History teaches us that nations must always respond vigorously to an enemy’s challenge, a lesson the U.S. should remember in Syria. by Bruce S. Thornton // Defining Ideas President Obama, responding to widespread criticisms that his handling of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis was clumsy and ad hoc, said, “I’m less concerned about style points, I’m… Continue reading Prestige and Power in Statecraft
‘Game Changers’
by Victor Davis Hanson // Tribune Media Services When — not if — is the only mystery about an Iranian nuclear bomb. All the warning signs are there. ‘Game changers’ In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama on two occasions went out of his way to warn the Iranians that the development of a nuclear weapon “would be a… Continue reading ‘Game Changers’
What Iran Is Asking Us to Believe
by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s The Corner To believe in the current Iranian, post-Syrian peace initiative, we would have to believe that the Iranian theocracy concedes, in a stunning Qaddafi-like turn-around, that its decade-long effort to obtain nuclear weapons was a terrible strategic mistake that earned it only ostracism and crippling sanctions that have no… Continue reading What Iran Is Asking Us to Believe
Goodbye Syria, On to Iran!
by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way Syria ends: Not with a bang, but a whimper. We are back where we started — lots of people dying — as the crisis recedes with a high five and a sigh, rather than with America blowing some stuff up. Share… Continue reading Goodbye Syria, On to Iran!
President Rouhani and Peace Studies
Mideast Nuclear Holocaust
by Raymond Ibrahim // FrontPage Magazine A Review of The Last Israelis by Noah Beck After constant exposure to critically important news, it begins to lose all meaning and sense of urgency. Hearing the same warnings over and over again—especially when the status quo seems static—can cause a certain desensitization, a resigned apathy that ignores the warnings in… Continue reading Mideast Nuclear Holocaust
Syria Postmortem
by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s The Corner I think the so-called Syrian crisis is working out as most anticipated: 1) In about a year or so Assad and Putin will announce that they “think” they might have in theory rounded up a lot of the WMD, and will soon make plans to turn it over… Continue reading Syria Postmortem
Obama’s Box Canyon
Our Hamlet-in-cheif wanted simultaneously to act and not act. by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online The Syrian fiasco arose from two mutually contradictory desires. Barack Obama sincerely wanted Bashar Assad to stop killing his own people. Barack Obama also really was not willing to use force to ensure that Assad would stop killing his… Continue reading Obama’s Box Canyon
The Charade Can Go On — and On and On . . .
by Victor Davis Hanson // NRO’s The Corner So far in the Syrian charade, Bashar Assad has won de facto permission to be a legitimate ruler negotiating with superpowers, while promising to kill thousands more by blowing them up, shelling them, and shooting them without “obscene” chemical weapons. Vladimir Putin controls the tempo of the crisis.… Continue reading The Charade Can Go On — and On and On . . .