Israel's Foolish Signature of the ATT

Israel Signs the Arms Trade Treaty: Unhelpful Appeasement for Implacable Enemies, National Review Online, December 29, 2014, "Last Thursday, Israel signed the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a treaty that supposedly prevents nations from arming terrorists and mass murderers. But in reality, the treaty’s advocates spend most of their time vehemently criticizing Israel, and, of course, the United States."

The Best Strategy Is Always To Be Very Strong

Three Questions Worth Asking For 2015, Newsday, December 24, 2014, "Coping with the unpredictable future isn't easy. Consequences seem obvious -- once they've happened. But Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian master famous for saying that war is the continuation of politics by other means, has good advice for dealing with unpredictability: "The best strategy is always to be very strong." If you can't predict, you can at least be prepared. And right now, I doubt that Havana, or anyone else, is worried about U.S. strength."

The ATT: A Lump of Christmas Coal

This Terrible Anti-Gun Treaty Goes Into Effect Christmas Eve, Daily Signal, December 24, 2014. "Today, on Christmas Eve, the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty takes effect, giving Americans a lump of coal in their stockings this holiday season. The ATT is a bad idea that keeps getting worse. In theory, it’s about stopping the sale of guns to terrorists and mass murderers. But in practice, it’s about preventing Israel from defending itself, allowing left-wing activists to dictate U.S. foreign policy and giving anti-gun advocates a leg up."

What the U.S. Should Do on the UN ATT in 2015

Top 11 Areas for Congressional Action on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty in 2015, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4323, December 19, 2014. "The coming year will be a crucial one for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and for the defense of U.S. sovereignty against those who seek to use the ATT to constrain it. The ATT will enter into force on December 24, 2014. In late August, the first Conference of States Party (CSP) to the treaty will be held in Mexico City to establish the rules of procedure for future CSPs, the treaty Secretariat, and the financing of treaty activities. While continuing to oppose ratification of the ATT, Congress should ensure that the U.S. resists the creation of precedents and procedures that would restrict its sovereignty. The Administration should recognize that its approach to the ATT has failed and join Congress in these actions."

ATT's Entry Into Force Has No Implications for U.S.

Congress Should Continue to Oppose Arms Trade Treaty As It Enters Into Force, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4322, December 18, 2014. "On December 24, 2014, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will enter into force. Treaty supporters claim that the ATT, which the U.S. has signed but not ratified, will then become international law, implying that it will apply to the U.S. In fact, the treaty will be binding only on those nations that have ratified it. Congress should therefore continue to oppose ratification of the ATT and ensure that it is not implemented before it passes through the entire U.S. treaty process."

Obama's Four Fatal Flaws

Reality Has Shown Up Obama’s Failings, Yorkshire Post, December 15, 2014, "The conservative triumphs in 2010 and 2014 have not irrevocably set America’s destiny: there are no permanent victories in politics. But there was a fundamental contradiction between the apolitical fantasy that Obama embodied, and the real-world desire of the American people to support liberal policies, especially when incompetently administered."

What Crazy Talk Means

Crazy Talk Isn’t Just Crazy, Newsday, December 12, 2014, "We shouldn't ignore this nonsense. We certainly shouldn't write it off because it's said in public: It matters precisely because it is said in public. Our politicians say lots of silly things, but in democracies, respectable people don't do crazy talk. So when you hear a foreign leader talking crazy, laugh -- but remember: You're listening to a dictator."

On Land Mines, 538 Gets the Data Wrong

FiveThirtyEight Gets Land Mine Data Wrong and Makes It Look Like a Bad Treaty Is Working, National Review Online, December 11, 2014, "The defining aspect of the 2000s isn’t declining land-mine casualties, and the Obama administration’s push to comply with the APL convention is as irrelevant to humanitarian aims as it is dangerous militarily. But the real irony is that while the ICBL pats itself on the back for its progress in defeating the land-mine scourge, and the Obama administration applauds in the background, the most significant new weapon of war in the past decade is the insurgent’s IED. In other words, Lyte’s wrong: The land mine, so far as international law sees it, is not going away"

From Academia to a Think Tank: Reflections on How to Be Lucky

From Academia to a Think Tank: Reflections on How to Be Lucky, American Historical Association's Perspectives, December 2014, "So the American academy is reaping what it has sowed. All it has to do to drive more of its graduates away is to keep on doing what it’s done for the past 40 years. The alternative to the status quo, therefore, isn’t nonacademic jobs. That’s today’s reality. The alternative is for the academy to stop relying on luck and instead make an effort to do preparation for nonacademic jobs right."