Risks to Second Amendment from ATT

American Rights Need American Defenders, Hays Daily News, Kansas, March 30, 2012. "Is the Arms Trade Treaty about a U.N. army coming to take away our guns? That’s crazy. But this is a pro gun-control administration, negotiating at the pro gun-control U.N. with countries that have no Second Amendment. A treaty could fall far short of gun confiscation and still restrict our freedoms."

The Tappin Case, Round Two

Answers to Questions on the Tappin Extradition Case, The Commentator, March 22, 2012. "A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on extradition from the United Kingdom to the U.S., inspired by the furor over the case of Christopher Tappin. The gist of the article was that the U.K. wanted the 2003 U.S.-U.K. Extradition Treaty and the accompanying and broader Extradition Act of 2003, that the claims made about the unfairness of the Treaty are false, and that Ministers in Her Majesty’s Government should have the courage to say so. These are not popular views, in large part because they are rarely if ever expressed in Britain. So in the spirit of encouraging debate, I’ll return to the question, and present some new documents that critics of the Tappin case should read."

Establish U.S. Red Lines on ATT

U.S. Needs Red Lines for Arms Trade Treaty Negotiations, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3548, March 22, 2012. "The final Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in February decided that, in preparation for the July 2–27 conference in New York that will finalize the ATT, U.N. member states should by March 31 submit short statements on the provisions that they believe should define any ATT. The U.S. should use this opportunity to establish firm red lines for the July conference and to make it clear that it will reject an unacceptable ATT that originates in either the July conference or in any other venue."

Unacceptable Ambivalance on Falklands

Obama’s Private Assurances on Falklands Not Good Enough, Contentions, March 18, 2012. "Until I hear President Obama state, on the record and publicly, that the U.S. sees no reason for negotiations over the Islands because it recognizes British sovereignty over them, I am going to take this brief, private interchange reported at second hand for what it is worth: not very much at all."

Two Lightweights Prop Each Other Up

"United By Appearance Not Substance," Yorkshire Post, March 17, 2012. Reviewing the March 2012 Obama-Cameron Summit. Not available online. "Palling around with Obama is part of that policy of appearances, of winning credibility by association. It is a strange fate for Cameron, who made waves in 2006 with his call for a Britain that was “solid but not slavish” in friendship with America. But in 2012, Britain is short on friends. The much-touted revival of Commonwealth ties has fallen flat, and the very idea of drawing closer to Europe is profoundly unpopular, not to mention economically suicidal."

Two Terrible Speeches

Why Writes This Stuff?, Contentions, March 15, 2012. "Look – writing welcoming remarks must be a tedious job, and I wouldn’t like to do it for anything. But would it be too much to ask that his speechwriters avoid obvious solecisms? If you’re going to use the tired ‘the British burned the White House’ joke, don’t follow it up, two paragraphs later, with the claim that “through the grand sweep of history, through all its twists and turns, there is one constant – the rock-solid alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom.” So, except for the whole burning thing, it’s a constant?"

What the Summit Should Have Done

At Obama-Cameron Summit, U.S. and Britain Should Take Action to Rebuild Alliance, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3533, March 8, 2012. "The U.S. and Britain face a number of serious issues at home and abroad. But the most important need is for the U.S. to demonstrate that Europe matters, that the institutions of the EU are no substitute for—and are in fact inferior to—the legitimacy of democratic and sovereign European nations, and that, instead of seeking to reset relations with autocracies like Russia, it will give the highest consideration to the concerns of its allies. The U.S. and Britain are close enough and important enough to each other to disagree on occasion, as they have in the past. But if Britain decides to continue the downgrading of its security role or the U.S. continues to care less about transatlantic security and political cooperation, the problem will not be an Anglo-American disagreement. It will be the slow disappearance of the Special Relationship."

Why Your Cell Phone Doesn't Work

Big Government and the Spectrum Problem, Contentions, March 8, 2012. "Larry Downes has a remarkable column on CNET news about the shortage of spectrum for use by mobile broadband. It is a catalog of government ineptitude, incompetence, regulatory capture, and short-sightedness."

The No Good, Very Bad Ike Memorial

Ordered Liberty and Controlled Chaos, Contentions, March 7, 2012. "Gehry’s philosophy of design reminds me of my encounters with deconstructionist theory in graduate school: disorienting, until you realize that the point of the enterprise is not to convey meaning but to smash it, while all the while assuming a pose of ironic, superior, unsmashed detachment in order to win immunity from criticism. Gehry’s leitmotif is that “life is chaotic, dangerous, and surprising,” democracy is either chaos or at best “controlled chaos,” and so buildings should be chaotic as well. This is the kind of thing that sounds well until you think about it for five seconds. Modern democracies are in fact the most unchaotic, predictable, secure societies in the history of the world – the only way they look chaotic is next to the Garden of Eden, or the paradise of the planner."

Here's One Thing You Missed: The Cuts Don't Exist

Britain Shows No Sign of Shaking Addiction to Debt, Taxes and Regulations, Contentions, March 7, 2012. "With British Prime Minister David Cameron’s state visit impending next week, we can expect to hear a good deal about – though see nothing very much done about – Afghanistan, the NATO Summit, Libya, and Syria, But we’re also likely to get a smattering of commentary about Britain’s parlous fiscal position. If we’re lucky, the media will talk about “Tory spending cuts.” If we’re really lucky, they’ll call them “savage.” Writ large, it’s useful to remember one thing about these spending cuts: they don’t exist."

The Tappin Extradition Case

A Few Home Truths About Extradition from the United Kingdom, The Commentator, March 2, 2012. "As Mr. Grieve has conceded in one of his more sensible reflections, the Tappin case is controversial because Mr. Tappin appears to be an eminently respectable man. Unfortunately, it is possible for a man to appear to be respectable, and even to be the President of the Kent Golf Union, and still to be creditably accused of a serious crime. If Mr. Tappin is found innocent, there will be no public outcry in the U.S. But if the U.S. trial proceeds fairly – as I believe it will – and especially if he is found guilty, I trust there will be public and government recognition in Britain that the critics were wrong, and that the extradition system – and the American system – works."

Are Ron Paul's Supporters 'Right-Wingers'?

Democrats, Republicans, and Ron Paul, Centre for Policy Studies, March 2, 2012. "What is just as interesting is that the less well-off, less-educated, the less-religious, the young, and the unmarried, most of whom normally lean Democratic, are this time out going disproportionately (though not in large numbers) for Paul. It is an open question whether that trend is best described as reshaping the Republican Party by bringing new voters in, reshaping the Democratic Party by leading traditional voters out, or as the action of voters fundamentally unaffiliated with either party – and, absent Paul, likely to back neither.

European Integration As Means, Not Ends

Five Conservative Principles That Should Guide U.S. Policy on Europe, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3524, March 1, 2012. "A strong transatlantic alliance should be at the heart of U.S. foreign policy. Washington should reinvigorate partnerships with America’s key friends and allies in Europe. It should adopt policies that advance national sovereignty and economic freedom across the Atlantic, rather than subvert them."