The candidacy of Donald J. Trump has upended American politics, and, indeed, has changed the political landscape in ways our liberal and conservative elites never expected and clearly abhor. He talks like an ordinary person, for one thing – a rarity in a realm where...
Bomber Strikes Baghdad; 124 Killed in Iraq
A European PATRIOT Act Will Not Keep People Safe
It was not long after last week’s horrifying bombings in Brussels that the so-called security experts were out warning that Europeans must give up more of their liberty so government can keep them secure from terrorism. I guess people are not supposed to notice...
Muslims Are Standing Up To Extremism
Following every Islamist terror attack on a Western soft target, like the recent one in Brussels, we hear the same refrain from certain corners: “Why won’t Muslims stand up to Islamic extremism?” The rhetorical question is meant to imply its own answer: that Islam is...
How Putin’s Leverage Shaped the Syrian Ceasefire
When Russian President Vladimir Putin had a substantive meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry last week, it was an extremely rare departure from normal protocol. There was some political logic to the meeting, however, because Putin and Kerry have clearly been...
Is Trump Right About NATO?
I am "not isolationist, but I am 'America First,'" Donald Trump told The New York Times last weekend. "I like the expression." Of NATO, where the U.S. underwrites three-fourths of the cost of defending Europe, Trump calls this arrangement...
Are the Latest Western Gains Against the Islamic State Really That Significant?
The latest Western "victories" over the Islamic State – the U.S. killing of the number two man in the heinous group and the Russian supported retaking of the ancient town of Palmyra, Syria by the Syrian government – should not mask the long-term...
Heavy Fighting near Mosul; 136 Killed in Iraq
More than 260 families returned to Jalawla on Monday, after security forces finished clearing the heavily booby-trapped town of bombs. Hundreds more are expected later in the week. Under apparent pressure from Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s sit-in, Parliament has...
Lessons of Brussels
The vicious attack on the Brussels airport and metro underscores the futility of focusing on the Syrian “Caliphate” as the epicenter of terrorism: as I’ve been saying in this space since 2001, the snake has no head. Both al-Qaeda and now ISIS are protean entities with...


