Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Obama's Paradoxical Role at the SHOT Show

Why Firearms Makers Are So Worried Even as the Second Amendment Is Stronger Than Ever, National Review Online, January 27, 2015. "In one sense, Obama has been very, very good for the U.S. firearms industry. Far from controlling guns, his outspoken anti-firearms advocacy has made him the industry’s top salesman."

They're Not Fans

What the Firearms Industry Thinks About the UN Arms Trade Treaty Signed by Obama Administration, Daily Signal, January 27, 2015. "Supposedly, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, which took effect Christmas Eve, is no big deal. But people who work in the business of manufacturing, importing and exporting firearms are concerned about the treaty and what it means for them and their industry."

Friday, January 23, 2015

In Praise of Partisanship

Barack Obama Finally Offers a Clear Choice, Newsday, January 23, 2015. "Let's be grateful to President Barack Obama. In his State of the Union address, he dropped the pretense of bipartisanship and, by siding with the progressives, gave the nation what it needs: a clear choice. That's the true American way."

Friday, January 16, 2015

A Big, Bad Idea

Closing Chapter of a Not So Special Relationship?, Yorkshire Post, January 16, 2015. "The White House announced Prime Minister David Cameron’s two-day visit to Washington in a statement issued last Saturday. It was a tellingly low-key announcement for an Anglo-American relationship that has mostly drifted in the past five years. The alliance, though, does have one big idea up its sleeve. Unfortunately, it’s a bad one."

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Replying to Foolish Claims on Treaties

, National Review Online, January 14, 2015. "The U.S. has been, and continues to be, a prolific negotiator, signer, and ratifier of treaties. The fact that 36 of them are pending in the Senate leads Jett to conclude that something is dangerously amiss. It leads me to an entirely different conclusion: There are a few treaties that are genuinely controversial, and many hundreds that are not. Most of these controversial treaties date from the 1990s, when it became fashionable to spin them from fairy dust."

Recommendations for US Policy Towards Europe

Top Five Policy Priorities for Europe in 2015, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4331, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, January 14, 2015. "It is time for the U.S. to renew its commitment to European security, to make NATO relevant again, and to promote economic freedom across the continent. Here are the top five foreign policy priorities in the European region for the Administration and Congress in 2015."

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Renewing the US Commitment to the Anglo-American Relationship

David Cameron’s Visit to Washington: An Important Opportunity to Renew Anglo-American Leadership, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4330, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, January 13, 2015. "President Barack Obama will host British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House on January 15–16. This will be Cameron’s last visit to the United States before the U.K.’s general election on May 7, 2015. Five issues should dominate the visit: (1) Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe; (2) the crisis in Iran and the Levant; (3) the future of the U.K. inside the European Union (EU); (4) the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP); and (5) defending the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands at the upcoming Organization of American States (OAS) Summit."

Friday, January 9, 2015

Against Giving Up Strategic Advantages for Tactical Responses

On North Korea, a One-Shot’s Not Enough, Newsday, January 9, 2015. "The media is under assault in the United States and abroad. The terrorist attacks in France are more shocking, but the cyberwar on Sony is more dangerous: none of us are isolated from the Internet. The Obama administration's response to the Sony hack pointed in the right direction, but it wasn't enough."

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

On Obama and Blair

Quest for Legacy Leads Obama to Castro’s Door, Yorkshire Post, January 6, 2015. "In time, Obama will get the ridiculous mausoleum of a presidential library. But that’s not enough. He’s in trouble now, and by using the power of the Oval Office to extend the hand of friendship to yet another tyranny – this time in Cuba – he’s just doing what got him elected: blaming his predecessors and believing his own magic will make things right."

Friday, January 2, 2015

Review of Addison on Post-War Britain

Review of No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain, by Paul Addison (Oxford University Press, 2010), in Labour History, vol. 53, no. 4 (2012). Not available online.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

My Book Recommendation for New Year's Day

34 Books You’ll Want to Read in 2015, Daily Signal, including contribution by Bromund, January 1, 2015. "A blockbuster history of the war from the other side, as vast as it is readable. Without minimizing the atrocities committed by the Central Powers, it emphasizes that there is no easy connection between those crimes and Hitler’s far more vast crimes before and during the Second World War. It does not sympathize with the sufferings of the German and Austro-Hungarian peoples, but it does, by making them clear, empathize with them. And by relating the vast mobilization efforts of Germany, in particular, it reveals just how much was at stake in the war. And in spite of the many errors of the Allies and the frequent tactical brilliance of the Germans, it shows just how badly led the autocratic Central Powers ultimately were and so offers a lesson in the comparative, competitive advantage of democracy in war."