Patrick J. Buchanan

“If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you,” said Calvin Coolidge, whose portrait hung in the Cabinet Room of the Reagan White House. Among the dispositions shared by the two conservatives was a determination to stay out of other … Continue reading “Is War in the Cards for 2015?”

Hopefully, Russians realize that our House of Representatives often passes thunderous resolutions to pander to special interests, which have no bearing on the thinking or actions of the U.S. government. Last week, the House passed such a resolution 411-10. As ex-Rep. Ron Paul writes, House Resolution 758 is so “full of war propaganda that it … Continue reading “A Russophobic Rant From Congress”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam war veteran and the lone Republican on Obama’s national security team, has been fired. And John McCain’s assessment is dead on. Hagel, he said, “was never really brought into that real tight circle inside the White House that makes all the decisions which has put us into the incredible … Continue reading “Hagel Didn’t Start the Fire”

“How do you like the Journal’s war?” So boasted the headline of William Randolph Hearst’s New York flagship that week in 1898 that the United States declared war on Spain. While Hearst’s Journal, in a circulation battle with Joe Pulitzer’s World, was a warmongering sheet, it did not start the war. Yet the headline comes … Continue reading “Did We Vote for War?”

“A mass movement,” wrote Eric Hoffer in The True Believer, “appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. “Their innermost craving is for a new life – a rebirth – or, failing this, a chance to acquire new elements … Continue reading “Terrorism and ‘The True Believer’”

“The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.” With this citation from Madison, Cong. Walter Jones is calling for a debate and decision on whether America should go to war in Syria and Iraq, when Congress reconvenes after Nov. 4. Last … Continue reading “Can America Fight a Thirty Years’ War?”

“Congress must now vote to support the first steps of what will be a long march toward victory,” said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Following this clarion call, 71 House Republicans bolted to join 85 Democrats in voting no to U.S. funds to train and arm Syrian rebels. Why the hesitation? Because our strategy in Syria … Continue reading “What Will Victory Look Like?”

The strategy that President Obama laid out Wednesday night to “degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL,” is incoherent, inconsistent and, ultimately, non-credible. A year ago, Obama and John Kerry were straining at the leash to launch air strikes on Syrian President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in … Continue reading “The Forever War”

“I say to the people of Estonia and the people of the Baltics, today we are bound by our treaty alliance. … Article 5 is crystal clear: An attack on one is an attack on all. So if … you ever ask again, ‘who’ll come to help,’ you’ll know the answer – the NATO alliance, … Continue reading “Bluster and Bluff in the Baltic”

About how America became involved in certain wars, many conspiracy theories have been advanced – and some have been proved correct. When James K. Polk got his declaration of war as Mexico had “shed American blood upon the American soil,” Rep. Abraham Lincoln demanded to know the exact spot where it had happened. And did … Continue reading “Behind the Sinking of the Lusitania”