Section: The American Conservative (USA)
If Loving Putin Is ‘Right,’ I Want to Be Wrong
On May 17, I listened to what for me was a mystifying televised conversation between Tucker Carlson and a conservative guest. Tucker expressed his real or feigned astonishment that the Democrats, and the left more generally, would “make such a pivot regarding Russia.” It is “ironic that the left used to ‘love’ what is now Russia” but is now...
Russia Baiters and Putin Haters
“Is Russia an enemy of the United States?” NBC’s Kasie Hunt demanded of Ted Cruz. Replied the runner-up for the GOP nomination, “Russia is a significant adversary. Putin is a KGB thug.” To Hillary Clinton running mate Tim Kaine, the revelation that Donald Trump Jr., entertained an offer from the Russians for dirt on Clinton could be...
Why Trump’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is Dangerous
I went to a meeting the other night with some Donald Trump supporters who, like me, had voted for him based on expectations of a more rational foreign policy. They were suggesting that the president’s attempts to move in that direction had been sabotaged by officials inside the administration who want to maintain the current warfare state....
Hopefully Trump Will Ignore Bad Advice on Putin
President Donald Trump flew off for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin — with instructions from our foreign policy elite that he get into the Russian president’s face over his hacking in the election of 2016. Hopefully, Trump will ignore these people. For their record of failure is among the reasons Americans elected him to office. What...
The ‘Global Order’ Myth
During the Age of Trump, Year One, a single word has emerged to capture the essence of the prevailing cultural mood: resistance. Words matter, and the prominence of this particular term illuminates the moment in which we find ourselves. All presidents, regardless of party or program, face criticism and opposition. Citizens disinclined to support...
Smerdyakovism
A reader posted a link to this 2014 essay by Costica Bradacan, talking about how Russia can be understood through Dostoevsky’s great novel The Brothers Karamazov. Bradatan begins by saying that there is something demonic in the Russian soul, something that cannot be explained rationally. Excerpt: Vladimir Putin’s sudden decision to...
For The Love Of St. Benedict
(L to R) Area Man, Father Martin Bernhard, Father Benedict Nivakoff I spent the weekend in Dallas, where I spoke on Saturday night about the Benedict Option at a fundraiser for the Monks of Norcia. As you know, their monastery was heavily damaged by last October’s massive earthquake, the one that reduced the medieval basilica to rubble. God...
Breakup of the West?
By the time Air Force One started down the runaway at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, to bring President Trump home, the Atlantic had grown markedly wider than it was when he flew to Riyadh. In a Munich beer hall Sunday, Angela Merkel confirmed it. Europe must begin to look out for itself, she said, “take our fate into our own hands. … The...
Trump’s New and Misguided Respect for NATO
President Donald Trump is continuing his foreign odyssey with a stop in Brussels to meet leaders of other NATO members. The visit is primarily a meet-and-greet highlighted by dinner, but it illustrates the president’s apparent capture by Washington’s conventional wisdom. No international institution may better illustrate Public Choice...
Realism Doesn’t Need to Be ‘Reclaimed’
Ted Bromund, Michael Auslin, and Colin Dueck want to “reclaim American realism,” and spell out what they mean by that in a new article for American Affairs. The idea that realism needs to be “reclaimed” is the first sign that the foreign policy they have in mind has little in common with the one most realists want: A new foreign policy can be...
