Category: Uncategorized

Many Western commentators have remarked on the similarity of the post-cold war international landscape to that of 1919, the latest being Norman Podhoretz, who writes in the December 1999 Commentary:”. . . there are two things about which I do feel certain. The first is that we are in a situation resembling the one that … Continue reading “Weimar Russia and the Chechen War”

I checked in a few standard quote books and in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and was shocked. There is very little in what is widely viewed as our common cultural heritage that describes and celebrates the benefits of peace. That should be one of our tasks in the New Millennium. (Yes, I know, … Continue reading “GIVING PEACE A CHANCE”

POST NO MILLENNIA This whole millennium business is a bit wearing. Leaving aside the open secret that the new millennium begins in 2001, there’s all the Y2K hype and fear-mongering, only some of which comes to us courtesy of caring governments and organs of state security. This has something to do with the “complex of … Continue reading “Time, Millennia, Empires, and Everything”

I don’t want to read too much into it, but I think it is just possible that some of the guardians of the Warfare State at the neo-conservative Weekly Standard (but the two articles I’m discussing are not available online; there is, however, a rather good David Gelernter piece on Rembrandt) are a bit worried … Continue reading “FEAR AND TREMBLING IN THE IMPERIAL CAMP?”

For the nuns and monks of the Serbian Patriarchate at Pec in Kosovo Christmas 1999 will be a sombre affair. Huddled in their monastery together with a few refugees, only the protection of Italian KFOR troops stands between them and an angry Albanian rabble outside. The beauty of the place contrasts all too sharply with … Continue reading “Christmas in Kosovo”

On Monday night "Nightline” featured a program whose taped intro was fraught with worry about yet another possible overseas enemy. Noting that the Russian government seems intent on wiping out virtually the entire nation-province-territory-whatever of Chechnya whatever anybody in the West might say and that this policy seems to be extremely popular among Russians of … Continue reading “WORRYING ABOUT THE RUSSIAN ARMY”

Empire is not like the weather, which is sometimes said to be the subject of much talk and little action. Generally, Americans don’t even talk about empire, so they’re not likely to do anything for or against it. That is a shame, since the existence of a world-saving and world-straddling American empire surely does things … Continue reading “Truth or Consequences in an Age of Empire”

My old friend – or at least acquaintance of (shudder!) more than 30 years – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher came to the Orange County Register last week and I got a little more insight into just how difficult our job of keeping the United States out of foreign entanglements is likely to be. Dana assured me … Continue reading “THE NEED FOR ENEMIES,”

FELIX MORLEY (1894-1981) Felix Morley served the cause we now call the Old Right for many years. His thought was a well-wrought synthesis of classical republicanism and classical liberalism. This led people to see him as a "conservative" – but let’s not argue labels just now. Born in Pennsylvania in 1894 to English parents, Morley … Continue reading “Felix Morley: An Old-fashioned Republican”

In war, goes the old saw, the first casualty is truth. That was certainly the case in the Kosovo war/bombardment/whatever, but it is important to remind ourselves and others of the fact. Lies will certainly be told during the next conflict – and who among us can doubt that there will be a next conflict. … Continue reading “The First Casualty”