Democratic institutions tend to emerge only when certain social and cultural conditions exist. But economic development and modernization push those conditions in the right direction and make democracy increasingly likely.

Global warming is accelerating, and although engineering the climate strikes most people as a bad idea, it is time to take it seriously.

Germany is a bridge between Russia and the West, and how Berlin chooses to deal with Moscow will set the tone for how the United States and the rest of Europe manage their own relationships with Russia.