Bill Keller The New York Times

As an American visitor in the power precincts of Pakistan, from the gated enclaves of Islamabad to the manicured lawns of the military garrison in Peshawar, from the luxury fortress of the Serena Hotel to the exclusive apartments of the parliamentary housing blocks, you can expect three time-honored traditions: black tea with milk, obsequious serva...

As a reporter, I covered two of the greatest losers of the last century. The superlative "greatest" applies both to the scale of the loss -- Mikhail Gorbachev lost Russia and all of its colonies, F. W. de Klerk lost the richest country in Africa -- and to the manner in which they lost it. Our hearts understandably thrill to the courage of those who...

As an American visitor in the power precincts of Pakistan, from the gated enclaves of Islamabad to the manicured lawns of the military garrison in Peshawar, from the luxury fortress of the Serena Hotel to the exclusive apartments of the parliamentary housing blocks, you can expect three time-honored traditions: black tea with milk, obsequious serva...

As a reporter, I covered two of the greatest losers of the last century. The superlative "greatest" applies both to the scale of the loss -- Mikhail Gorbachev lost Russia and all of its colonies, F. W. de Klerk lost the richest country in Africa -- and to the manner in which they lost it. Our hearts understandably thrill to the courage of those who...