Panetta’s Failure of Imagination: The Defense Secretary Gives Israel a ‘Turn of the Screw’

by Bruce S. Thronton

FrontPage Magazine

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s “chiding” of Israel, as the Washington Postput it, was a strange performance, so muddled in its ignorance of fact and logic that one wonders if the Secretary was attempting some rhetorical misdirection to lull our enemies into complacency. Continue reading “Panetta’s Failure of Imagination: The Defense Secretary Gives Israel a ‘Turn of the Screw’”

The Arab Winter Approaches

by Bruce S. Thornton

Defining Ideas

The revolutions against Arab autocracies — dubbed the “Arab Spring” — have been greeted in America with bipartisan celebration. Continue reading “The Arab Winter Approaches”

Tunisian Election and the Read to Caliphate

by Raymond Ibrahim

Jihad Watch

Tunisia, where the 2011 Arab uprisings began, remains an ominous model for where these uprisings will end. Continue reading “Tunisian Election and the Read to Caliphate”

Democracy’s New Discontents

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Once upon a time, loud dissent, filibustering in the Senate, and gridlock in the House were as democratic as apple pie. Continue reading “Democracy’s New Discontents”

Defund the UN

by Bruce S. Thornton

Defining Ideas

Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has introduced in the House of Representatives the UN Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act. Continue reading “Defund the UN”

Liberating Libya for Jihadists

by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

The fall of Muammar Gaddafi is making some in the West giddy with the usual “Arab Spring” wishful visions of democracy and freedom flourishing throughout the Muslim Middle East, even as the last binge of democratic intoxication, the fall of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, has left the hangover of a newly empowered Muslim Brotherhood, increasing assaults on Christian Copts, growing anti-Americanism, and terrorist attacks on Israel originating in Egypt and including Egyptian citizens among the attackers. Continue reading “Liberating Libya for Jihadists”

Principle and the Possible

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The continuing stalemate over raising the debt ceiling is provoking a lot of voters into Mercutio’s “a pox on both your houses” response. Continue reading “Principle and the Possible”

The Fog of Revolution

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

Apart from celebratory statements applauding what looks like to us democratic “people’s revolutions” against tyrannous autocrats, the uprisings sweeping across the Muslim Middle East have created great uncertainty for policy-makers as they try to calculate a response. Continue reading “The Fog of Revolution”

Foreign Policy Charity Should Start at Home

Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The outbreak of protests and rebellion throughout the Middle East have quickly generated an orthodox narrative: When people suffering under brutal autocrats and dictators have finally risen up to satisfy the innate human longing for freedom and democracy, we should support these aspirations on moral grounds. Continue reading “Foreign Policy Charity Should Start at Home”

The Secularist Delusion

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The dubious received wisdom rationalizing our current intervention in Libya was crystallized in Senator John Kerry’s recent essay for The Wall Street Journal. For Kerry, the rebels in Libya are the same as those in Egypt, “peacefully demanding freedom and dignity.” Continue reading “The Secularist Delusion”