America as Pill Bug

Closing out embassies was prudent in the short term. But what message does it send?

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

We’ve all run across the pill bug in our gardens. At the first sign of danger, the tiny paranoid crustacean suddenly turns into a ball — in hopes the danger will have passed when he unrolls.

That roly-poly bug can serve as a fair symbol of present-day U.S. foreign policy, especially in our understandable weariness over Iraq, Afghanistan, and the scandals that are overwhelming the Obama administration.

On August 4, U.S. embassies across the Middle East simply closed on the basis of intelligence reports of planned al-Qaeda violence. The shutdown of 21 diplomatic facilities was the most extensive in recent American history.

Continue reading “America as Pill Bug”

The Rape of Christopher Stevens

by Raymond Ibrahim

Frontpage Magazine

By obsessing over the 14-minute YouTube Muhammad video and its maker, the mainstream media ultimately exonerates the inexcusable and murderous response of the Islamic world. Continue reading “The Rape of Christopher Stevens”

Islam’s Black Flag Flies over Egypt

by Raymond Ibrahim

FrontPage Magazine

The United States embassy of Egypt is under siege. According to Fox News, Continue reading “Islam’s Black Flag Flies over Egypt”

Storming Embassies, Killing Ambassadors, and ‘Smart’ Diplomacy

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The attacks on the US embassy yesterday in Cairo and the storming of the American consulate in Libya, where the US ambassador was murdered along with three staff members — and the initial official American reaction to the mayhem — are all reprehensible, each in their own way. Let us sort out this terrible chain of events. Continue reading “Storming Embassies, Killing Ambassadors, and ‘Smart’ Diplomacy”

Iran on the Brink

by Bruce S. Thornton

Defining Ideas

Just in the last few months, events have hastened to a crisis in Iran’s long confrontation with the West. Continue reading “Iran on the Brink”

Despicable Israel Libels on Display in California Universities

by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

The moral and intellectual corruption of American universities has recently manifested itself in the California State University system, the largest in the country. Continue reading “Despicable Israel Libels on Display in California Universities”