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 politicians routinely speak as if they are giving a speech …
Continue reading “The Trump Challenge”
A bomber struck in Baghdad, as 124 people were killed across the country.
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 that every terrorist attack represents a major government failure and that …
Continue reading “A European PATRIOT Act Will Not Keep People Safe”
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 unavoidably a religion of violence which impels its adherents to … Continue reading “Muslims Are Standing Up To Extremism”
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 the primary drivers of their respective governments’ policies toward Syria, and their …
Continue reading “How Putin’s Leverage Shaped the Syrian Ceasefire”
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 "unfair, economically, to us," and adds, "We will not be ripped off anymore." Beltway media may …
Continue reading “Is Trump Right About NATO?”
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 difficulties of eradicating the Islamist insurgency. Examining these two "achievements" may, however, …
Continue reading “Are the Latest Western Gains Against the Islamic State Really That Significant?”
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 given Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi until Thursday to present a new cabinet. The premier’s main problem, …
Continue reading “Heavy Fighting near Mosul; 136 Killed in Iraq”
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 a vast geographical spread, and what the Brussels attack …
Continue reading “Lessons of Brussels”
At least 135 people were killed in recent violence across Iraq.
