Is there, anywhere in the world, a dictator with bloodier hands than Bashar al-Assad? The competition is intense, I realize. But over the past dozen years, since protestors first took to the streets of Damascus to demand basic freedoms, Mr. Assad has been slaughtering his fellow Syrians at a steady clip. Estimates of the death toll now reach a half million.

Of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million, more than ten million have either fled abroad – more than a million to Europe – or been displaced within the country. Aleppo and other ancient cities have been reduced to rubble.

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On May 14, 1948, in the Tel Aviv Museum, David Ben-Gurion read from the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. As historian Simon Sebag Montefiore recounts in his masterful book, "Jerusalem: The Biography," a small audience then sung Hatikvah (The Hope), the national anthem of the renewed nation – "The hope of two thousand years; To be a free people in our land."

All this was broadcast on the radio, but few heard it because armies from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon had invaded and cut off most sources of electricity. Mr. Montefiore notes that the "openly stated object" of those Arab forces was the "annihilation" of the Jews.

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On Christmas Day, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and the Cold War ended. Or did it?

The answer depends on whether the Cold War was a conflict between two powerful nation-states or a struggle between two opposing ideologies.

If it was the latter, the Cold War didn't end with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Rather, following a hiatus, Communist cold warriors in Moscow were superseded by Communist cold warriors in Beijing. And leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) take Marxism/Leninism at least as seriously as did the last Soviet rulers.

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Is France still an ally of the United States? Based on Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to the People's Republic of China earlier this month, the answer to that question is in doubt.

To say that the French president kowtowed to Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese ruler since Mao Zedong, would be to exaggerate – but not by much.

Alluding to Mr. Xi's intention to displace the U.S. as global leader, Mr. Macron reportedly told Mr. Xi: "France does not pick sides." The new international order Mr. Xi envisions would be based on rules made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Apparently, that troubles Mr. Macron not at all.

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SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – "Asia Firster" is the term applied to those who argue that the threat Beijing poses to Taiwan should be Washington's top national security priority.

I think Asia Firsters are right about that, but wrong to jump to the conclusion that Americans must therefore resign themselves to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin crushing Ukraine and Iranian dictator Ali Khamenei becoming the hegemon of the Middle East. As for other corners of the world – they mostly ignore them.

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