Remember how everyone said Trump was Putin’s poodle, and an isolationist to boot? Worth taking in his interview this morning with Stuart Varney on Fox Business: So much for the “Trump as isolationist Russian stooge.” You get a good sense here why Putin didn’t invade Ukraine on Trump’s watch. »
Victor Davis Hanson’s American Greatness column today is “The crowded road to Kyiv.” It is long, historically informed, and necessary reading in its entirety. As always, he draws back to provide perspective. He writes with some indignation in the penultimate section of the column designated “Leftwing mania” as follows: On cue, an embarrassed Left now offers some surreal takes on why Putin went into Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014 »
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leaves office today after his incredibly consequential tenure advancing the foreign policy of the Trump administration. Today the Wall Street Journal has published Pompeo’s column “Genocide in Xinjiang.” Around the time the column was posted online yesterday, the Department of State posted Pompeo’s Determination of the Secretary of State on Atrocities in Xinjiang. Incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken endorsed the determination in his testimony »
Ivanka Trump credits her dad, President Trump, her husband, Jared Kushner, and presidential assistant Avi Berkowitz for the “fruits” of Trump’s diplomacy in the Middle East, now derided and disparaged by the clowns and fools appointed to serve in the prospective Democratic administration. Ivanka shares a video posted by Amit Deri, the CEO of the IDF Reservists on Duty organization from a supermarket in Dubai. President Trump has done great »
President Trump is one of the most consequential presidents in American history. He accomplished great good under constant attack, including from enemies at the FBI, the CIA, and the National Security Council from day 1 of his administration. I am referring to the Russia hoax, of course, and to the related impeachment hoax, but there is much more. It turns out that Trump’s diplomacy has unleashed previously unthinkable progress toward »
I sought out former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman for lunch this week in St. Paul. Before his service in the Senate (2003-2009), Norm was the best mayor St. Paul ever had (1993-1998). I won’t revisit the voter fraud behind his painful defeat by Al Franken in 2008 post-election proceedings. I will only add that Franken himself proved a disposable commodity to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Thus we now contend »
Some presidential elections have been dominated by foreign policy issues. Not this one. In fact, has it even been mentioned in either of the two presidential debates? Does Joe Biden ever talk about it? Scott Adams comments: How would you like to run for president against an incumbent who did so well on foreign policy that the debates don't even need to include that topic? That's actually happening. — Scott »
As Obama administration Secretary of State, John Kerry delivered the deal with Iran that made the Munich Agreement look good and lied volubly about it in crushing tones of condescension. The signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House this week affords us the opportunity to look back at this piece of conventional wisdom circa 2016 and evaluate it in light of this week’s events. Often wrong but never »
Israel’s peace agreement with the UAE and Bahrain, signed yesterday at the White House, is historic. It hasn’t happened before, nor has Israel entered into such a deal since 1994 (with Jordan). The extent to which the deal is historically significant can be debated (but won’t be in this post). However, for those who wish Israel well (and who don’t have an ax to grind with Donald Trump or Benjamin »
Thinking a bit more about the Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House yesterday, I want to salute President Trump. Hearing Arab officials refer to Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu in friendly terms before a worldwide audience is mind-boggling. Trump has done a good thing that continues his great undoing of the worst “achievements” of the Obama administration. In order to arrive at this destination, the Trump administration had »
C-SPAN has posted video of the Abraham Accord signing ceremony including representatives of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain at the White House today. I have embedded the video below. The Times of Israel has posted a brief account of the ceremony here. Everyone involved has an interest in hyping the importance of the agreement, but it is a great and historic day by any fair reckoning. The agreement »
The Trump administration has helped broker a deal between Serbia and Kosovo, two former arch-enemies that were part of the former Yugoslavia. The agreement is receiving scant attention from the mainstream media for reasons I’ll address below. However, it’s an important deal — more so, I think, than the agreement between Israel and the UAE, which mostly ratified existing realities. The main significance of the Serbia-Kosovo agreement is its potential »
President Trump has compiled an amazing record of accomplishment. His correction of our course in the Obama years represents a great accomplishment all by itself. Factor in the degree of difficulty raised by the Russia hoax and the record becomes damn near miraculous. Yesterday the White House hosted the signing of a deal between Serbia and Kosovo brokered by the Trump administration. Building on the administration’s efforts in the Middle »
In a deal brokered by the Trump administration, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to normalize relations. In exchange for normalized relations, Israel agreed to suspend its West Bank annexation plans. The two sentences above point to an obvious problem with the deal. Normalized relations between two states are normal, and usually benefit both states. Why should one — and only one — of the two states have »
Today the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates jointly announced an agreement whereby Israel and the UAE have fully normalized their relationship. President Trump tweeted: Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates pic.twitter.com/oVyjLxf0jd — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2020 The communique paints an optimistic picture: Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming »
Reuters notes in its report from Dubai last night regarding an explosion in western Tehran today: “There have been several explosions around Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities since late June.” Jerusalem Post intelligence correspondent Yonah Jeremy Bob has filed the intensely interesting column “How have Iran’s intelligence forces broken down in face of explosions?” Subhead: “What the world is witnessing right now is someone hitting Iranian nuclear and conventional »
The latest Russia-related Trump scandal being touted by the media concerns alleged bounties offered to terrorists in Afghanistan for attacks on NATO forces. Supposedly, U.S intelligence concluded that Russia offered such payments, and the New York Times says that Trump was briefed about it. The White House denies that Trump was briefed. If our intelligence community really concluded that Russia was offering terrorists bounties for killing Americans (and troops allied »
“Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” Winston Churchill
“Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” Inscription on the Liberty Bell
