In the confusion that has reigned since Sept. 17, a strong desire for a unity government has emerged – although which parties should make up that government is a subject of disagreement. Few want to a see the country hold a third election in the space of a year.

The limits of Iran's ability to go it alone were on display at the United Nations this week as it engaged in a flurry of diplomatic outreach amid increasingly crippling isolation by US sanctions that are eating into its economy and its ability to sell its oil.

After an inconclusive Knesset election last week, PM Netanyahu has no obvious path to the 61-seat majority required to rule. Nor does it look like his opponents are going to budge. Here's how it could play out.

It would be nice if we could convince ideologues, fanatics and autocrats to join the “liberal, rules-based order;” embrace Enlightenment values; and cultivate productive interdependence. But they tend not to be “win-win” kind of guys.

Newly installed Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, speaking at Columbia University, passes on the chance to take back blog posts in which he said he was proud to be labeled anti-Semitic.