Section: National Review (USA)
How Trump Could Win the Debate
Hillary Clinton will almost certainly win Monday night’s epic presidential debate on points — and still could lose.It’s hard to see how Clinton, who has marinated in public policy for 30 years and is preparing for the debate like it is the invasion of Normandy, won’t best Donald Trump on substance.Her strength in this area...
Ukraine, 25 Years from Now
Ukraine marked the silver anniversary of its independence last month. It has been a rugged 25 years, and the last two and a half have been exceptionally tough. Russia, which has clearly never accepted the fact of an independent Ukrainian state that is not a Muscovite vassal, made a first stab at realizing its imperial ambitions by invading,...
Will China Start a War with Japan?
Russian president Vladimir Putin denied that the green-fatigued, insignia-free soldiers who popped up in the Crimea were Russian; they were only “local self-defense forces,” he said. After those “little green men,” as they quickly came to be known, had cut the Crimea off from mainland Ukraine, and the Crimea had been annexed to Russia, Putin...
Ukraine’s Independence Is Under Threat
On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union following a referendum that received 90 percent support. Twenty-five years later, the country is still struggling to escape the shadow of its neighbor. Russia now controls Crimea and is increasing its military presence there. Moscow supports separatist forces in a conflict...
To Russia, With Love
I wrote for Politico today about the new revelations about Paul Manafort and the pro-Russia orientation of Trump campaign generally, and cataolgue the resulting bizarre inversions:It is the outsider candidate who has a lobbyist at the heart of his campaign. And not the upstanding sort of lobbyist who merely persuades the Ways and Means Committee...
Does It Matter if Ukraine’s Pro-Russian Party Gave Manafort Secret Cash?
From the first Morning Jolt of the week:Does It Matter if Ukraine’s Pro-Russian Party Gave Manafort Secret Cash?Documentation is nice, but it doesn’t really surprise anyone; Paul Manafort worked for a Ukrainian political party friendly to Russia for a long time.Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments...
Krauthammer’s Take: Putin Ready to Move, ‘Sees Weakness in the White House’
Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of sending saboteurs across the Crimean border to provoke the Russians, which a Ukrainian official called “ridiculous.” Charles Krauthammer agreed, and he said that Putin is ready to take advantage of U.S. and European weakness:It’s completely ridiculous. It’s reminiscent; Hitler started World War II by...
Estonia, Newt Gingrich and Strategery
There was a time when JFK went to West Berlin, a city surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory, and announced that he was a Berliner.There was a time when Ronald Reagan went to West Berlin, a city surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory and made a speech calling on the Soviet leader to “tear down this wall”.And then there was this, reported by...
Deploying Troops to Eastern Europe, NATO Sends Russia the Right Message
‘The most significant reinforcement of our collective defense any time since the Cold War,” President Obama called it. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but it was still an achievement: Last week’s NATO summit in Warsaw ordered the deployment of troops to Eastern Europe, the alliance’s most serious response yet to Russia’s...
Where in the World Are We Going?
It seems that everywhere we turn in the world America is there: in the South China Sea, the Baltic states, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Cuba, South Korea, Mexico — the list goes on and on. And our role in all these places seems to go on and on, too. We hear more and more a relevant question: Do we have to be everywhere?...
