The Russian spy scandal ended last week as ridiculously as it started. But this has to be a cover for another story.

Memoirs of our fathers are more often than not remembrances of their absence, not their presence, in our lives.

Excerpt: 'And One Fine Morning: Memories of my Father'

Nov. 9 is the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. Politicians and pundits are wrapping themselves in the mantle of the heroes of 1989, but who really deserves credit for ending the Cold War?

A biography of McGeorge Bundy retells the hubris and tragedy of our war in Vietnam, raising this question: Will President Obama play the role of JFK or Lyndon Johnson?

Community Voices: Advice to Obama about Afghanistan: Don't be fooled again by Col. Leonard Kloeber

Christian Science Monitor: Why South Waziristan offensive won't help U.S. in Afghanistan

Global Post: Ambassador Ryan Crocker says Obama must choose an AfPak strategy soon

Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who will be speaking in Minnesota this week, talks about failed wars and the lessons we should learn to deal with today's foreign policy problems.

Today, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has come to the Polish city of Gdansk to stand at the scene of one of his country's greatest crimes. But Poles are demanding an even stronger apology from Putin.

What's with the beefcake photos of a bare-chested Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin riding a horse? It's more than bad taste. The cheap masculinity of Putin's image is the public face of a regime of petty strongmen looking for an excuse to bully a neighbor or shut-up a critic.

Even after his death, Ireland still struggles to deal with author Frank McCourt. Why all the vitriol poured on McCourt? Jim Rogers at the University of St. Thomas' Center for Irish Studies says, in part, it's about what the Irish "begrudgery." But there are deeper and more painful reasons, and some may be surfacing now in the Irish Dail.

Vice President Joe Biden's travels to Ukraine and Georgia and his patronizing remarks have irked the Russians. So what does this exercise in undiplomatic language say about U.S.-Russian relations?

Here's how a Catholic kid growing up in Minneapolis got immersed in the Soviet Union and witnessed history. And here's what I've learned about the world since then: For insights about dealing with Vladimir Putin and the powerbrokers in Iran, turn to Tolstoy.

Related: Nick Hayes joins MinnPost as foreign affairs analyst