In August 1961, while the Soviets erected the Berlin Wall to plunge the Cold War into the deep freeze, President John F. Kennedyordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to devise a nuclear-first strike plan. The Strategic Air Command responded with a … Continue reading
Tag Archives: war
Dealing with barbarism: V-J Day and beyond
On September 2, 1945, V-J Day, the funeral-like solemnity of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri was shattered by the thunder of 400 B-29 bombers flying overhead, accompanied by an additional 1,500 carrier aircraft. In a bay packed with … Continue reading
Time for face time with Vladimir
President Barack Obama has spent a lot of TV face time opining on race relations in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2009, on the George Zimmerman trial of 2012-13, on the riots in a St. Louis suburb last week, and plenty more. … Continue reading
The Strategic Imperative of ISIS: Deal with it Now or Die by it Later
During the 2012 presidential campaign President Obama repeatedly boasted, “Osama bin Laden is dead and Al-Qaeda is on the run.” He is right on both counts: bin Laden is gone and Al-Qaeda runs stronger than ever. The latest Al-Qaeda iteration, … Continue reading
Airstrikes, Sure; but What About a Strategy in Iraq?
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The New York Times. It has been a tragically spectacular year for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has taken control of numerous towns in Iraq and Syria, seized energy … Continue reading
Correcting history: How Vietnam Vets were embraced
Why is it that the American people rejected our troops who served in Vietnam? We know all about the protests not only against the war, but against those who served. Why were there no demonstrations of support? Why was there … Continue reading
The ultimate sacrifice: Remembering American heroes
Last year on Memorial Day, my wife, daughter and I were touring Cambridge, England. We took a bus ride three miles out of the city to the U.S. military cemetery there–one of 25 American burial grounds administered by the U.S. government … Continue reading
A nuclear 1914? Rising stakes in Ukraine and America
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at FoxNews.com. Unrest continues to grow in Ukraine, particularly in light of Sunday’s vote by two eastern regions that overwhelmingly passed a referendum in favor of self-rule. Government buildings continue to fall to Russian … Continue reading
The war against work and wealth
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com The Congressional Budget Office’s recent analysis of the Affordable Care Act concludes that it will result in the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time workers leaving the work force to preserve their taxpayer-financed … Continue reading
Don’t Dally, Let’s Roll!
Grand strategy on the international scale is not an American strength. Historically, Americans have been open, impatient, alternatively idealistic or pragmatic, and until the twentieth century isolated from serious external threats. Still, successful powers from Rome to the British Empire … Continue reading