WASHINGTON ― Talleyrand, the celebrated French diplomat, is said to have offered this inscrutable advice about the use of military power: “One can do everything with bayonets except sit on them.” Perhaps that’s a starting point in thinking about President Obama’s new approach of what might be called “strategic humility” about American power in the turbulent Middle East. How should we apply this pointedly ambiguous French aphorism? Obama might argue that rather than attempt to sit on the bayonet

Since the National Assembly hearing on the appointment of high government officials started in 2000, we have watched lawmakers use a common checklist for individual qualification, helped by the media. The top item of inquiry is whether the appointee and his children fulfilled the compulsory military service. Next come the questions about any speculative investment in real estate by the appointee’s family, possibly with false residence registration, and involvement in any plagiarism scandal if he

It has been no secret that intelligence agencies of many countries are engaged in information gathering activities using all means available for the interest of their countries. When it comes to this issue, the initial reaction has almost become the pot calling the kettle black. If, however, one of the targets has been the head of state or the head of government, that is a somewhat different story. Tapping the phone conversation of the top official for a long period of time is way out of line. D

PARIS ― “Day by day, Europe is moving further away from Turkey,” Egemen Bagı, Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs, declared last week. But the reverse is equally true: With a mixture of disillusion and defiance, Turkey has been distancing itself from Europe in recent years. “If you do not want us,” the Turks appear to be saying, “we really do not want you.”In reality, nearly three years after the beginning of the “Arab Spring,” Turkey is more in search of itself than it is of Europe, ev

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark paper that helped delineate the federal poverty line. A huge leap forward in its day, the poverty line established credible criteria for what constituted an acceptable standard of living. It continues to be the official measure used, for example, to determine who will get what subsidies under assistance programs such as food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid.However, like anything half a century old, it could use a little updating. By it