On August 4th, 2015, Russia submitted a claim to the the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, established by the Law of the Sea Convention, to over 463,000 square miles of seabed within its 44% sector of the Arctic Ocean. The claim included not only the already-acknowledged territorial waters which extend 12 nautical miles Northward from the Russian coastline and the Exclusive Economic Zone which extends 200 nautical miles toward the North Pole, but to a total area extending 350 nautical miles from land. The basis of the claim was that the portion of the Arctic...

For the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, more commonly known as ISIS, the two week period from October 31st through November 13th, 2015, had been extraordinarily successful from a public relations point of view. It had both made an explicit ideological statement and would serve as a recruiting tool for faithful Muslims around the world. Not only had 396 people lost their lives in terrorist attacks, but those attacks had taken place both in the Middle East and in Western Europe. The message those attacks sent was unmistakable. We know who our enemies are, we can find them, and we can kill...