Being Hafiz al-Assad Unleashing Hezbollah, stalling talks, and having the state-run media spew anti-Israel vitriol hardly seem pacific, but Syria's dictator has a consistent if chilly peace strategy

The Party's Over Robert Gerald Livingston Germany's huge financial scandal shook more than just Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats. The country's party cartel system may be crumbling-and fast

The Global Food Fight Robert Paarlberg New technologies often provoke strong resistance-even when, as with genetically modified crops, their benefits vastly outweigh their potential harms. The fact is that transgenic food has no proven downside. Nevertheless, scare-mongering consumer groups in Europe have led a global backlash against this new technology. The battle has thus far pitted rich American farmers against rich European consumers. But the real losers are the poor farmers and underfed citizens of the tropics, who desperately need all the help that gene science can deliver