The New Republic

CARACAS, Venezuela — The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez always had superb political timing. His initial election in 1998 coincided with the lowest oil prices in decades, and he rode a steady rise in prices to a nearly impregnable, petrodollar-fueled reign of power. Although oil prices tumbled in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, they reversed course in time for his October 2012 reelection. READ MORE >>

"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.” Have more absurdly misleading words ever been uttered by any politician? Margaret Thatcher was standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street in May 1979, after winning the first of her three general elections. She or (more likely) some aide had found an eirenic prayer by St. Francis to recite. And yet nothing could have less accurately described the spirit in which she governed the country for the next eleven years—or the way she is today remembered. READ MORE >>

Margaret Thatcher's crucial foreign policy achievement, at least according to much of the American media's coverage of the former British prime minister's death Monday at 87, was to cement a strong alliance with Ronald Reagan in the final decade of the Cold War. Not since Winston Churchill and FDR joined forces against fascism has Anglo-American unity ... the sentence practically writes itself. READ MORE >>

PAJU, South Korea — On April 5, the North Korean foreign affairs ministry delivered a sinister circular to embassies and non-governmental organizations. After next Wednesday, it reportedly read, the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of international personnel. Please do not hesitate to evacuate your staff, it said. READ MORE >>

As Hugo Chávez’s illness entered its final stage, I began pondering his afterlife. He seemed destined for immediate sanctification, the sort of quasi-religious elevation that greeted Evita Perón. Hugo Chávez will continue to linger for years, I suspect, given the Venezuelan veneration of the military strong man, the caudillo. READ MORE >>

Fifty thousand people died in Sierra Leone’s brutal eleven-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Since then, thousands more have died in a lesser-known scourge: childbirth. Sierra Leone has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the world; one in 23 women dies as a result of pregnancy. Many of these deaths are entirely preventable. In a country of six million people, there are only three obstetricians and less than 300 trained doctors. READ MORE >>

The afternoon that Zain Zaidi’s house was blown up, we were filming a scene from our soap opera, “Silvatein,” or “Fissures,” in which one character tries to convince her ex-sister-in-law not to remarry. I play Natasha, a troublemaker who is perpetually worried about her social standing, and Zain is one of our two assistant directors. He ties his hair back in a long ponytail and always wears tinted shades, even inside. READ MORE >>

The Israeli government that President Obama will encounter this week may charitably be called a unity coalition—and less charitably, a schizophrenic coalition. From Tzippi Livni on the left, responsible for negotiations with the Palestinians, to former settler leader Uri Ariel on the right, the new construction minister responsible for, well, construction, this is a government deeply divided on the future of the West Bank.  READ MORE >>

It’s hard to drag an elephant into a room. But once there, it’s surprisingly easy to ignore. Such was the case during Kenya’s presidential campaign, which concluded this week. After a series of galling technical mishaps, the latest vote count delivered the presidency to deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto. READ MORE >>

North Korea, in advance of a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote to sanction the country for last month's underground nuclear weapons test, today threatened to pre-emptively nuke Washington. Pyongyang has long been known for its provocations, but this one is scary enough to warrant asking: Could they pull it off? READ MORE >>