Pope Francis has a bank and wants to help the poor. The poor need low-cost banking services. It’s a match made in Heaven.

U.S. policy in Syria is failing because the Obama Administration is prioritizing the urgent (rolling back ISIS) over the truly important (Iran and Russia).

Sometimes a divided country is better than a hopeless one.

The radicalization of Muslims in Belgium provides ominous lessons for the rest of Europe.

How much does it matter if the Pope pushes a quasi-Marxist ideology? Probably quite a lot.

The new production of Otello at the Met is startling, interesting, and beautiful. Run, don’t walk.

After moving left for most of its history, is French politics now turning to the far Right?

The U.S. must not let Russia and Iran become Europe’s solution to Syria.

All the conditions for a new golden age seem to be present, and in many ways we are in a golden age of opera performance, but there is nothing like a golden age of operatic appreciation among the people at large.

President Obama got elected promising to always engage with implacable foes of the United States. Putin, for one, has taken advantage of Obama’s outreach every single time.