Conditions in Mexico continue to demonstrate that almost no form of violent criminal activity is impossible in that failed state. Although the violent conflict between the Mexican government and the drug cartels has continued unabated, it has become increasingly rare for the American media to report on the conflict. The Mexican "drug war" began with President Felipe Calderon’s declaration of war in December 2006. But as that so-called war continues to drag on, the hopes which were expressed nearly six years ago for a quick victory have proven to be ephemeral. 

After 16 months of conspiracy theories directed against the Egyptian military predicting that the "democratic process" would be subverted to keep allies of former President Hosni Mubarak in power, the commission overseeing that nation’s presidential election has declared Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi the victor.

In the years since his return to Russia in 1994 and especially since his death in 2008, the literary legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has been an uncertain thing — at least in the English-speaking world. On the one hand, the work which he considered to be his magnum opus, the Red Wheel series of historical works chronicling the history of the Bolshevik revolution, has apparently ground to a halt: only the first two "knots" have been published in an English edition, and it seems unlikely at present that the rest of the work will be so published for the foreseeable future. However, established works such as the Gulag Archipelago, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and The First Circle have continued to draw interest, and even new, improved translations. 

The most recent addition to Solzhenitsyn’s English literary legacy is a collection of experimental short stories entitled Apricot Jam and Other Stories. The volume has been met with mixed reviews — an unsurprising development, given the experimental character of the stories in question. Some readers may come to a new collection of stories by a Nobel-Prize-winning author imagining that they knew in advance what they would find, only to discover that even in his later years, that author had not given up his willingness to experiment with new forms. 

With both candidates in the Egyptian presidential election claiming victory, while the commission overseeing the elections delays releasing the results, Egypt faces the possibility of further revolutionary chaos.

Approximately 18 months after the "Arab Spring" uprising began in Egypt, the final outcome of the rebellion that ended the reign of President Hosni Mubarak remains to be seen. With press reports of a small turnout in Egypt’s runoff presidential elections that are intended to pick the successor of a man who led his nation for three decades, it is possible that the nation’s electorate may be choosing “none of the above.”

As Egyptians await word of the outcome of the the weekend's runnoff elections for a new president for their nation, the fate of the Egypt seems more uncertain than at any time since the “Arab Spring.” Only months ago, the Muslim Brotherhood had allegedly been plotting to export their Islamist revolution to neighboring countries. Now, a panel of judges has dissolved the new parliament, and is permitting Egypt’s former prime minister to run for President.

A new book, Forgotten Conservatives in American History, is dedicated to the task of ensuring such conservatives are forgotten no longer. Its authors — noted historian Clyde N. Wilson and one of his former students, Brion McClanahan — have masterfully gathered brief accounts of nearly two dozen men who made their own significant contributions to the American Republic.

In his most recent book, God Is Not One, Stephen Prothero endeavors to offer his readers an introduction to the various major religions of the world. Of necessity the book’s nine chapters can only offer a brief summary of the teachings and structure of each system of belief. Still, the idea behind Prothero’s book is one that is worthy of being pursued, particularly as an antidote to the shallow approach to religious belief regularly witnessed in the American media and in political discourse. However, the book is flawed — perhaps fatally so — by the author’s apparently weak grasp on the religion practiced by the majority of citizens of his own country.

Robert Zubrin's previous books have compelled readers to think "outside the box," and his most recent title, Merchants of Despair, is likely to prove his most challenging work to date. 

In light of a new study of public opinion that correlates scientific knowledge and concerns regarding global warming, it appears that environmental fear-mongering is tapping into fear of the unknown. In other words, the more scientifically knowledgeable a person is, the less likely he is to be troubled by the alarmist rhetoric of the purveyors of ecological gloom and doom.