by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review on “The Corner” President Obama had lots of choices in Middle East. Unfortunately he made all the wrong ones, guided by pop ideology rather than unwelcome facts on the ground. The result is chaos at best and millions dead or displaced at worst. It didn’t have to be this […]
by Victor Davis Hanson// Defining Ideas After a strange and divisive election season, November 8 is almost here—and it couldn’t have come soon enough. Whoever wins will be in an unenviable position. The nation is in free-fall: current foreign policy, the economy, health care, and federal borrowing are not sustainable. Yet the needed chemotherapy,
World events seem relatively calm, but repeated appeasement has built up pressure across the globe, and someone has to be there when crisis erupts. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review This summer, President Obama was often golfing. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were promising to let the world be. The end of summer seemed
Beware international affairs the next five months, a dangerous period for America. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review online Deterrence is a nation’s ability to discourage aggressors by instilling in them a credible fear of punishment far greater than any perceived gain that could be achieved by an attack. Deterrence is quite different from
By Victor Davis Hanson // Los Angeles Times Borders are in the news as never before. With Muslim refugees flooding into the European Union from the Middle East, and with terrorism on the rise, a popular revolt is taking shape against the so-called Schengen Area agreements, which give free rights of movement within Europe. The European
Affirming Muslim grievances has only increased the Arab world’s sense that Obama is weak. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online When President Obama entered office, he dreamed that his hope-and-change messaging and his references to his familial Islamic roots would win over the Muslim world. The soon-to-be Nobel Peace Prize laureate would
Our domestic tensions embolden our enemies. By Victor Davis Hanson//National Review Online Here is a sampling of some recent news abroad: A Russian guard attacked a U.S. diplomatic official at the door to the American Embassy in Moscow, even as NATO leaders met to galvanize against the next act of Russian aggression. The Islamic
by Victor Davis Hanson// Defining Ideas We know what the recent terrorist attack in Orlando was not. Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three wounded not due to the violent outburst of a right-wing zealot. The shooter, Omar Mateen, was a second-generation Afghan-American, a registered Democrat, and a fierce critic of American politics and culture. Nor
By Victor Davis Hanson // Defining Ideas Before the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), where Philip II of Macedon prevailed over a common Greek alliance, the city-states had been weakened by years of social and economic turmoil. To read the classical speeches in the Athenian assembly is to learn of the democracy’s constant struggles
The Orlando massacre brings up familiar lessons that we never quite learn. By Victor Davis Hanson // City Journal The aftermath of Islamist Afghan-American Omar Mateen’s murderous rampage against American gays seems disturbingly familiar, an echo of past themes that never stop playing—and lessons that never get learned. The post-911 debate over “why do they