Our Libyan March Madness

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The prognosis for Libya might be better if our president cared more about it than about the NCAA. Continue reading “Our Libyan March Madness”

America Through the Looking Glass

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

President Obama yesterday praised Brazil for its new offshore oil industry and said he wants to buy as much oil as possible in this new win-win partnership — although we have piled up $5 trillion in new debt, curtailed new petroleum exploration off shore and in the West, as well as kept Alaska off-limits. Continue reading “America Through the Looking Glass”

Foreign Policy as Wishful Thinking

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The current military intervention in Libya by the West has been marketed with the claim that its purpose, as French President Sarkozy put it, is “to protect the civilian population from the murderous madness of a regime that has forfeited all claim to legitimacy.” Behind this humanitarian idealism, however, lurk a host of questions and dangers, reflecting wishful thinking rather than a prudent foreign policy. Continue reading “Foreign Policy as Wishful Thinking”

America’s Sorta Rescue?

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

What a No-Fly Zone Means

Now that we are committed to a no-fly zone (an unwise idea, I think, given the absence of consistent aims or defined objectives), we must support it and ensure its success. Continue reading “America’s Sorta Rescue?”

Libya, What To Do?

by Raymond Ibrahim

National Review Online

As with Egypt, American sympathies instinctively side with Libya’s oppositional forces as they seek to overthrow the tyrant Qaddafi — and rightfully so. But where US foreign policy is concerned, prudence is in order. Continue reading “Libya, What To Do?”

Should We Intervene in Libya?

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

There are plenty of good arguments for imposing a no-fly zone in Libya. Without Libyan-government air strikes, the rebels might have a better chance of carving out permanent zones of resistance. Continue reading “Should We Intervene in Libya?”

Put Up or Shut Up: Obama’s Foreign Policy Crossroads

by Victor Davis Hanson

Ricochet

I don’t often agree with Pat Buchanan and am an occasional target of his magazine, but his ideas (which Peter highlighted in an earlier post on Ricochet) are at least always provocative and he is right that we need a debate on what we can afford and what not, and why we do the things we do abroad. Continue reading “Put Up or Shut Up: Obama’s Foreign Policy Crossroads”

Of Hawks and Flies

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

The international order — comprising the United Nations, interstate diplomacy, organizations like NATO, and all the other transnational institutions that are supposed to keep the global peace and deter aggression — reminds me of the Spanish proverb about laws: they catch flies and let the hawk go free. Continue reading “Of Hawks and Flies”

Our Schizoid Foreign Policy

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Are we stupid abroad by accident or design?

In the manner of a doctor, let us review the symptoms of our present foreign policy and then offer a diagnosis: Continue reading “Our Schizoid Foreign Policy”

Libya Without Gaddafi: What to Expect, What to Watch For

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

One of the most surreal experiences of my life — even apart from having a ruptured appendix and emergency surgery in a Gaddafi-government clinic — was a spring assignment in Libya to lecture on the Roman ruins there (which are quite impressive, since the neglect and ensuing 40 years of sand have, in counterintuitive fashion, been a protective cocoon from Gaddafi’s far greater ravages). Continue reading “Libya Without Gaddafi: What to Expect, What to Watch For”