Our elites would be right at home in Petronius’s world of debauchery and bored melodrama. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Sometime in the mid-first century a.d., an otherwise little known consular official, Gaius Petronius, wrote a brilliant satirical novel about the gross and pretentious new Roman-imperial elite. The Satyricon is an often-cruel parody about how the […]
From Libya to Iran, our past actions have drastically limited our current choices. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Survey the Middle East, and there is nothing about which to be optimistic. Iran is either fueling violence in Syria or racing toward a bomb, or both. Share This
by Victor Davis Hanson // Tribune Media Services In Sam Cooke’s classic 1959 hit “Wonderful World,” the lyrics downplayed formal learning with lines like, “Don’t know much about history … Don’t know much about geography.” Share This
When we don’t support our potential allies and encourage constitutional rule, Egypt is the result. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online In Egypt the Obama administration has managed to alienate the military, secular constitutionalists, the Islamists, and the proverbial street all at once. How and why? Share This
by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media There are many ways to learn about the bleaker aspects of human nature. One would be to run a pizza shop, or regularly to have to clean a public restroom. Perhaps giving close attention to the text of Thucydides might give a more abstract lesson. Also, the Old and
by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s The Corner Barack Obama’s cancellation of his Russian visit is the normal sort of diplomat payback for insult and injury — in this case the asylum offered Edward Snowden in the face of administration pleas to send him home for punishment. But with Obama, as with everything with Obama, the
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
by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine If you still doubt that Barack Obama has disastrously bungled our foreign policy, check out this video. In it Egyptian singer Salma Elmasry brutally insults Obama for supporting the Muslim Brothers and Islamists in general, her vulgar insults laced with an image of our President sporting a bin Laden cap
by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media Critics of the president are convinced that Barack Obama will do lasting damage to the U.S. I doubt it. Share This
by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine Remember Howard Beale, the deranged anchorman from Network? During one broadcast he tells the viewers to turn off their televisions, go to the window, and yell, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” In one of the iconic scenes from American movies, thousands of New