November 1, 2018

Erdogan's quest

President Recep Tayyip ErdoДџan of Turkey has raised the stakes in his quest for oil from Saudi Arabia with what he called the premeditated murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  It was clear that the murder was premeditated....

October 24, 2018

The UnState

For the rationale of this newfound nation, order of some kind was present despite the diversity of backgrounds.  Old-country habits had to adjust to new-world conditions. For most of American history, a consensus was established that all...

June 28, 2018

Solzhenitsyn 40 Years Later

In June 1978 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn delivered the commencement address at Harvard titled “A World Split Apart.” It was a speech devoted to the emergence of “different worlds,” including our own Western society. On one side of ...

March 22, 2018

Britain's lost consciousness

In the midst of world-changing events in Asia, Putin's serial aggressions in Europe suggest the collapse of Western principles, specifically the defense of national interest.  Foreign secretary Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom said i...

September 18, 2017

Radicalism challenges American tradition

For news junkies, there is one consistent story at the moment: an ongoing and systematic attack on President Trump from without and within.  On the outside is a web of the Fourth Estate, the Democratic Party, the Republican Establishment, the Ac...

July 6, 2017

From assimilation to hate

When the "new nation" was founded, it was a given that former British citizens would be transmogrified into Americans after the umbilical cord with Britain was cut.  This was simple assimilation. With the building of the Erie Canal ...

June 16, 2017

Religion and secularization in the Middle East

  Terrorism in the Middle East knows no limits.  The ancient monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt's Sinai desert was attacked, with 40 worshipers slaughtered.  This is the same religious shrine that has a decree of protection iss...

April 29, 2017

Declining Italy

Italy is romance.  Caruso's ghost sings in the corridors of narrow streets.  Each meal is an adventure for the palate.  Tourists travel the seven seas to recapture the past of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Signorile, Bernini.  Italy...

April 5, 2017

Fraying alliances in the Middle East

Alliances in the byzantine Middle East have a lifespan roughly equivalent to how long it takes for the ink to dry.  In 2013, when the Obama administration invited the Russians into Syria to monitor and control Bashar Assad's use of poison ga...

January 31, 2017

Trump's immigration order and the rallies

They came in droves to a rally in Battery Park on Sunday, January 29.  Many carried signs saying, “Don’t take Democracy away from us,” “Resist,” “Muslims United,” and “We are a Nation of Immigrants...

December 30, 2016

Luther and anti-Semitism, 500 years later

When one discusses Martin Luther, there is little doubt he was a visionary, a caustic force in history that changed the world of Christendom.  He was also an anti-Semite, albeit as a young man he spoke out about the oppression of Jews in Europe ...

August 4, 2016

Government Expansion in the West and Its Economic Consequences

It is clear based on this stage of political evolution in the West that democracy – to the extent it has meaning – is a form of inclusiveness, expanding the horizons of political participation. On one level it makes sense -- why should an...