The editor reviews a new video on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian theologian who joined a conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler.

A new book entitled The Sacred and the Sovereign: Religion and International Politics opens valuable avenues for reflection on the nature and limits of state sovereignty. The grounds of state authority have almost always been tied up with religion. Christianity has long held that human political authority, unlike God's authority, is limited. Editors John Carlson and Erik Owens bring together a collection of essays that deal valuably with war and peace, humanitarian intervention, human rights, and international law and institutions.

Jewish scholar Marc H. Ellis, author of Israel and Palestine Out of the Ashes, offers a frank, hard-hitting, and pessimistic assessment of the future of Israel and the Palestinians. Not only is the United States no longer functioning as an honest broker, the Palestinians still seem far from being ready to seize the opportunity for peace and self-government, while Israel is squandering its own deepest principles of justice and community as it militarizes and builds more settlements in Palestinian territory.

Michael Choi contrasts the styles and the messages of Norbert Vollersten and Stephen Linton, two doctors who have worked tirelessly for change in North Korea. Vollersten protests, agitates, and calls for the overthrow of the Kim Jong Il regime. Linton travels throughout the country, taking medical assistance and a human touch to the infirm and the isolated.

President Bush says regularly that America is serving the cause of freedom and democracy in the world. A great deal of evidence, however, suggests that freedom is not the first priority of American foreign policy. The United States, like every state, is working to advance its own interests in the world, sometimes at the expense of freedom. U.S. foreign policy since 9/11 shows increasing signs of inconsistency.

As the presidential primaries are about to begin, it looks like the Democrats have their backs against the wall. The economy seems to be turning around. A majority of the people support President Bush's foreign policies. The Democrats will need more than a "Stop Bush" campaign to win the presidency and make gains in the House and Senate. Yet what have the Republicans really achieved in the past three years? The federal government is now spending more than it did during the Clinton years. The national debt is growing by leaps and bounds. Are Americans more secure? Have democracies emerged in Afghanistan or Iraq?