I visited Washington, DC for the first time in 1980. I was 13. Jimmy Carter was the president. My family only had one day to see the sights. As I remember it, we went through what seemed a somewhat sketchy neighborhood (I was a country boy, so it may have just been...
I’m taking the July 4 holiday weekend off, so there’s no column today. However, in lieu of that, here’s something you might find interesting: my contribution to The Costs of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories, edited by John V. Denson, “Defenders of the Republic: The...
"The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies." Vergil, The Aeneid Not since Edmund Gosse’s classic memoir, Father and Son: A Study of...
The most striking fact about the United States of America is not its supposed founding principles — more often lauded than observed — but how often “the greatest country on earth” has waged war. If we count wars against internal...
In the style of a President’s Daily Brief for President Trump: When you meet with President Putin next week, you can count on him asking you why the U.S. is encircling Russia with antiballistic missile systems. Putin regarded the now-defunct Anti-Ballistic Missile...
As the newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets President Donald Trump for his first White House visit, the South Korean leader should stay focused on his calls for diplomatic, economic, and cultural engagement with Pyongyang. The Trump administration...
Conan Doyle, the creator of the legendary Sherlock Holmes, would have titled his story about this incident "The Bizarre Case of Bashar al-Assad". And bizarre it is. It concerns the evil deeds of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, who bombed his own people...
