Rebeca Grynspan, a Costa Rican Jew, emerged on July 30 as the early frontrunner in the first informal U.N. Security Council poll to select the world body's next secretary-general.

A former vice president of Costa Rica, Grynspan received 10 "encourage" votes from the council's 15 members, one more than her nearest rival. The poll was nonbinding and more rounds are expected, but if Grynspan ultimately prevails, she would become both the first woman and the first Jew to lead the United Nations.

Her candidacy casts an intriguing light on the history of the Central American nation's tiny Jewish community.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Michael Freund

The geopolitics of the Middle East are shifting, and Saudi Arabia is the prize up for grabs. There are two possible paths forward. One involves the Saudis moving closer to the United States and Israel. The other would align them with Pakistan and Turkey. It's fair to say the future of the region may depend on which path the Saudis choose.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Jonathan Schanzer

During the Cold War, Americans took communism seriously. We knew it was vital to study the ideology of our enemies.

In 1946, Columbia University established the Russian Institute to train what its founders called "American specialists" in Soviet affairs. I was a student there in the 1970s.

Harvard followed with its Russian Research Center in 1948. The federal government itself published a journal, "Problems of Communism," from 1952 to 1992 — sophisticated, well-documented analyses written by scholars and diplomats and read by policymakers in both parties.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Clifford May

It gets hot in Washington. Real hot. On Aug. 6, 1918, the temperature hit 106 degrees.

Washingtonians, including top government officials, have been coping with this heat since the earliest days of our Republic. In the days before air conditioning, there wasn't much to do about it other than get out of town. The congressional summer recess dates to 1791. As of 1970, it's a statutory requirement.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Tevi Troy

Great Britain's revolving door of prime ministers accelerated in June with the resignation of Keir Starmer, its 6th leader 10 years. As Andy Burnham, the popular former mayor of Manchester, hovered in the wings, and Starmer's approval ratings plunged to an all-time low, the former prime minister was living on borrowed time.

Weak and indecisive and with his domestic policies in shambles, the media had nicknamed him Keir Stumbler.

And then there was his embarrassing feud with President Donald J. Trump over defense and foreign policy.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Judith Miller

This has been a terrible year for the higher education industrial complex. Among the many crises are a year and a half of assaults by the Trump administration against research grants and foreign money, discriminatory hiring and admissions policies and reliance on foreign students.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Asaf Romirowsky

Pope Leo XIV began an official visit to Spain (June 6–12) by urging Spaniards to embrace multicultural coexistence with Islam and stop "fanning the flames of polarization" over mass migration from the Muslim world. He said that Christians and Muslims can live together as friends and proceeded to present medieval Spain—which was occupied by Islamic invaders for nearly 800 years—as an interfaith utopia that led to advancements in astronomy, medicine, and science.

The Pope declared:

"Your own history suggests that a culture of encounter, not confrontation, is what fosters stability and prosperity....

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Soeren Kern

A century ago, the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard and one of the founders of the NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois published The Gift of Black Folk, a book that was commissioned by the Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus, as part of a series intended to help Americans appreciate the contributions of minority groups.

DuBois was highly educated and an avid reader of great texts from Plato to Frederick Douglass. The irony of the present moment is that if DuBois were currently a student in a core philosophy class at Texas A&M University, he would be assigned only a redacted version of Plato's great work, The Republic.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Thomas Hibbs

Imagine your physician walks into the exam room, recommends a prescription medication, and casually mentions she's being paid by the company that makes the drug to say so. You'd probably have questions.

You might even find a new doctor.

Now imagine that same scenario playing out on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube — except the advice is coming from a celebrity "influencer" who's very familiar to you, who has an emotional backstory, and a financial arrangement buried somewhere in a sea of hashtags. Millions of people encounter exactly this situation every day, and most of them have no idea it's happening.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Henry I. Miller M.D.

ANYONE WHO spends time with me knows me knows how much I despise litter. For as long as I can remember, I have fumed at the sight of trash on sidewalks, beer cans in the gutter, or garbage flung from passing cars. I often pick up litter when I'm walking, and when my kids were young I made them pick it up, too.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles from Jeff Jacoby