◄►Bookmark◄❌►▲▼Toggle AllToC▲▼Add to LibraryRemove from Library • BShow CommentNext New CommentNext New ReplyRead More
ReplyAgree/Disagree/Etc.More...This CommenterThis ThreadHide ThreadDisplay All Comments
AgreeDisagreeThanksLOLTroll
These buttons register your public Agreement, Disagreement, Thanks, LOL, or Troll with the selected comment. They are ONLY available to recent, frequent commenters who have saved their Name+Email using the 'Remember My Information' checkbox, and may also ONLY be used three times during any eight hour period.
Winter has often proven an indispensable ally of Mother Russia. The impending winter of 1812-13 forced Napoleon's withdrawal from Moscow, a retreat from which his Grande Armee never recovered. The winter of 1941-42 sealed the ultimate fate of the invading armies of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Vladimir Putin's new strategy in the war he launched... Read More
To President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, Crimea and the Donbas are national territories whose retrieval justifies all-out war to expel the invading armies of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Yet, who controls Crimea and the Donbas has, in the history of U.S.-Russian relations, never been an issue to justify a war between us. America has never had... Read More
In a Kremlin speech last week, President Vladimir Putin identified Russia's real "enemy" in Ukraine as "the ruling circles of the so-called West" whose "hegemony has a pronounced character of totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid." In the West, Putin declaimed, "The repression of freedom is taking on the outlines of a reverse religion, of real Satanism,"... Read More
A desperate Vladimir Putin is a dangerous Vladimir Putin, and there are signs Putin's situation in Ukraine may be becoming desperate. In the last week, the Russian army in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine was driven out of some 2,200 square miles of territory, according to the Ukrainians, whose soldiers are now two miles from... Read More
"There never was a good war or a bad peace," wrote Ben Franklin at the end of the American Revolution. But that depends on the war-makers and the causes for which they fight. Six months into the war in Ukraine, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24, when he could not get the... Read More
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden declared to the nation and world: "We are engaged anew in a great battle for freedom. A battle between democracy and autocracy." On her trip to Taiwan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi echoed Biden: "Today, the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy. America's determination... Read More
That friendly fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman might not have been such a defining moment — had Biden not first set himself up. During the 2020 campaign, Biden said that when he encounters the prince, he would treat him like the "pariah" he was for having authorized the murder and dismemberment... Read More
At the NATO summit in Madrid, Finland was invited to join the alliance. What does this mean for Finland? If Russian President Vladimir Putin breaches the 830-mile Finnish border, the United States will rise to Helsinki's defense and fight Russia on Finland's side. What does Finland's membership in NATO mean for America? If Putin makes... Read More
Among the nations aiding Ukraine in its resistance to the Russian invasion, America has been foremost. Yet the war interests of our two nations are not identical. To the U.S., the imperative is that the war be contained, not expanded, and that we not be drawn into a wider war with Russia. For the independence,... Read More
"The demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," said Russia's new ruler Vladimir Putin in his 2005 state of the nation address. "As for the Russian people," Putin went on, "it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes... Read More
Seeing Russia invade Ukraine, historically neutral Finland has undergone a late conversion and decided to join NATO immediately. Why? Because NATO membership means the world's strongest power, the United States, under Article 5 of NATO, would go to war against Russia, should it cross Finland's border. Nervous about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions, Finland wants... Read More
Last week, sources leaked to The New York Times that, in Ukraine's targeting and killing of Russian generals and the sinking of Russia's Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, U.S. intelligence played an indispensable role. Apparently, our intel people identified and located for the Ukrainian forces what became the targets of their deadly attacks. Why U.S.... Read More
"Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand." In the movie classic "Cool Hand Luke," the convict Luke, played by Paul Newman, explains that to his fellow inmates after winning the pot in a hand of poker without even a pair of deuces. President Joe Biden should take notice. For, right now, "nothing" is the hand... Read More
"Once war is forced upon us, there is no alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War's very object is victory — not prolonged indecision." So said Gen. Douglas MacArthur in his April 1951 address to Congress after being fired by President Harry Truman as commander in chief... Read More
"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." So wrote William Butler Yeats in the wake of the Great War of 1914-1918 that had ravaged the Christian civilization he had known. In France on Sunday, the center held, as President Emmanuel Macron rolled up a crushing 59% to 41% victory in the runoff election against ethno-nationalist... Read More
Asked if the U.S. should send troops to fight beside the Ukrainians, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Sunday the time may have come. Russian President Vladimir Putin "will only stop when we stop him," said Coons. "We are in a very dangerous moment where it is important that ... we in Congress and the administration... Read More
The prime ministers of Sweden and Finland, Magdalena Andersson and Sanna Marin, both signaled Wednesday that they will likely be applying for membership in NATO. The "prospect" is most "welcome," says The Washington Post: "Finland and Sweden Should Join NATO." The editorial was titled "A Way to Punish Putin." Before joining the rejoicing in NATO... Read More
When he arrived at Christ the Savior Cathedral to pay his respects to the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who had died of COVID-19, Russian President Vladimir Putin carried a clutch of red roses. The man beside him was carrying a briefcase. That briefcase appeared to be Russia's version of the "football" that is carried by a... Read More
Speaking of the seven-week war in Ukraine ignited by Vladimir Putin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is warning us to expect a war that lasts for years. "I do think this is a very protracted conflict ... measured in years," Milley told Congress. "I don't know about a decade, but... Read More
"In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security," said President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address. "This is a real test. It's going to take time." Thus did Biden frame the struggle of our time... Read More
Several weeks into the war in Ukraine, ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked President Joe Biden if he agreed with those who call Russian President Vladimir Putin "a killer." "I do," said Biden. Since calling Putin a killer, Biden has progressed to calling him "a war criminal," "a murderous dictator," "a pure thug" and "a butcher." It... Read More
During the 70 years that the Soviet Union existed, Ukraine was an integral part of the nation. Yet this geographic and political reality posed no threat to the United States. A Russia and a Ukraine, both inside the USSR, was an accepted reality that was seen as no threat for the seven decades that they... Read More
"It's time to meet, time to talk ... time to restore territorial integrity ... for Ukraine," said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. Zelenskyy added that the need to negotiate was even greater for Moscow. "Otherwise, Russia's losses will be so huge that several generations will not be enough to rebound." According to the Pentagon, Russia... Read More
Speaking to Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for many things from the United States. He wants us to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He wants the Soviet-era MiGs that NATO allies (from their Warsaw Pact days) have in their arsenals. He wants Russian-made S-300 antiaircraft systems in NATO inventories transferred to Kyiv. He... Read More
In an interview with Reuters, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman for decades, made a startling offer. Moscow could end the Ukraine war immediately, said Peskov, if four conditions were met. Ukraine should cease all military action, recognize Crimea as part of Russia, accept the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk separatist enclaves, and... Read More
When several NATO nations revealed that they had dozens of Russian-made MiG-29s, the idea arose to fly them to Ukraine and turn them over to Ukrainian pilots familiar with the MiGs. America would provide F-16s to replace the MiGs. Poland had an even better idea. Warsaw would fly its 27 MiG fighter jets to the... Read More
After Friday's NATO summit refused to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the allies' failure to "close the skies" to Russian military aircraft gives "a green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities." "All the people who will die starting from this day will ... die because of you," said Zelensky... Read More
When Hungarian rebels arose in 1956 to overthrow the Communist regime imposed by Joseph Stalin, President Dwight Eisenhower refused to send U.S. forces to aid the Hungarians. Ike would not take America to war with Russia over a small country in Central Europe. While the Hungarians were heroic and inspirational, Hungary was neither a member... Read More
From his principal avenues of attack on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin began this war with three strategic goals. Send an army south from Belarus to capture Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and replace the government. Send forces into northeast Ukraine to capture its second largest city, Kharkiv, with 1.4 million people. Third, extend the Donetsk enclave... Read More
When Russia's Vladimir Putin demanded that the U.S. rule out Ukraine as a future member of the NATO alliance, the U.S. archly replied: NATO has an open-door policy. Any nation, including Ukraine, may apply for membership and be admitted. We're not changing that. In the Bucharest declaration of 2008, NATO had put Ukraine and Georgia,... Read More
When NBC's Lester Holt asked President Joe Biden what might prompt him to send U.S. troops to rescue Americans fleeing Ukraine, Biden replied: "There's not. That's a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another." "It's not like we're dealing with a terrorist organization. We're dealing with one of the largest armies... Read More
Because America entered both world wars of the 20th century last, while all the other great powers bled one another, and because we outlasted the Soviet Empire in the Cold War, America emerged, in the term of President George H.W. Bush, as "the last superpower." We had it all. We were the "indispensable nation." We... Read More
When the Union was fighting to preserve itself in the Civil War, the France of Napoleon III moved troops into Mexico, overthrew the regime of Benito Juarez, set up a monarchy and put Austrian Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg on the throne as Emperor of Mexico — one month before Gettysburg. Preoccupied, the Union did nothing.... Read More
Speaking in Conroe, Texas, last weekend, former President Donald Trump accused his successor of allowing millions of migrants to enter the country illegally across our Southern border. "The most important border ... for us is not Ukraine's border but America's border," thundered Trump. "Before Joe Biden sends any troops to defend a border in Europe,... Read More
Is the territorial integrity of Ukraine a cause worth America's fighting a war with Russia? No, it is not. And this is why President Joe Biden has declared that the U.S. will not become militarily involved should Russia invade Ukraine. Biden is saying that, no matter our sentiments, our vital interests dictate staying out of... Read More
In 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to a U.S.-backed coup that ousted a pro-Russian regime in Kyiv by occupying Crimea, President Barack Obama did nothing. When Putin aided secessionists in the Donbass in seizing Luhansk and Donetsk, once again, Obama did nothing. Why did we not come to the military assistance of Ukraine?... Read More
After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Warsaw Pact dissolved, the breakup of the USSR began. But the dissolution did not stop with the 14 Soviet "republics" declaring their independence of Moscow. Decomposition had only just begun. Transnistria broke away from Moldova. South Ossetia and Abkhazia seceded from Georgia. Chechnya broke free of... Read More
While all facts are true, not all facts are relevant. And what are the relevant facts in this crisis where 100,000 Russian troops are now stationed along the Ukrainian border? Fact one: There is not now and never has been a vital U.S. interest in Ukraine to justify risking a war with Russia. History tells... Read More
As 1991 turned into 1992, America appeared to have arrived at the apogee of its national power and world prestige. President George H.W. Bush had just sent an army of half a million men to expel, in a 100-hour campaign, Saddam Hussein's invading army from Kuwait. The world, including Russia, China and Iran, had supported... Read More
"Get off our front porch. Get out of our front yard. And stay out of our backyard." This might stand as a crude summary of two draft security pacts Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei A. Ryabkov delivered last week as Russia's price for resolving the crisis created by those 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's borders. Ryabkov's... Read More
As President Joe Biden's poll numbers sank this fall, and the presidentially ambitious in his party began to stir, the White House put out the word. Forget all that 2020 campaign chatter about Biden being a "transitional president." He intends to run and win a second term. Well, perhaps. Yet, skepticism abounds. First, if Biden... Read More
When did the political systems of 193 nations become the business of the government of the United States? And who elected us Americans to write the moral code for the regimes that rule other lands? Consider: On taking office, President Joe Biden pledged to center his foreign policy "on the defense of democracy and the... Read More
One day after warning Russian President Vladimir Putin he would face "severe" economic sanctions, "like ones he's never seen," should Russia invade Ukraine, President Joe Biden assured Americans that sending U.S. combat troops to Ukraine is "not on the table." America is not going to fight Russia over Ukraine. "The idea that the United States... Read More
Either the U.S. and NATO provide us with "legal guarantees" that Ukraine will never join NATO or become a base for weapons that can threaten Russia — or we will go in and guarantee it ourselves. This is the message Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending, backed by the 100,000 troops Russia has amassed on... Read More
Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko has cleared out the encampment at his border crossing into Poland, where thousands of Middle Eastern migrants had been living in squalor. Last week, that border crossing was the site of clashes between asylum-seekers trying to push through the razor wire and Polish troops resisting with water cannons. While the crisis... Read More
Before the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took a side trip to Georgia and Ukraine. Purpose: Assure these nations that America has their back and encourage their hopes of future admission to NATO. Austin, said the Pentagon, would tell both nations there is an "open door to NATO." "Ukraine... Read More
"Extraordinary, isn't it? I've been hearing all about COP," said the queen to the duchess of Cornwall. "Still don't know who is coming. ... We only know about people who are not coming. ... It's really irritating when they talk but they don't do." Queen Elizabeth II was expressing her exasperation at the possible number... Read More
"He may be an SOB, but he's our SOB." So said President Franklin D. Roosevelt of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, and how very American. For, from its first days, America has colluded with autocrats when the national interest demanded it. George Washington danced a jig in 1778 when he learned that our diplomats had effected... Read More
Seven months after the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy, at American University, laid out his view on how the East-West struggle should be conducted to avoid a catastrophic war that could destroy us both. Kennedy's message to Moscow and his fellow Americans: "If (the United States and the Soviet Union) cannot end now... Read More
About that clash between a British destroyer and Russian warplanes and warships in the Black Sea last week there are conflicting versions. The Kremlin version is the more dramatic. HMS Defender, says Moscow, entered the Black Sea, made port in Odessa, Ukraine, and then sailed for Batumi on the coast of Georgia. However, the British... Read More
Patrick J. Buchanan has been a senior advisor to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000.
In his White House years, Mr. Buchanan wrote foreign policy speeches, and attended four summits, including Mr. Nixon’s historic opening to China in 1972, and Ronald Reagan’s Reykjavik summit in 1986 with Mikhail Gorbachev.
Mr. Buchanan has written ten books, including six straight New York Times best sellers A Republic, Not an Empire; The Death of the West; Where the Right Went Wrong; State of Emergency; Day of Reckoning and Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War.
Mr. Buchanan is currently a columnist, political analyst for MSNBC, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He is married to the former Shelley Ann Scarney, who was a member of the White House Staff from 1969 to 1975.
RSS
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Vietnamese