Recently, Bill O’Reilly interviewed John Stossel about the dangerous situation along Arizona’s porous border with Mexico. Stossel is probably my favorite reporter. I admire the way he demolishes popular myths, particularly economic myths. However, on the topic of how to … Continue reading
Military & Foreign Policy
Whatever Happened to “General Betray Us?” The Path from Political Demon to Savior
I was in Washington last week, meaning I was able to observe, on-site and up close, the reaction to President Obama’s remarkable switch in leadership in Afghanistan from the bizarre General Stanley McChrystal to the excellent General David Petraeus. The … Continue reading
Colombia’s Presidential Election: Not “Too Close to Call” This Time
The just-completed Colombian presidential election took place in two stages. The first round took place on May 30. There were multiple candidates. Since nobody received an outright majority, the top two vote-getters (Juan Manuel Santos at 47 percent and Antanas … Continue reading
V&V FLASHBACK — The Forgotten Battle of World War II: Remembering the Aleutian Campaign
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by The Center for Vision & Values on November 6, 2009. Every Memorial Day presents an opportunity to commemorate those who served in some faraway place long ago, many of whom paid that ultimate … Continue reading
One-Sided Arms Control
President Obama signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague on April 8—and did so to global accolades. It was the culmination of years of negotiations and a major triumph to finally achieve agreement with Moscow. Unfortunately, President … Continue reading
Latest "human-made-disaster" attack succeeds
History holds that during World War II the Army executed only one American soldier, Private Eddie Slovik. There was another, a footnote to history. In 1944, B-24 Liberators taking off from a base in Italy began exploding when they “rotated,” … Continue reading
Strategic Misstep, Two-step, Setup or Prelude to Meltdown?
During his recent Middle East and European tour, Senator Barack Obama stated his strategic positions on Iraq and Afghanistan, which involves a timetable for withdrawal of most, if not all, U.S. forces from Iraq, and redeploying some forces to Afghanistan, … Continue reading
Gorbachev vs. the Evil Empire
The media jumps at anniversaries of historical figures and events. For those of us who write about history, we, too, seize these opportunities to teach history, especially history Americans should know. Here’s one such case: Can you believe it has … Continue reading
The Uncertain Trumpet and Systemic Failure
In the mid-1960s, the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Notre Dame’s Rocky Bleier. Unfortunately, Steeler management failed to protect the prized rookie with the paperwork necessary to take advantage of a myriad of available conscription-law loopholes, and Bleier ended up in Vietnam … Continue reading
Climategate, Copenhagen and Cap & Trade
2009 ended with a flurry of important events on the climate-change front. In November, the Climategate scandal broke. An anonymous whistle-blower released over 1,000 e-mails from key scientists (both British and American) in the alarmist climate-change camp. The e-mails revealed … Continue reading
Deploying the Soldier-Entrepreneur
Earlier this week, President Obama announced his decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan by mid-2010. The president chose to address the nation from the U.S. Military Academy in front of a large audience of West Point cadets. While … Continue reading
Gold, Geopolitics, and the Carry Trade
The price of gold has recently spurted to a new all-time high in terms of U.S. dollars. I’m neither an expert nor a market timer, but let me offer a few perspectives on this event. To most people, including gold … Continue reading
A Nuclear Japan?
Guest Commentary Sixty-four years ago this month, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by the first and only wartime use of nuclear weapons. The death toll totaled approximately 200,000. The shock of the unprecedented destructiveness of the … Continue reading
On Kennedy, Andropov, and KAL 007
Over the last week-and-a-half I’ve gotten an overwhelming number of inquiries relating to the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. Why me? Because of my report back in 2006 of Kennedy’s confidential offer to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov. That offer … Continue reading
Round Two on Bush and AIDS
Last week I wrote about former President George W. Bush’s unprecedented work on behalf of the African AIDS epidemic. That $15 billion package, first proposed in January 2003, was entirely Bush’s doing, and has been ignored by the mainstream media and liberals … Continue reading
Iranian Aftermath: Can Obama Close the Deal?
Editor’s note: A longer version of this article first appeared in American Thinker. On December 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter was asked if he thought the Shah of Iran would survive the crisis that threatened to birth history’s first theocratic-terrorist … Continue reading
Upheaval in Honduras: A Defining Moment for the Obama Presidency
Quick, what’s the capital of Honduras? Probably fewer than 10 percent of Americans could answer that question prior to the recent news that Honduran President Mel Zelaya was sent packing to Costa Rica by the Honduran military. While it’s too … Continue reading
Bush Unplugged—and Unappreciated
Editor’s Note: Attention readers, please check out Paul Kengor’s weekend exclusive from American Thinker, “‘Freedom Fighters’ and the American President.” Last Wednesday evening, I witnessed a remarkable event, which is being misreported and misperceived—from the Drudge Report to the White … Continue reading
Interfaith Dialogue: Let’s Talk Persecution
Guest Commentary President Barack Obama plans to call for an improved dialogue with Islam in his upcoming speech in Egypt. All faiths would benefit from greater understanding. Yet no conversation will be complete if it does not address Islam’s persecution … Continue reading
Limited Options for Dealing with North Korea
Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s psychotic “Dear Leader,” specializes in “guerrilla diplomacy.” He backs it up with a half-dozen or so nuclear weapons squirreled away deep inside mountain storage facilities that cannot be reached by our bunker-buster bombs, and an … Continue reading