Patrick J. Buchanan

Following the attempted assassination of Israel’s ambassador in London in 1982, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon to eradicate the PLO nest of Yasser Arafat, then holed up in Beirut. Mission accomplished. The Israelis triumphed. Arafat and his PLO were expelled to Tunis. But that was not the end of it. In occupied Lebanon, … Continue reading “Is Democracy on the March — or Revolution?”

Where Woodrow Wilson was going to make the world safe for democracy, George W. Bush is going him one better. President Bush is going to make the whole world democratic. As he declared in his inaugural address, our “great objective” is “ending tyranny” on earth. And how does the president propose to achieve it? “So, … Continue reading “Inaugurating Endless War”

Will the Bush presidency end as did Wilson’s? Will George W. Bush be defending to his dying day, against the pitiless evidence of events, his “global democratic revolution”? Contingent upon what happens in Afghanistan and Iraq, that may well be his fate. For, as Bush’s strength is Wilson’s strength, his flaw is Wilson’s flaw. Both … Continue reading “Does Wilson’s Fate Await Bush?”

Last Thursday, word spread across Washington that U.S. trade rep Robert Zoellick would become Condi Rice’s No. 2 at State. This was followed by word that State’s super-hawk, John Bolton, whom neoconservatives had touted for No. 2, would be leaving “for the private sector.” In a Friday Washington Post piece, “Wolf at the Door,” Al … Continue reading “A Bush-Neocon Parting of the Ways?”

A nation’s foreign policy is bankrupt, Walter Lippmann wrote, when its strategic assets, its arms and alliances, are insufficient to cover its liabilities – i.e., its commitments to defend critical territory and vital interests. Japan’s strike on Pearl Harbor and rapid seizure of Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines, Lippmann wrote, revealed the bankruptcy of … Continue reading “Bush’s Checks Returning NSF”

Are the neoconservatives and their neoliberal collaborators in the global crusade for democracy pushing America into confrontation and a second Cold War with Russia? So it would seem. Ex-CIA director James Woolsey threw out the word “fascist” on FOX News the other night in describing Putin’s Russia. Earlier, he was quoted as saying, “The … Continue reading “Who’s in Charge of Russia Policy?”

In the aftermath of the suicide bombing of the Mosul mess hall, we are being admonished anew we must stay the course in Iraq. But “Stay the course!” is no longer enough. President Bush needs to go on national television and tell us the unvarnished truth. Why are we still there? For some of Bush’s … Continue reading “‘Staying the Course’ Won’t Do”

Last year, Midge Decter, wife of Norman Podhoretz, who has been howling for “World War IV” against the Arabs, published a mash note titled, Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait. The University of Houston’s James D. Fairbanks began his review thus: “Neoconservative writer Midge Decter sets out to explain just what it is about Donald Rumsfeld that … Continue reading “Scapegoating Rumsfeld”

With Bush’s 51 percent victory, Colin Powell’s departure, and the purge at CIA, many on the Old Right seem sunk in Bunyan’s Slough of Despond. They assume the neoconservatives are now free to pursue war without end. Yet, six weeks have now passed since Nov. 2, and there is as yet no conclusive evidence George … Continue reading “The Neocons Haven’t Won Yet”

In the 1940s, as Stalinists were seizing Czechoslovakia, ex-OSS agents were running bags of money to Italy and France to ensure the Communists were defeated in national elections. In the 1950s, using a rent-a-mob, the CIA effected the ouster of an anti-American regime in Iran and the overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala. In the 1980s, … Continue reading “What Are We Up to – in Ukraine?”