Another attack on free speech. Another cowed governmental response. Another speaker in hiding. Another incident for the media to ignore. Ah, just another day in the West. The latest outrage comes from the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands, where a doctoral student who interviewed a group of teenaged Muslim-Turkish immigrants on TV about their …
In response to last week’s column, in which I bemoaned U.S. and Western dithering while Bashar al-Assad slaughters his people, I received a friendly but skeptical e-mail from Diana West, the engaging conservative columnist and one of Western civilization’s most ardent defenders. “Hi, Larry,” she wrote. “Hope you’re well. Before we pull another Libya/Egypt – …
Debates about Iran’s nuclear program tend to occur on the governmental level. We study the regime, weigh its motives, judge whether it would use nuclear weapons to pursue its apocalyptic visions, and decide whether it’s “containable” in the way that Washington contained a nuclear Moscow. Sometimes overlooked, however, are tens of millions of individuals who …
Continue reading “Iran’s human rights horror: another reason to fear its nukes”
Many years ago, I was watching a televised roundtable on the media when Dan Rather, then a rock star among CBS correspondents, was asked why he had the good fortune to work in Washington while other journalists labored in, say, Tulsa. “Because,” he replied, “when things happen, I go.” I’m reminded of Rather’s response in …
President Obama’s decision to visit Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan in the coming weeks proves the continuing endurance of certain truths about our recent presidents as well as conventional wisdom about the region. What it does not prove, however, is that he will do any better than his predecessors in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace. Second-term …
Continue reading “Obama’s visit won’t change Israeli-Palestinian stand-off”
History is an imperfect teacher. The lessons from events of the past often contradict one another, leaving policymakers the challenge of deciding which ones are most relevant to the issues of today. That challenge lies at the heart of the debate over what to do about Iran’s quest for nuclear weaponry. On that issue, history …
Continue reading “On Iran, the right lesson is Hitler, not Mao”
The Commentator’s European readers could learn lots from how we, in the United States of America, run our government. We are, after all, the world’s richest, most powerful, and most stable democracy. Nothing better illustrates our genius for governance than how we do our most fundamental business, which is to set our priorities through our …