There are times I’ve wondered if there is some equilibrium amount of evil in the world –every time it is beaten back, it grows again. We trounce the Nazis and the Cold War begins; the Soviet Union finally collapses and out of a blue September sky, Islamic fascists are upon us. And yet, when freedom-loving people keep faith with themselves — and each other — there are mighty forces set in motion, which, as Winston Churchill foresaw at the beginning of World War II, will “roll on full flood, inexorable, irresistible, benignant, to broader lands and better days.”

As a reporter, I’ve covered this contest between good and evil — on levels ranging from pedantic to historic — for more than 25 years. For much of that time, I worked for The Wall Street Journal, writing editorials from Hong Kong and New York, and reporting from the former Soviet Union. Since 2003, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where I am journalist-in-residence, has given me the support and the freedom to cover the War on Terror in whatever ways seem most compelling. That has led from reporting on tyrants and democratic dissidents to covering the world’s ritziest club for crooks, con-men, thugs, and the occasional genuine diplomat — the place known otherwise as the United Nations.

Blogging is, for me, something new. I’ve done it only once before, in covering the first Oil-for-Food trial earlier this year for National Review Online. This site is a work-in-progress, and I welcome your comments.