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But William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, says he doesn't think any efforts at the UN this week will ... and more »

Analyst Parag Khanna cautions, though, that "this could prove to be a premature celebration," adding that other leaders may emerge in Mehsud's place, raising a new problem for Pakistani and U.S. intelligence. "When you kill one important leader, you scatter [the militants], and your intelligence game has to start all over again," says Khanna, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.

It's been a rough recession for everyone, but especially rough for men.

Tally up the job losses since November, and 80 percent have fallen on American males. Factory jobs, gone. Hard hat construction jobs, gone. The very male cowboy culture of Wall Street, stumbled and humbled.

Reihan Salam looks at the fall and sees not just numbers. He sees the end of an era of macho jobs, macho risk-taking, the end of an age of macho culture ruling the economy.

It may be a quiet end, he says.… more

When it comes to American states, California has long been number one on many fronts. Now, it’s number one in fiscal crisis.

Like many states in the economic bust, California’s spending has drastically outstripped its income. It has the highest sales tax in the nation and some of the country’s highest state income taxes: 10.5 percent at a million dollars.

But it’s also staring at a $21 billion deficit, and its voters just said no to higher taxes. It may have to… more

Harry and Louise illustrate one of three common mistakes that make supporters of health overly optimistic?says Jacob Hacker, an expert on the US political ...

Young conservatives Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam are the toast of Republican thought circles right now. But their call to Republican revival is also a broadside.

Bush-era crony capitalism and government neglect, they charge, have pushed the USA toward a Latin American model of rich and poor and nothing in between. If the Grand Old Party wants a comeback, they argue, it's going to have to do something serious for American workers. But something conservative. This hour,… more

Real Issues: Health Care Costs (On Point/WBUR Boston Radio)

Listen to the online audio from the show featuring Shannon Brownlee, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer. ...

There are issues that get a big workout on the presidential campaign trail: big headlines, big applause lines. And there are a raft of really big issues that barely get touched: from defense spending, to American deficits,… more

'On Point' radio program interviewed Flynt Leverett on Iran and the politics of nuclear intelligence. Check out the On Point website:

When America's spy agencies issued a National Intelligence Estimate two weeks ago stating that Iran shuttered its nuclear weapons program in 2003, it was a blockbuster like few can recall.

The sigh of relief in Washington and around the world was audible. Only recently, President Bush had said a nuclear Iran might ignite "World War III."

But behind the scenes,… more

A new study says the war in Iraq is creating terrorists out of foreign fighters who will then pose a new threat when they return to their home countries. The study comes to the conclusion that Iraq War critics have been making for some time: the war is causing terrorism rather then stopping it.We speak with Peter Bergen, a research fellow at the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law and senior fellow at… more

No Iranian of former Iranian President Khatami's stature has traveled outside of New York in the United States since followers of Ayatollah Khomeini seized the American embassy in Iran in 1979, taking 52 American hostages for more than a year.

Why is Khatami in the U.S., and what does he represent? For some answers we turn to Afshin Molavi, author of "The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom."

To listen to the interview, please visit the Boston radio website, more