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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Rep. John Mica (R-FL) uses a marker and white board while questioning witnesses during a hearing May 22, 2013 in Washington, DC.

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Mac Deford

A fighting president is the best antidote to GOP on ‘scandals'

OWL’S HEAD, Maine — The American public is often pilloried for being out of touch, unaware or even uninterested in the inner workings of our democracy. A recent poll had something like 35 percent of the American public unable to name a single Supreme Court justice.

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Motorcyclists and cyclists ride on a street inside a newly developed residential quarter in Hanoi on May 7, 2013.

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Ahn Le Tran

US and Vietnam: gradually becoming bittersweet partners?

NEWTON, Mass. — This past April 30 marked the 38th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. The iconic images of American helicopters evacuating people on building rooftops in Saigon in April 30, 1975 made it unimaginable that someday Washington policymakers and Hanoi communist leaders would explore steps towards a strategic partnership between the two countries.

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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2010.

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Tytti Erästö and Sven - Eric Fikenscher

Why a Middle East role is essential for the nuclear nonproliferation regime

CAMBRIDGE — The meeting of the preparatory committee (PrepCom) for the 2015 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference predictably ended in failure to lay the ground for the event earlier this month.

The core reason was the inability to convene a meeting in Helsinki last December on the establishment of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East.

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An armed man waves his rifle after buildings and cars were set on fire inside the US Consulate compound in Benghazi late on Sept. 11.

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Nicholas Burns

Three Benghazi myths

Editor's Note: Nicholas Burns is GlobalPost's senior foreign affairs columnist. He writes a bimonthly column on the international issues that shape our world.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Benghazi controversy’s return to Washington’s raging partisan wars continues to portray our political culture at its worst.

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An Afghan receives treatment for a tropical skin disease at a clinic south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan capital, Kabul, has one of the highest concentrations of the disfiguring skin disease, Cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is a parasitic disease transmitted by a sand fly.

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Peter Hotez

G20’s secret shame: ignoring tropical diseases among poor

HOUSTON, Texas — This past weekend, the Sherpas for the group of 20 nations met for the third time in St. Petersburg to lay the ground work for the G20 Leaders Summit in September.

Absent from any public disclosures of these meetings and the proposed fall agenda, so far, have been a newly revealed underbelly of disease and poverty in the G20 countries resulting from a group of chronic and debilitating infections known as the neglected tropical diseases or “NTDs.”

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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves as he addresses his supporters during an election campaign meeting in Islamabad on May 5, 2013. A roadside bomb exploded at an election rally in southwest Pakistan on May 5 killing two people, officials said as violence continued ahead of historic polls on Saturday. Pakistan will elect its new government for the next five years in polls on May 11. The election of the national and four provincial assemblies will mark the first time a civilian government has completed a full term and handed over to another, in a country that has been ruled by the military for half its existence.

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Mac Deford

Sharif’s election gives US an opening to help stabilize Pakistan

OWL’S HEAD, Maine — There's not much good news coming out of the broader Middle East these days and so the successful election this past weekend in Pakistan is cause for at least muted elation. It is, after all, the first time in Pakistan's beleaguered 65-year history that a democratically elected government has been replaced by a democratically elected government.

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Anti-gay beliefs are often based on false claims.

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Boris Dittrich

Reflecting on the pursuit of equality and non-discrimination on LGBT Day

NEW YORK — Every year on May 17, people all around the world celebrate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, while reflecting how to achieve full equality and non-discrimination.

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A Syrian mother takes care of her children after they were displaced from their houses due to fighting between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces on Aug. 25, 2012 at the Syrian border with Turkey.

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M. Charito Kruvant

On Mother’s Day, remembering the real leaders in the search for security

WASHINGTON — This Mother’s Day, when our nation reflects on the contributions mothers make to our lives, it’s time to look beyond our borders and accept a simple truth: Mothers everywhere help make the world a safer, more stable place to live.

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John Kerry (L) and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The hurdles on Syria remain high.

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Mac Deford

Kerry-Russia deal to end Syria war a major US achievement

OWL’S HEAD, Maine — The news out of Moscow that Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergay Lavrov are hoping to convene an international conference to seek a negotiated end to the Syrian civil war could signal the most significant American diplomatic accomplishment of recent years.

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Supporters of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at an election campaign rally in Lahore on May 6, 2013.

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Mahvish Khan Lynn

Pakistan election: amid the chaos, where does the military stand?

WASHINGTON — As the May 11 Pakistani election draws close, the Taliban has stepped up its campaign of bombings against secular, left-leaning parties, the parties accuse each other of intimidation and many are asking, where is the military?

The Pakistani military is the country's most stable institution. Pakistan has spent more than half its existence under military rule. In fact, in its 66-year history, the government cobbled together under President Asif Ali Zardari's leadership has been the only elected one to complete a full term in office.

The upcoming election would be the first time that power is passed on via the ballot box. However, this process is under threat from religious hardliners.

"The problem is that the elections are occurring in a context of ongoing insurgency, and the Pakistani Taliban are playing favorites, killing or intimidating members of secular and left-leaning parties, while giving apparently free reign to right-leaning and Islamist parties. Unless this trend is stopped, it may have an impact on the integrity of the election results," says Ahmed Humayun, a regional analyst and fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington.

In recent weeks, the Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP a.k.a. Pakistani Taliban) has made several statements denouncing secular parties that have strong support in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunwa province.

In a video, Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud stated, "We are not in favor of democracy. Democracy is for Jews and Christians."

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