Adam J. West

On December 14, 2008, I traveled to the town of Terezin, in the Czech Republic, with a German friend of mine. There is a former Nazi-controlled Jewish-ghetto-turned-concentration camp located there. Endless brick walls constitute the fortress—a sea of orange, yellow, and red bricks against a canvas of green grass, stretching long between the structures. Most of the walls and buildings were crowned with barbed wire.

Celebrating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Stalin, some Russians still reminisce about the glory days of communism. What lessons can we learn from Stalin's command economy and the prophesied end times? Will Russia experience a resurgence of economic power and influence?

Scientists believe the world's largest garbage dump isn't on land – it is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a sprawling mass of waste estimated to be 90% plastic reaching a depth of 90 feet. It is a floating raft of debris that is now sprawling from the coast of California to the coast of Japan, and estimated to be twice the size of Texas!