As if it wasn’t pretty obvious with the premature troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, the latest plans announced by the Obama administration for a significantly smaller military send two very distinct messages: (1) a crass political choice to allow the entitlement regime to continue to crowd out defense spending and avoid a confrontation with […]

We are witnessing a slow, steady retreat from victory in the Middle East and, I fear, a prelude to significantly more conflict down the road and the unfortunate loss of more American lives.  Why?  Because of the political imperative of troop withdrawals to accommodate the political timeline of the Obama administration. Is there another possible […]

I don’t pretend to know exactly what to do about it, but we have plenty of evidence of acts of war committed against America by our “ally” Pakistan, now brought into the open by retiring Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen.  Defending Americans is Job One for a Commander in Chief, and I don’t […]

All critique of the delays, the means, the mission itself, and the American role in the effort aside, to be rid of a murderous tyrant like Moammar Gadhafi of Libya is a blessing for the world and a major victory for American interests.  What follows there is another discussion, but whatever the prognosis it shouldn’t […]

As Robert Gates plans his exit from distinguished service as Secretary of Defense, he has made a number of public appearances involving provocative comments on foreign and defense policy.  His remarks in a speech that any President who considers committing significant ground troops to a land war in Asia or the Middle East “should have […]

It was, as has been described, Obama’s finest hour, and I won’t engage in any of the speculation about the details of the mission that resulted in Osama bin Laden’s death, nor any critique of the President’s role in it, except to congratulate him on his ultimate decisiveness and the outstanding execution of the mission […]

I don’t have any particular insights on our mission in Libya.  Granted, this is a difficult call.  We are in uncharted territory here.  But I have at least come to some preliminary conclusions in my thinking: * Libya is our business, we have interests there, and they are not all about oil. * We shouldn’t […]

For the first time in 1,000 years Arabs are taking control of their own affairs.–Farheed Zakaria Dare we say that the explosion of freedom in the Middle East and North Africa might be the equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall?  We can pray that it is at least as eventful and we should […]

The formula that triggered a democratic revolution in the Soviet Union had three components: people inside who yearned to be free, leaders outside who believed they could be, and policies that linked the free world’s relations with the USSR to the Soviet regime’s treatment of its own people……….It will work anywhere around the globe, including […]

Quite a lot has been written about the disconnect that obviously has widened in recent years between the so-called “elites” who populate the governing classes in politics, the media, and academia and the rest of the citizens who must find a way to get through the day in dealing with the results while keeping their […]