What would another alliance between Russia and Germany mean for the world?

Where have all the soldiers gone?

AIDS infections in Russia are at 1 million.

Vladimir Putin's Russia has covertly and systematically undermined U.S. interests, particularly in the Middle East, yet continues to purport to be America's ally in the war against terrorism.

Not many years ago it would have been unthinkable, but now it's happened: Russia has become a NATO partner.

Just when things cool down between nuclear neophytes India and Pakistan, another alarm is sounded by Japan as it contemplates arming itself with nuclear weapons. That's all Asia needs, another house with the ultimate weapon in global warfare.

Any potential good that might have come from the recent summit of the world's economic giants was overshadowed by the death of two rioters among approximately 100,000 who gathered in Genoa to protest the talks. Widespread international poverty remains unresolved...

While Americans focused their attention on two men's struggle for the presidency, an old problem resurfaced.

More than a century after his death, Otto von Bismarck's dream for Germany seems closer to being realized.

Russia's troubles underscore long-standing weaknesses in how it has governed itself. Will Russians demand stronger leadership?

A series of disasters-the sinking of a nuclear submarine, a fire in a Moscow television tower and nuclear-plant shutdowns-may be a harbinger of greater catastrophes, warns a Russian parliamentary commission.

Russian-Chinese relations have blown hot and cold since the end of World War II.

Illustrating the strange twists and turns of Middle East politics, Russia and the United States have sold the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) enough military hardware to make it one of the most formidable military powers in the Persian Gulf.

Lest anyone think the potential nuclear nightmare is over, "Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal," stated Russian President Boris Yeltsin in response to U.S. criticism to Russia's handling of the current conflict in separatist-minded Chechnya.

American network television anchorman Dan Rather soberly reminded newspaper readers recently that "the world remains a tough, dangerous neighborhood" and that big trouble may be brewing for the West in China and Russia.

In some ways the world is closer to nuclear conflict than in the 1950s and '60s. Then, at least, the Soviet nuclear forces were under tight control and the military was well paid.

President Boris Yeltsin met his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin, and the Russian leader renewed his call for the two nations to work together to build a "multi-polar world."