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President Obama talks about Vladimir Putin as if he were a Pennsylvania “clinger” who operates on outdated principles, who is driven by fear, and whom unfortunately the post-Enlightenment mind of even Barack Obama

Mykl Roventine  via Flickr
Mykl Roventine via Flickr

cannot always reach. Deconstruct a recent CBS News interview with President Obama, and the limitations of his now-routine psychoanalyses are all too clear. Consider the following presidential assertions:

Obama said in the CBS interview that Vladimir Putin was “willing to show a deeply held grievance about what he considers to be the loss of the Soviet Union.”

Is that any surprise? Why would Putin not “show a deeply held grievance” — given that Russians enjoyed far more pride and influence when they had far more territory and power than they do now? Just because elites in the West might consider Denmark and Luxembourg model societies, given their per capita incomes, ample social services, high-speed mass transit, and climate-change sensitivities, does not necessarily mean that the grandchildren of Stalingrad and Leningrad would agree.   Continue reading “Obama’s Enlightened Foolery”

Al Qaeda: The Defender of Christians?

by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Muslim persecution of Christians is the “Achilles Heel” of the global Islamic movement’s RTX6E0Timage—the surest way of exposing its supremacist and intolerant elements and one of the main reasons the major media and establishment rarely report or address it.

The logic (fully explained here) can be summarized as follows:

Islamic and jihadi attacks targeting the West or Israel pose no problem to the image of Islam.  No matter how violent or brutal, no matter how many Islamic slogans are shrieked—“Allah commands the subjugation of infidels!”—Muslim violence against the West and Israel will always be dismissed as desperate acts of disempowered, oppressed, and frustrated Muslims—the “underdogs,” which the West tends to romanticize.

And so they will always get a free pass, without further reflection. Continue reading “Al Qaeda: The Defender of Christians?”

The Return of Al Qaeda and Jihad

by Raymond Ibrahim // FrontPage Magazine

With the ousting of Muhammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, al-Qaeda has been vindicated and the terror-jihad exonerated, in the opinion of many Islamists, that is. Continue reading “The Return of Al Qaeda and Jihad”

Western Cultural Suicide

We are blind to the contradictions in welcoming an immigrant but not making him one of us.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Multiculturalism — as opposed to the notion of a multiracial society united by a single culture — has become an abject contradiction in the modern Western world. Continue reading “Western Cultural Suicide”

Obama Administration Calls for the ‘Human Rights’ of Jihadi Murderers

Nigerian government is criticized by the U.S. for going after mass murdering terrorists.

by Raymond Ibrahim

PJ Media

It’s well known that whenever jihadis attack and slaughter innocent people — especially Christians — the Obama administration tries to ignore or whitewash. Continue reading “Obama Administration Calls for the ‘Human Rights’ of Jihadi Murderers”

Far from the Madding Islamists’ Ignoble Strife

by Raymond Ibrahim

Jihad Watch

Review of Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat by Youssef Aboul-Enein (Naval Institute Press, 2010. 288 pp.). Continue reading “Far from the Madding Islamists’ Ignoble Strife”

Liberating Libya for Jihadists

by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

The fall of Muammar Gaddafi is making some in the West giddy with the usual “Arab Spring” wishful visions of democracy and freedom flourishing throughout the Muslim Middle East, even as the last binge of democratic intoxication, the fall of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, has left the hangover of a newly empowered Muslim Brotherhood, increasing assaults on Christian Copts, growing anti-Americanism, and terrorist attacks on Israel originating in Egypt and including Egyptian citizens among the attackers. Continue reading “Liberating Libya for Jihadists”

The Fellow Travelers of Jihadism

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The post-mortem revelations of Osama bin Laden’s daily habits have confirmed the orthodox narrative about the al-Qaeda chief. Continue reading “The Fellow Travelers of Jihadism”

Cario Ironies: Same Cast of American Characters, Different Play

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The United States’ public position on Egypt is “flexible.” That in and of itself is not surprising, given the ambiguities surrounding the Cairo uprising. Continue reading “Cario Ironies: Same Cast of American Characters, Different Play”