EXCERPT

The Central American country has become a transit zone for drug traffickers and the center of a biofuel boom. Dispossessed indigenous groups are paying the price.

Breaking up monopolies was the first step in fighting Hitler.

In the middle of World War II, Tehran became a haven for both Jewish and Catholic Polish refugees who were welcomed as they arrived from Soviet Central Asia.

The imperiled birth—and slow decline—of Golden Rice.

U.S. strategy in Syria has long been plagued by short-term thinking, while Russia, Turkey, and Iran played a long game. Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds is just the latest chapter in Washington’s bungled approach to the region.

Defining “us” and “them” is crucial for the success of far-right parties, and the boundaries are constantly shifting.

China's use of sharp power could shatter East Asia.

Battles over mining sand in India are only the beginning.

Putin’s propaganda portrayed Ukraine as a fascist state filled with anti-Semites. Despite Ukrainians’ election of a Jewish president, the image has stuck.

South Sudan was born amid great hope but has since descended into war. It will take a new generation of leaders to make it a successful state.

Liberals shouldn’t leave emotion to the right-wing populists.

Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged a new dawn as president, but the secretary-general of his own party has built a web of corruption that thrives on darkness.

In the world’s biggest democracy, good politics often have nothing to do with good economics.

Saudi Arabia is fighting for a dangerous monopoly on Islamic thought.

The U.S. military has long relied on women to entertain the troops. Here’s how that’s slowly changing.

Russia’s best killers learned their skills fighting Moscow.

Autocrats and counterfeit democrats have perfected the art of rigging polls to stay in power — without breaking any laws.

Netanyahu came close to ordering airstrikes in 2010 — but was thwarted by his own security chiefs.

Endless elections, unqualified leaders, uninformed voters, and short-term thinking are impeding economic growth.

As state-backed companies' debts mount, China faces an inevitable slowdown.

Solar power is the world’s most promising clean energy solution, but governments must abandon outdated policies for it to succeed.

A decade of targeted assassinations has pushed the boundaries of Israel's laws and military ethics — and harmed its image across the globe.

C.S. Forester recognized that his fumbling half-hero was as much a tragic figure as the men whom he led, often to their deaths.

The alleged use of a “sound weapon” against U.S. Embassy officials in Cuba harks back to a Cold War medical mystery.

As President Bashar al-Assad tightens his grip over the country, it's time for those who tried to topple him to take stock of where they went wrong.

By the time I got to Cat Lo in mid-1970 the Navy was turning over all the American Swift Boats to the Vietnamese.

The Pentagon's secret plan to crowdsource intelligence from Afghan civilians turned out to be brilliant — too brilliant.