“The long fight simply to know.”
An exchange with Peter Kaufman It is not often a writer comes along who brings the ballast of history to our contemporary predicaments. This requires a certain intellectual depth and a lot of shoulder in contact with the wheel. Peter…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The War Against Us
The nature of the war against Americans in the past, is the nature of the war now. As some readers may have noticed, Antony Blinken has the State Department festooning its embassies around the world with “BLM” banners and the rainbow flag…
“The divine right of nations.”
Reflections on the Fourth. On cue Saturday afternoon, the martial music began on the classical station that has provided this household’s sound track for many years. It can’t be helped. There is no getting away from this sort of thing…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Arc of Decline
U.S. leaders would rather accept ever-more extreme isolation as the price of power than surrender any of it. It is remarkable how quickly the Biden administration is acquiring its stamp — the watermark it will leave on our parchment when…
“Crimean fantasies: A webcast.”
Nobody’s reasoning why, per usual. “Foolish,” “provocative,” “reckless,” “hubristic”: Most of these terms are James Carden’s as we discussed, in this weekend exchange, the H.M.S. Defender’s purposeful intrusion into Russian waters off Crimea last week. And those terms not James’s are mine. …
“Something happened in Geneva.”
Second thoughts on the summit. That grand encounter of Presidents Biden and Putin in Geneva way, way back last week proves by many measures a nonevent. Correspondents assigned to cover the summit had to chicken-scratch for something to write as…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US-Russia Summit
Two recent moves on Moscow’s side suggest that the encounter in Geneva will mark the start of a long and welcome process. Curious it was to read that the Russian judiciary ruled last Wednesday that Alexei Navalny’s political network is an extremist movement….
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Aimless Empire
Under Biden, the world’s most powerful, most heavily armed, most determinedly righteous nation shows little sign of having any foreign policy at all. Bitter and frightening realities face us four months into Joe Biden’s presidency. On the domestic side it…
“The Rrrrussians come again.”
Pre-summit nonsense. Joe Biden has just announced that he will convene with Vladimir Putin for the two leaders’ first summit, to be held 16 June in Geneva. It is not too difficult to put forward a forecast as to how…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Some Cherry Garcia, Please
The apartheid state’s swoon into freak-out mode since Ben & Jerry’s took its stand tells us all we need to know about BDS’s accumulating power. Cherry Garcia, please, two scoops. No make that Chocolate Fudge Brownie. No, I want Coconut…