Tag: NATO

The Middle East Mess

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by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and the All the Same Old, Same Old Mess

Each country in the Middle East poses unique challenges. That said, gender apartheid, religious intolerance, tribalism, dictatorship, statism, and lack of transparency and free expression are widely shared in the region, and mean that any particular policy will almost immediately collide with some two millennia of habit and custom antithetical and often hostile to the values of the West. Continue reading “The Middle East Mess” →

Liberating Libya for Jihadists

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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” →

A Lovely Little NATO Intervention

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by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

World powers sometimes have to fight wars not for some material interest, but for bolstering a nation’s prestige in order to deter more dangerous aggressors. Continue reading “A Lovely Little NATO Intervention” →

The Resignations in Turkey

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

News that the top echelon of Turkey’s military offered their joint resignations is not much of a surprise, given ongoing politicized trials against particular officers, and the general acceptance that a secular military is at odds with an increasingly Islamicized government. But there will be lots of long-term ramifications. Continue reading “The Resignations in Turkey” →

A Dumb and Dumber War in Libya

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by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Almost daily over the last four months we were told that Muammar Gadhafi was about ready to throw in the towel and give up. Continue reading “A Dumb and Dumber War in Libya” →

Liberal Frankensteins

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by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

This Fourth of July, what remains is the Founders’ vision of a limited government; the idea of a population united by common values, themes, and ideas; a republican form of checks-and-balances government to prevent demagoguery, factions, and tyranny of the majority; the sanctity and autonomy of the nation-state; and individual freedom and liberty as protected through the Bill of Rights. Everything after and against that has proved a failure. Continue reading “Liberal Frankensteins” →

The World Turned Upside Down–Again

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by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Every once in a while, the world is turned upside down in just a few years, whether by ideological ferment or force of arms. Continue reading “The World Turned Upside Down–Again” →

Rules for Killing Rogues

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by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

The welcome end of Osama bin Laden at the hands of helicopter-borne American military commandos raises a number of issues. Continue reading “Rules for Killing Rogues” →

The American Soviet

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by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The security forces of Bashar Assad — a thug whom Hillary Clinton deemed a “reformer,” and with whom Barack Obama was determined to restore diplomatic relations — are slaughtering hundreds in the streets of Syria’s major cities. I know that the Turkish government will express no outrage. Continue reading “The American Soviet” →

Humanitarian Beheading

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by Victor Davis Hanson

Ricochet

There are a number of videos circulating about from “free Libya” showing grotesque head-loppings, executions, torture and desecration of bodies, of African mercenaries who apparently were captured or killed by the rebels in Libya. Continue reading “Humanitarian Beheading” →