Patrick J. Buchanan

Is President Donald Trump about to intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war? For that is what he and his advisers seem to be signaling. Last week, Trump said of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s campaign to recapture the last stronghold of the rebellion, Idlib province: "If it’s a slaughter, the world is going to get … Continue reading “Is Trump Going Neocon in Syria?”

"It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end," said Gen. John Nicholson in Kabul on his retirement Sunday after a fourth tour of duty and 31 months as commander of U.S. and NATO forces. Labor Day brought news that another U.S. serviceman had been killed in an insider attack by an Afghan soldier. … Continue reading “Balance Sheet of the Forever War”

"McCain’s Death Leaves Void" ran The Wall Street Journal headline over a front-page story that began: "The death of John McCain will leave Congress without perhaps its loudest voice in support of the robust internationalism that has defined the country’s security relations since World War II." Certainly, the passing of the senator whose life story … Continue reading “Are the Interventionists Now Leaderless?”

Friday, deep into the 17th year of America’s longest war, Taliban forces overran Ghazni, a provincial capital that sits on the highway from Kabul to Kandahar. The ferocity of the Taliban offensive brought U.S. advisers along with U.S. air power, including a B-1 bomber, into the battle. "As the casualty toll in Ghazni appeared to … Continue reading “America’s Lengthening Enemies List”

A war with Iran would define, consume and potentially destroy the Trump presidency, but exhilarate the neocon never-Trumpers who most despise the man. Why, then, is President Donald Trump toying with such an idea? Looking back at Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen, wars we began or plunged into, what was gained to justify the … Continue reading “Would War With Iran Doom Trump?”

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce," a saying attributed to Karl Marx, comes to mind in this time of Trump. To those of us raised in the Truman era, when the Red Army was imposing its bloody Bolshevik rule on half of Europe, and NATO was needed to keep Stalin’s armies from … Continue reading “Is Putin’s Russia an ‘Evil Empire’?”

"Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Under the Constitution, these are the offenses for which presidents can be impeached. And to hear our elites, Donald Trump is guilty of them all. Trump’s refusal to challenge Vladimir Putin’s claim at Helsinki – that his GRU boys did not hack Hillary Clinton’s campaign – has … Continue reading “Trump Stands His Ground on Putin”

Beginning his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin, President Trump declared that U.S. relations with Russia have "never been worse." He then added pointedly, that just changed "about four hours ago." It certainly did. With his remarks in Helsinki and at the NATO summit in Brussels, Trump has signaled a historic shift in U.S. foreign … Continue reading “Trump Calls Off Cold War II”

President Donald Trump appears to belong to what might be called the Benjamin Disraeli school of diplomacy. The British prime minister once counseled, "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel." At his Singapore summit, Trump smartly saluted a North Korean general and then lavished praise … Continue reading “Trump’s Historic Gamble”

U.S. threats to crush Iran and North Korea may yet work, but as of now neither Tehran nor Pyongyang appears to be intimidated. Repeated references by NSC adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence to the "Libya model" for denuclearization of North Korea just helped sink the Singapore summit of President Trump and Kim … Continue reading “Is US Bellicosity Backfiring?”