According to Virgin founder and CEO Richard Branson, the UN is about to urge all governments around the world to decriminalize all drugs. If true, this would be a monumental shift in the fight to end the pointless drugs war that has yielded little more than the incarceration of ...read more

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, speaking with journalists in 2009. (Photo credit: Trango) By Paul R. Pillar: What is one of the first things Hamas does when it is fresh off standing up against an Israeli assault and widely perceived to have gained ground politically at the ...read more

The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From Reuters: The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue ...read more

The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From Bloomberg: President Barack Obama pledged in a speech to world leaders today that the U.S. will do what it takes to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon and warned that time for a diplomatic resolution “is not unlimited.” While ...read more

The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From The AP: Iran's president called Israel a nuclear-armed "fake regime" shielded by the United States, prompting Israel's U.N. ambassador to walk out of a high-level U.N. meeting Monday promoting the rule of law. Iranian President Mahmoud ...read more

The Daily Banter Headline Grab (via Yahoo! News): The White House denied late Tuesday that President Barack Obama had snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by rejecting his request for a meeting when he comes to the annual United Nations General Assembly in New ...read more