Ancient Laws, Modern Wars
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review After eight years of withdrawal, what rules should the U.S. follow to effectively reassert itself in world affairs? The most dangerous moments in foreign affairs often come after a major power seeks to reassert its lost deterrence. The United States may be entering just such a perilous transitional period. […]
The Millstones of the Gods Grind Late, but They Grind Fine . . .
The Corner: The one and only. By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review The latest disclosures that former Obama national-security adviser Susan Rice may have requested that intelligence agencies reveal or “unmask” those from the Trump team who were surveilled in purportedly normal intelligence gathering — and that such requests may have extended over an apparently […]
Journey to the Center of the Country
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Trump seems radical only to the radicals who aim to take America far, far left. There have been roughly two sorts of Democratic presidents over the last century. A few were revolutionaries who sought to take the country leftward with them. They were masters of “never letting a serious […]
Nunes etc.
The Corner: The one and only By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review When the feeding frenzy abates and moves on to the next target, among the flotsam and jetsam we may learn two things from the Nunes affair: One, intelligence-committee chairmen in the past have routinely gone over to various executive-branch locations, such as in […]
The Yanks over There — 100 Years Ago
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review American intervention saved Western Europe in World War I, but the result was a failed armistice. One hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. The ongoing conflict ended just 19 months later with an Allied victory. The United States did not win […]
Nunes Affair
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review The beleaguered Intelligence Committee chairman is the latest target in a partisan smear campaign. He must not step down. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) will not step down from the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. He is the new target […]
VDH Ultra
03/29/17 From an Angry Reader: Do you mean educated people who worked hard to better themselves? Let’s all just stay in the old steel mill towns and coal mining towns gripping about how unfair the world is to us. You know, the good old days when blacks knew their place and we didn’t have no […]
The Civic Cost Of Illegal Immigration
by Victor Davis Hanson via Defining Ideas (Hoover Institution) The arguments for ignoring illegal immigration are as well-known as the self-interested motives that drive it. In the abstract, open-borders advocates argue that in a globalized culture, borders are becoming reactionary and artificial constructs. They should not interrupt more natural ebbs and flows of migrant […]
The Russian Farce
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Remember when Obama and Hillary cozied up to Putin? And recall when the media rejoiced at surveillance leaks about Team Trump? The American Left used to lecture the nation about its supposedly paranoid suspicions of Russia. The World War II alliance with Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union had led many […]
VDH Ultra
03/27/17 From an Angry Reader: Victor, As a fine historian (but poor political scientist) you know quite well that Andrew Jackson was a national hero with a distinguished military career. The Donald is a former casino owner and reality TV show star. It is a long stretch to compare them. Further, a column replete with […]
VDH Ultra
From an Angry Reader: Russia’s political hierarchy and official press greeted Trump’s Inauguration with unreserved glee. An old order had crumbled and, with it, an impediment to Putin’s ambitions. “In 1917, armed supporters of Lenin stormed the Winter Palace and arrested capitalist ministers and overthrew the social political order,” the lead article in the daily […]
Law Takes a Holiday
And anarchy follows. by Victor Davis Hanson//National Review In the 1934 romantic movie Death Takes a Holiday, Death assumes human form for three days, and the world turns chaotic. The same thing happens when the law goes on a vacation. Rules are unenforced or politicized. Citizens quickly lose faith in the legal system. Anarchy follows […]
VDH Ultra
03/22/17 From an Angry Reader: This was written with the notion that we can have a mutual exchange of ideas. Thanks, Tom: Victor Davis Hanson (sic) commentary (I assume it is Dr. Hanson) is very quiet and unassuming along with his Rodney King, “Why can’t we just get along,” attitude coupled with, ” everybody’s opinion […]
Monasteries of the Mind
When everything is politicized, people retreat into mental mountaintops — dreams of the past and fantasies of the future. by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review So long, it’s been good to know ya, So long, it’s been good to know ya, So long, it’s been good to know ya. This dusty old dust is a-gettin’ […]
VDH Ultra
03/21/17 From an Angry Reader: Sorry so many of the stars disagree with your politics, but it is an alternative fact to state that the envelope mixup was the fault of dense celebrities. The PWC representative, who handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty, along with his PWC associate in the wings, the only other […]
Moving Forward: The Need For Innovations In Technology And Strategy
by Kiron K. Skinner // Strategika Two broad sets of U.S. military strategies during the second half of the twentieth century combined ideas, innovation, and technology in ways that offset Soviet conventional (and later nuclear) superiority in arms and military forces. These strategies also contributed to the overall state of cold war, as opposed to […]
VDH UltraAcademy Untoward 2
From an Angry Reader: After reading your discombobulated thoughts on Academy Awards, Mayor Bloomberg, et al., I now know why newspapers have traditionally been used as toilet tissue. M. Buendia Breinigsville PA Victor Davis Hanson’s Reply: Dear Angry Reader M. Buendia, Are such angry letters mass produced in some central clearing house? No argument: CHECK; […]
VDH UltraAcademy Untoward
03/17/17 From an Angry Reader: Mr. Hanson. Don’t know what Acadamy awards you were watching but my husband and I watched the whole show. There was no bashing of Mr Trump at all during the entire show. Jimmy Kimmel did some jokes but light weight. So please we are tired of all the lies .. […]
It’s Not Just the Technology: Beyond Offset Strategies
By Colonel Joseph (Joe) Felter (ret.) // Strategika A range of breakthrough technologies are emerging today that have the potential to radically change how we fight and deter threats across all conflict domains—air, land, sea, space, and cyber. Artificial intelligence, directed energy, robotics, and machine learning are just a few examples. Significantly, unlike in previous […]
Deterrence and Human Nature
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review The dream of a therapeutic utopia without punishment for wrongdoing fails in practice. Deterrence is the strategy of persuading someone in advance not to do something, often by raising the likelihood of punishment. But in the 21st century, we apparently think deterrence is Neanderthal and appeals to the worst […]