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Conservatives and liberals alike have expressed reservations about President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School and current Solicitor General. That Kagan is a bright woman is certain, but some liberals are concerned that she's too much of a "blank slate" about whom the public knows very little. Conservatives, on the other hand, feel that the public knows plenty - that Kagan is a staunch liberal with strong pro-abortion and pro-gay rights views.

US Supreme Court nominees generate a lot of press for two important reasons. First, these nine men and women make the ultimate decisions on cases that can affect US law for centuries to come. The second reason is that Supreme Court justices stick around awhile. Senators can get kicked out after six years, but Supreme Court justices are like the Energizer Bunny - their careers just keep going and going. A good example is Justice John Paul Stevens whom Elena Kagan has been nominated to replace; Stevens took his Supreme Court seat clear back in 1975.

It is therefore important for Americans to know a lot about the folks the Senate might confirm to the nation's highest court. Elena Kagan just turned 50 years old in late April, giving her a potential 30 year career as a Supreme Court justice.  The fact that people know very little about Elena Kagan's actual constitutional philosophy or legal views causes concern. She also does not have much court experience. She did serve as a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall early in her career, but prior to her taking on the role of Solicitor General last year, Kagan had never argued a case at trial, let alone served as a judge.

Kagan does appear to be a highly intelligent, capable person. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Kagan considers herself a teacher at heart, the daughter of a teacher with two brothers who are teachers. She's served as a professor both at the University of Chicago Law School and Harvard Law School, and in 2003 was named dean of Harvard Law School - the first woman to hold that post. As dean, Kagan was known for her consensus-building leadership and her willingness to reach out to people of opposing viewpoints.

Kagan does have a decidedly liberal political worldview. She's served in the administrations of two Democratic presidents and has showed signs of supporting basic Democratic and liberal political positions. While the dean at Harvard Law, Kagan banned military recruiters from the school because she considered the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy to be a "moral injustice" of discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Kagan also has shown disapproval for pro-life causes and her nomination has the full support of Planned Parenthood. According to LifeNews.com, Kagan wrote an article for the Daily Princetonian in which she disparaged pro-life candidates after Reagan won the 1980 election, calling them, "avengers of ‘innocent life’" who were "beneficiaries of a general turn to the right and a profound disorganization on the left." She placed the term 'innocent life' in quotes, indicating that she did not agree with the view that unborn children are 'life'.

Dr. Kevin Roberts, executive director of Catholic Families for America, related Kagan's nomination to an anti-family presidential agenda, describing Kagan as someone, "actively hostile to traditional marriage and to the unborn."

Liberals are not entirely pleased with Kagan, however. Not only is she untried and unexperienced in the courtroom, but she has argued in support of holding prisoners of war, like Al Qaida terrorists, and detaining them without trial for an indefinite amount of time outside the traditional field of battle.

In 1997, when Kagan served as Associate While House Counsel to Bill Clinton, Kagan and her boss Bruce Reed urged the President to sign a weaker Democratic version of the partial birth abortion ban lest the Republican Congress pass something stronger and override his veto. Their memo read, "We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto."

Some have pointed to this memo as evidence that Kagan's pro-abortion position is not solid. However, rather that demonstrating any pro-life leaning, it shows that Kagan is dedicated to consensus and uses compromise as a way to reach agreements. This characteristic alone tells a great deal about how she would work as a Supreme Court justice.  On one hand she will likely work to bring balance to a divided court and reach across the ideological aisle to work through tough decisions.  On the other hand, her decisions may turn out to be luke-warm and full of compromise when the Court needs a strong, solid legal voice.

For the first time, US and European troops marched beside Russian forces as Moscow celebrated the end of World War II with its annual military parade on Sunday. According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia is looking at increasing its cooperation with the West, and a confidential report from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to President Dmitry Medveded outlines a program to improve Russia's economy by embracing Western technology. Yet, Medvedev's recent visit to Syria reveals that Russia is willing to make a wide variety of friends, whether America and Israel like it or not.

Medvedev's visit to Syria early this week was ground breaking as the first visit of a Russian or Soviet head of state to that country, and it comes just days after the US renewed its sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorist groups and pursuing WMDs. Moscow has already agreed to provide Damascus with an advanced anti-aircraft defense system, and Russia may build power plants for Syria, including nuclear powered ones. "Cooperation on atomic energy (with Syria) could get a second wind," Medvedev said at a press conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Russia has held to its position that all nations should be free to pursue peaceful nuclear power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to Moscow to try to persuade Russia from providing Syria with weapons, but Medvedev could only be convinced to delay the weapons sale and not stop it altogether. In a time of global economic struggles, Russia is looking for ways not only to exercise more influence in the Middle East, but also to strengthen and modernize its anemic economy.  Medvedev justified the arms sale to Syria by saying the weapons were defensive and not offensive.

Medvedev also met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal while in Damascus, and in the interest of creating a Palestinian state urged Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.  Russia has comfortable relations with Hamas, even while America and other Western nations refuse to deal with the terrorist group.

While these unsavory friends may cause Western nations some consternation, Russia's desire to improve itself has given Moscow the impetus to do more to link arms with America and Europe. Obama's peace overtures along with his willingness to drop the missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and weaken America's support for Georgia have cheered the Moscow government. In a cover letter to his confidential report, Lavrov calls for Russia's creating "alliances of modernization" with European countries, especially Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Lavrov also wrote that, "It is necessary to find opportunities to use American technological potential."

As Vyacheslav Nikonov, a foreign-policy analyst noted, "The sources of modernization and innovation are in the West, not the East."

Nikonov sees things improving in Russia's foreign relations with the West. "The overall climate is better than it has been since the time of Perestroika," Nikonov said. "Russia has started to react to the more cooperative policy from the West."

Friendly relations with America and Europe, Syria and Iran, not to mention China, are all well and good, but Russia has been leaving one extremely important country out of the circle of peace and cooperation: Israel. Instead, Israel faces a host of antagonism from around the world. President Obama has expressed support for Israel, but it is clear that Israel-US relations are not as warm as they have been in the past. The world's willingness to turn against Israel may eventually leave the small Jewish nation alone in a sea of Islam - alone except for the protective power of God Almighty.