Section: The American Conservative (USA)
Globalists vs. Nationalists: Who Owns the Future?
Robert Bartley, the late editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, was a free trade zealot who for decades championed a five-word amendment to the Constitution: “There shall be open borders.” Bartley accepted what the erasure of America’s borders and an endless influx or foreign peoples and goods would mean for his country. Said...
It’s Time to Get Over Our Russophobia
Unless there is a late surge for Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, who is running in second place with 7 percent, Vladimir Putin will be re-elected president of Russia for another six years on March 18. Once he is, we must decide whether to continue on course into a second Cold War, or to engage Russia, as every president sought to do in...
It’s Time to Get Over Our Russophilia
Unless there is a late surge for Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, who is running in second place with 7 percent, Vladimir Putin will be re-elected president of Russia for another six years on March 18. Once he is, we must decide whether to continue on course into a second Cold War, or to engage Russia, as every president sought to do in...
The National Endowment for (Meddling in) Democracy
“They’re meddling in our politics!” That’s the war cry of outraged Clintonites and neocons, who seem to think election interference is something that Russians do to us and we never, ever do to them. But meddling in other countries has been a favorite Washington pastime ever since William McKinley vowed to “Christianize” the...
Three Days That Will Change Iran Forever
Iran has now been rocked by three days of street protests. At the time of this writing (early Saturday afternoon here in the United States, Saturday night in Iran), it remains unclear where the protests are going and whether the regime will crack down. I’ll try to provide some insight into the dynamics and point out some things to watch,...
When Washington Assured Russia NATO Would Not Expand
Statecraft is a complicated business, but the criteria by which we judge statesmen turn out to be less so. The central question reduces to whether those charged with formulating policy succeed in enhancing the power and security of the nation they lead. Yet near-term advantage does not necessarily translate into long-term benefit. With the...
Putting Meat on the Bones of ‘America First’
The term “America First” leaves a rancid taste in the mouths of many American and European elites. To them, the bumper sticker slogan President Donald Trump frequently employed during his campaign connotes a policy of ditching multilateral accords, poking allies in the eye when they don’t spend enough, and taking unilateral diplomatic and...
Tom Cotton, Perpetual Warmonger
The Wall Street Journal interview with Sen. Tom Cotton was a useful reminder that he is every bit as fanatical on foreign policy as he seems to be: When it comes to America’s present challenges—from Iran to North Korea, China to Russia, Syria to Ukraine—Mr. Cotton, a conservative Republican, is squarely on Team [Teddy] Roosevelt. “There is...
The Loose Canon the Neocons Wanted in NATO
Even interventionists are regretting some of the wars into which they helped plunge the United States in this century. Among those wars are Afghanistan and Iraq, the longest in our history; Libya, which was left without a stable government; Syria’s civil war, a six-year human rights disaster we helped kick off by arming rebels to overthrow...
Is Rapprochement with Russia Still Possible?
U.S.-Russian relations are at one of their lowest points since the end of the Cold War—and there seems to be little appetite for improvement on the part of the Trump administration and Congress. Egged on by anti-Russia hysteria in many parts of the American media, Congress has imposed new sanctions to penalize Moscow over its alleged meddling in...
