With American soldiers in harm’s way, and dead-ender neocons baying for more American and Iraqi blood to be spilled, one wonders if these sofa samurai have ever read a book about the Middle East, or, as I wrote recently in these here pages, ever seen a movie about the horrors of war. I covered seven conflicts in my youth as a … [Read More]

Check out this news report: “As a Louisiana state representative, David Duke supported sterilization of welfare mothers, and distributed copies of the white separatist novel The Turner Diaries from his legislative offices. “Yet in the early stages of the 2008 Republican presidential race, some social conservatives are adopting Duke, because he’s asking for their votes. “In his speech to CPAC [Conservative … [Read More]

I was about ten years old when my school class was asked to fill out a form listing our basic details. Name, address, we were filling it all out with no trouble—until we came upon the question regarding our religious affiliation. Sure, the one or two Roman Catholics knew, and passed right along, but the rest of us looked at each … [Read More]

Everybody’s talking about Ann Coulter’s latest attention-getting stunt – she’s better at that than Paris Hilton, albeit less talented. What gets me, however, is that Coulter is supposed to be a wit, but Dorothy Parker she ain’t. What she said was this: “It turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I’m kind of … [Read More]

The release of documents long buried in the various archives of the expired Communist tyrannies that once lay behind the Iron Curtain is still a source of scandal. A Polish archbishop recently resigned upon disclosure of his collaboration with the Commies. It is expected that more disclosures will prompt more resignations in Church and State alike. And lately we have heard … [Read More]

March 5th is a special day for me. Joe Stalin—the greatest murderer of modern times—croaked, and my two oldest friends, Alexander and Leonidas Goulandris, were born (the latter, in 1927). I will not go on about them because they don’t like publicity. They are great art collectors, big-time ship owners of the old school, and very good guys. Aleko, one of … [Read More]

Margaret MacMillan’s new book Nixon and Mao brought back pleasant memories. It was February 1972, and I’d just returned to Saigon from Phu Bai and Hue in the north,  where I was reporting for National Review. I was eager to get back to civilisation and some skiing in Gstaad, when president Nixon’s trip to Beijing took us all by surprise.  Not … [Read More]

Eureka! I think I know why the administration is so eager to wage war with Iran. Forget about the nukes the mullahs haven’t got. Forget about the neocons working for Israel. It’s all about ego, old boy, as the great Sherlock told the good doctor. The real reason for American rage against Iran - I wish Seymour Hersh would learn to … [Read More]

I am entirely against government bans on “cults.” Such a ban would be an instrument for public administrators trying to control undesirable social and cultural values. In all likelihood this law would be used in a discriminatory fashion, to go after politically incorrect Christians far more than to restrict orgiastic sun worshippers in Arizona or the sacrificers of screaming chickens in … [Read More]

Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, was sworn in as the nation’s first Muslim member of Congress in early January, but he is not the highest-ranking Muslim official in the United States. That honor belongs to Vice President Dick Cheney, who during one of his many trips to Saudi Arabia in the 1990s on behalf of Halliburton secretly converted to Wahabbi … [Read More]