What a difference a year can make. Last January the Biden administration came to power pledging to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that his predecessor had abrogated. That, however, was supposed to be just the beginning. Incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan insisted that doing so would be a prelude to a "longer and stronger" deal with Tehran. Fast forward 12 months, and the likeliest outcome of the Biden administration's diplomatic outreach is a compromise pact far less comprehensive and robust than the original. Experts have warned against the dangers of such a "less for more" deal, which would impose fewer restrictions on Iran's stubborn nuclear effort while providing Tehran with more-lavish concessions and sanctions relief than before. Yet the political reality is that, for the Biden administration struggling in the polls domestically, even a bad bargain with Iran could be a lifeline. The reason has to do with oil.

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Israel recently pledged that it will notify Washington about certain deals it strikes with China, and promised to reexamine those deals if the US raises concerns. The announcement came amid a campaign, launched first by the Trump administration but continued by the Biden administration, to enlist Israel in America's great power competition with Beijing.

There are still some gaps to bridge. But the Israelis deserve credit for supporting the US-led effort. Unfortunately, Washington's policy for other Middle Eastern nations is scattershot.

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It is a short clip, barely 24 seconds long, that was neither filmed professionally nor with a steady hand. But perhaps because the footage is so raw and so shocking, and the reality that it reveals is so brutal, is what makes it essential viewing for every Israeli.

The video was taken on January 10, when Border Police officers and soldiers once again returned to Homesh, the Jewish community that was needlessly destroyed as part of Ariel Sharon's 2005 expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Samaria.

A yeshiva student, Yehuda Smotrich, can be seen lying down passively, as officers kick, punch and scream at him before lustily and violently wrenching him upward off the ground.

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Historians usually date the start of the Holocaust to June of 1941 when German troops invaded the Soviet Union, identified Jewish civilians, lined them up and shot them by the thousands. Later, concentration camps equipped with gas chambers elevated the slaughter to an industrial scale.

But that timetable omits something important. After his accession to power in 1933, Hitler began a campaign to demonize and delegitimize Jews, accusing them of imaginary crimes, conveying the message that Jews are a vile and guilty race, deserving of punishment.

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Russia has threatened war if the United States and its NATO allies fail to comply — unconditionally — with sweeping demands for a new security arrangement in Europe.

The demands, issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, require the United States to remove its nuclear umbrella from Europe and allow Russia to reestablish its Soviet-era sphere of influence over Eastern Europe.

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As Bill de Blasio's tenure as mayor of New York City concludes, it is worth examining how he dismantled the foundations of the city's decades of success. Studying de Blasio's tenure can give incoming mayor Eric Adams a road map for doing things differently—and differently, in this case, means better. Understanding New York's recent history can also help provide the city with a long-term direction. A resurgent Gotham would send a powerful message of confidence, nationally and internationally. Looking closely at the de Blasio years can help expose not only what the mayor did wrong but also what should be done to reverse the city's slide.

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Israel has been at war with Hamas since the start of the second intifada in 2000. This was accelerated by the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, leading to Hamas's victory over Fatah in the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.

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Visitors have finally resumed flocking to Vatican City, at 108 acres, the world's smallest city-state. After the Vatican's 14-month pandemic induced closure, the longest in its modern history, Pope Francis has been receiving a bevy of prominent guests – Germany's President Walter Steinmeier and outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and this Friday, before heading to a pair of international summits, President Biden.

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With the Biden administration, and specifically the Department of Education, openly pushing the teaching of CRT in U.S. public schools, the situation is raising alarm among educators, parents, legislators, and ordinary citizens. As embedding of CRT into Ethnic Studies programs in California and other states became widespread over the last several years, parents increasingly began to realize the malignant nature of what was being taught to their children.

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