Did Hitler’s crimes justify the Allies’ terror-bombing of Germany? Indeed they did, answers Christopher Hitchens in his Newsweek response to my new book, Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War: “The stark evidence of the Final Solution has ever since been enough to dispel most doubts about, say, the wisdom or morality of carpet-bombing German cities.” Atheist, Trotskyite and newborn neocon, Hitchens … [Read More]

Just 555 short years ago last month, troops led by Mehmed II broke through the walls of the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople, ending a gallant defence by Constantine Paleologos, the last king of Byzantium. Just five even shorter days ago, a portly barrister and a ten-year-old almost pulled off the greatest cricket upset ever, but like Byzantium, it was not … [Read More]

Diversity is Strength!—and a Massive Housing Crisis Uncovering the roots of the disastrous home mortgage bubble that popped last year will keep economic historians busy for decades. Yet, one factor has so far been largely overlooked: the bipartisan social engineering crusade to drive up the rate of homeownership by handing out more mortgages to minorities. More than a negligible amount of … [Read More]

Conservatives historically have taken pride in their hard-headedness.  It is supposed to be a manly persuasion with a long view, rooted in concepts like deferred gratification, the proper appreciation of applied violence, skepticism of fads and fashions, and a dour view of human nature.  In lean economic times, conservatives counsel austerity and sound money, even if this means very painful effects … [Read More]

It was a balmy New England dawn, in that brief slice of the year when our clime is as mild as Malibu’s and the pine trees bend in sweet obeisance to the breeze…. On such a day, a man of my years climbs from the coverlets and thinks: “All shall be well….The perfect day for a colonoscopy.” Perhaps I view all … [Read More]

Life is a circus, and we pundits are the ringmasters, and so, as we segue into the weekend, let’s take a look at what the clowns are up to .... The Prosecution Rests —In a new report issued by Physicians for Human Rights,  Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba—the officer in charge of the Abu Ghraib investigation—writes: “ “After years of disclosures by … [Read More]

Promoted to the Wall Street Journal editorial board just three years ago, the young journalist Jason Riley has sought to prove his bona fides, and then some, by publishing a new book whose title reads like a parody of the standard Journal position on immigration—Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders. Like most of the immigrationists at the Journal, Riley … [Read More]

“What Would Winston Do?” So asks Newsweek‘s cover, which features a full-length photo of the prime minister his people voted the greatest Briton of them all. Quite a tribute, when one realizes Churchill’s career coincides with the collapse of the British empire and the fall of his nation from world pre-eminence to third-rate power. That the Newsweek cover was sparked by … [Read More]

On Tuesday June 10, 2008, something interesting happened here in South Carolina. For the first time in a long itme, an authentically populist conservative won a close race in a very important political primary. Bob Conley is a virtual unknown who defeated an establishment candidate supported by the usual coterie of party insiders and special interest groups. The primary victory was … [Read More]

Victor Davis Hanson has taken umbrage at Pat Buchanan’s description of him as “the court historian of the neoconservatives,” and even more umbrage at Buchanan’s book.  Unfortunately for Hanson, Buchanan’s description of Hanson is accurate, and Hanson’s review of Buchanan’s book shows all the care and intelligence we have come to expect from one of the biggest cheerleaders for Bush’s disastrous … [Read More]