Foreign Policy

The Perils of International Idealism

American foreign policy could use a does of hard-nosed realism. by Bruce S. Thornton // Defining Ideas  United States foreign policy has been defined lately by serial failures. Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea and appears to be preparing a reprise in eastern Ukraine, and possibly in the Baltic states. Syrian strongman Bashar al Assad is

Share This

The Perils of International Idealism Read More »

Foreign Policy: From Bad to None

Our enemies are gloating, and our allies are grimly deciding where to go from here. by Victor Davis Hanson Barack Obama had a foreign policy for about five years, and now he has none. The first-term foreign policy’s assumptions went something like this. Obama was to assure the world that he was not George W.

Share This

Foreign Policy: From Bad to None Read More »

Obama’s Enlightened Foolery

He views Putin, the 21st century, and himself as in a fun-house mirror. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online  President Obama talks about Vladimir Putin as if he were a Pennsylvania “clinger” who operates on outdated principles, who is driven by fear, and whom unfortunately the post-Enlightenment mind of even Barack Obama cannot always

Share This

Obama’s Enlightened Foolery Read More »

Obama: Ike Redivivus?

Obama admirers have created a complete distortion of “the Eisenhower era.” by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online  In critique of the George W. Bush administration, and in praise of the perceived foreign-policy restraint of Obama’s first five years in the White House, a persistent myth has arisen that Obama is reminiscent of Eisenhower —

Share This

Obama: Ike Redivivus? Read More »

Sacrificing the Military to Entitlements

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine  Vladimir Putin, playing geopolitical chess while our president plays tiddlywinks, has effectively taken over Crimea. Armed men, looking suspiciously like Russian military personnel, have seized both airports and established border checkpoints decorated with Kalashnikovs and Russian flags. This comes after other armed men seized two government buildings and raised

Share This

Sacrificing the Military to Entitlements Read More »

Obama’s Foreign Policy: Enemy Action

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine  It’s often hard to determine whether a series of bad policies results from stupidity or malicious intent. Occam’s razor suggests that the former is the more likely explanation, as conspiracies assume a high degree of intelligence, complex organization, and secrecy among a large number of people, qualities that usually

Share This

Obama’s Foreign Policy: Enemy Action Read More »

Our Icarus-in-Chief

Obama’s global fantasies are falling to earth along with him. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online  In the last two weeks, we learned that Bashar Assad has dismantled only 5 percent of his WMD arsenal, despite President Obama’s soaring rhetoric to the contrary. Russia violated a long-observed agreement with the U.S. about testing missiles. Iran’s take on the

Share This

Our Icarus-in-Chief Read More »