal that would require U.S. troops to come home by 2011, but influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rebelled, his supporters organized massive protests, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lost the political courage to agree to the deal and push it through Parliament.| MORE ›

Obama’s position on Iraq is “extremely risky,” Democrat Michael O’Hanlon wrote for Politico, as quoted by William Kristol in his latest column for the New York Times.| MORE ›

In 1989, the global system pivoted when the Soviet Union retreated from Eastern Europe and began the process of disintegration that culminated in its collapse. In 2001, the system pivoted again when al Qaeda attacked targets in the United States on Sept. 11, triggering a conflict that defined the international system until the summer of 2008. The pivot of 2008 turned on two dates, Aug. 7 and Oct. 11.

2008 and the Return of the Nation-State

By George Friedman (more…)