All Opinion

Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich (both Catholic) make regular campaign stops at evangelical churches and are often met with raucous applause. But such displays of partisan faith are partly responsible for the recent mass exodus of young people from Christian churches.

Instead of dogmatism and hysterical clamor, we need more of the 'Shields and Brooks' kind of civility in our public discourse in America.

Beyond mass protests in Moscow against what observers have confirmed as a fraudulent presidential election, several key demographic and economic factors mean that Russians will continue to contest the legitimacy of Putin's presidency during his third term.

Rush Limbaugh apologized for calling student Sandra Fluke a 'slut' for her views on contraception. His offensive remarks revealed an old double standard on sex: Only a 'coed' – that is, a female – can be promiscuous. The rest of us males are just taking what’s rightfully ours.

Vladimir Putin, who seems set to return to the presidency after Russian elections Sunday, looks to be tossing aside the reset in relations with the US and Europe. Were the West to continue to embrace the Kremlin, it would alienate Russians, especially reformers.

As GOP candidates debate values, I have not heard them address legalizing marijuana. The words of a narcotics agent ring in my ears: 'I can’t say every pot smoker goes on to get hooked on the hard stuff. But I can say every addict I know on the hard stuff got started on pot.'

After Russian elections on Sunday, expect what amounts to a fourth term for Putin. But Putin 4.0 faces a tough choice. His KGB officer instincts call for tightening the grip. But Russia's future – and thousands of protesters – demand greater freedom and reforms.

Europe is struggling to find its place in the new global economy because of 'domestic' issues, not external factors (like a rising China or trade disadvantages). On the contrary, the external climate favors European growth – if Europe can improve competitiveness and find its niche.

It is economic nonsense to continue to calculate bilateral trade balances – like those between the US and China – the way we do today. What we need to monitor is the effective added value in each country, not the overall value of goods and services imported and exported.

Those like Newt Gingrich who try to exploit sharia hysteria to foster fear of Muslims in the US not only fail to understand sharia, they also fail to understand the ideals of religious freedom upon which America was built.

It's difficult to make sense of Pakistan's pulsating political chaos, corruption, and instability. Yet pessimistic views of Pakistan, while endemic in the West, differ considerably from the perspective of Pakistani analysts who cautiously point to half a dozen hopeful developments.

Few of the homes created by university teams in the Solar Decathlon are ever lived in – despite their extraordinary expense and tax on the environment. Instead of building temporary show houses, schools should build energy-efficient homes for local people who need them.

Community-based capitalism offers an exciting new model for American prosperity and a way out of the current economic morass. Constructive Capitalism is shareable, local, and sustainable. Examples of its impact abound.

Melissa Harris-Perry is the first African American woman to solo-host a news and politics show on a major television outlet, MSNBC. But she also breaks a pundit barrier. As a professor at Tulane University, she raises academia to a new level where it can enrich public discourse.

It's primary season, so America is into political labels. Which is the real conservative, Romney or Santorum? Is Obama a European socialist? The more important question may be, 'What are you?' Surprisingly, the answer is probably 'all of the above.'

This week Britain led another international attempt to help Somalia, a dysfunctional state plagued by piracy and terrorism. Nations must learn from the past that trying to build up a central government in Somalia won't work. It's the regions and sub-clans that need bolstering.

Yemen elected a new president this week, but one of the conditions for the vote was complete amnesty for the ousted longtime dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Whether that amnesty will eventually be overturned has implications for Yemen, and other dictators in the region.

This week's 50-year anniversary of astronaut John Glenn and his Earth orbit should remind America that it needs manned flight in space. Some say the space race is over. But America is in a new space race for jobs, skills, and knowledge for the future.