Potential allies against ISIS doubt America’s commitment to being engaged abroad. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online The so-called Islamic State has left destruction everywhere that it has gained ground. But as in the case of the tribal Scythians, Vandals, Huns, or Mongols of the past, sowing chaos in its wake does not […]
by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine The William F. Buckley Program at Yale University lately showed bravery unusual for an academic institution. It has refused to be bullied by the Muslim Students Association and its demand that the Buckley Program rescind an invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali to speak on campus September 15. Hirsi Ali
In his view, the current debacle has nothing to do with his own errors and omissions. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online How can we account for the apparent flip-flopping of the Obama administration about what we are doing, or might do further, to the Islamic State? At times the secretary of defense
It’s increasingly difficult to navigate the web of transitory enemies and allies in the region. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Try figuring out the maze of enemies, allies, and neutrals in the Middle East. In 2012, the Obama administration was on the verge of bombing the forces of Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Fantasy versus reality by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings [1] was sometimes faulted by literary critics for caricaturing the evil orcs [2] as uniformly bad. All of them were as unpleasant to look as they were deadly to encounter. There is not a single good orc or
Most aggressors take stupid risks only when they feel they won’t be stopped. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online The world seems to be falling apart. Only lunatics from North Korea or Iran once mumbled about using nuclear weapons against their supposed enemies. Now Vladimir Putin, after gobbling up the Crimea, points to
by Bruce Thornton // FrontPage Magazine To read Part I, click here. In his comments on the jihad being waged by the Islamic State in northern Iraq (ISIL), President Obama recycled yet again the shopworn false knowledge about Islam that continues to compromise our response to Muslim violence: “So ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are
His march through Georgia has been gravely misunderstood ― as has Israel’s strategy in Gaza. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online William Tecumseh Sherman 150 years ago took Atlanta before heading out on his infamous March to the Sea to make Georgia “howl.” He remains one of the most controversial and misunderstood figures in American
by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine The war against jihadism has been chronically misunderstood because of our failure to acknowledge the religious motives of Muslim jihadists. This failure began in 1979 with the Iranian revolution. Trapped in our Western secularist paradigms, we interpreted the uprising against the Shah as an anti-colonial revolt against a
Because Turkey is not Israel. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Limassol, Cyprus — Cyprus is a beautiful island. But it has never recovered from the Turkish invasion of 1974. Turkish troops still control nearly 40 percent of the island — the most fertile and formerly the richest portion. Some 200,000 Greek refugees never