To no one's surprise, Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen and accredited foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Russia, was sentenced last Friday to 16 years in a high-security penal colony on charges of espionage.

Mr. Gershkovich, 32, was "wrongfully convicted in a hurried, secret trial that the U.S. government has condemned as a sham," the Journal reported.

Since his arrest in March of last year, Russian authorities have produced not a shred of evidence against him.

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Last week, I received a message from America's top spy. You did too, but if you missed it, no worries. I'll fill you in.

Noting that "the Intelligence Community recognizes the importance of informing the public of foreign efforts to influence our democratic processes," Avril Haines, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, sent us "the first of what will be regular updates regarding such threats."

Of particular and immediate concern, she said, are Iran's rulers who are becoming "increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts," adapting their "cyber and influence activities, using social media platforms and issuing threats."

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I don't oppose a two-state solution. Nor do I oppose Tinker Bell. I just seriously doubt that either exists.

If you're among those who believe that widespread recognition of a Palestinian nation-state would resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, I'd remind you: This is an idea that has been tried and found wanting.

For example: In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended partitioning western Palestine (eastern Palestine having been given over years earlier to what would become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) into two states, one for Palestinian Arabs, the other for Palestinian Jews. Jewish leaders accepted the recommendation. Arab leaders rejected it.

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Younger readers may not have heard of Carlos the Jackal, and older readers may have forgotten (because sometimes that's how it goes, as we were reminded last week). So, let me tell you his story.

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez was born in Venezuela in 1949. His father, a wealthy Marxist lawyer, gave him that first name in honor of Vladimir Ilich Lenin.

From 1968-70, young Ilich studied at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow.

He then went for training with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) which was – and remains today – a secular Marxist-Leninist anti-Israeli terrorist organization.

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Suppose Joe Biden wins reelection. Will he revise his approach to national security and foreign policy? He should, don't you think?

He capitulated to the Taliban in Afghanistan in just about the most damaging way imaginable. He failed to deter Vladimir Putin from launching a war against Ukraine. He has vowed to defend Taiwan from the Chinese Communists but isn't equipping the U.S. military for such a mission. He has enriched and empowered Iran's rulers whose nuclear weapons program is rapidly advancing while their proxies attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea and wage a multifront war against Israel. Shall I go on?

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