By CLIFF MAY, Scripps Howard News Service

President Obama had warned Kim Jong Il that should he launch a long-range ballistic missile the United States would "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it can't threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity."

Let's not call the political cartoonist Pat Oliphant an anti-Semite or even an Israel-basher. Let's just be clear about what he is doing: encouraging those whose intentions are genocidal.

The question posed by social scientist Charles Murray at the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner this month could hardly have been simpler: Do Americans want the United States to be like Europe?

The question posed by social scientist Charles Murray at the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner this month could hardly have been simpler: Do Americans want the United States to be like Europe?

This month, there was an "International Conference in Support of the People and Economy of Darfur," and billions of dollars were raised not just from America and Europe but also from Arab and Muslim states concerned over the war crimes -- including mass murders and mass rapes -- being perpetrated against the people of Darfur, most of whom are black and Muslim.

President George Bush was under no illusions about the threat a nuclear-armed, militant Islamist regime in Tehran would pose. But during two terms in the White House, he took no serious steps to prevent this capability from steadily developing.

In the 20th century, communists waged a struggle for global dominance, but there were conflicts within their ranks as well -- disputes over strategy, ideology and doctrine. Bolsheviks fought Mensheviks, Stalin quarreled with Trotsky (Stalin had the last word: an ice pick delivered to Trotsky's skull), Maoists broke with the Kremlin.

There's an old joke about three guys stranded in the desert, dying of thirst. They have a can of water -- but can't open it. One guy, an engineer, uses a stick as a lever and a rock as a fulcrum and ... nothing. The second guy, a physicist, does some calculations, drops the can from a predetermined height at a carefully considered angle and ... still nothing.

The headline on CNN was "Cheney Attacks!" Correspondent Tom Foreman commented that, "even in the bare- knuckle world of Washington these days, this was a remarkably sharp attack by the former vice president just weeks into President Obama's term."

Iraq's most recent elections were a sight for sore eyes. Independent observers agree they were free, fair and valid. Iraqis voted less for sectarian parties and more for individual candidates. Extremists did not fare well. Sunnis, Shias and Kurds all participated in large numbers.