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."

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.

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."

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."

We Know What Nonproliferation Looks Like . . .

On Iran, No Deal is a Good Deal, Newsday, November 27, 2014, "It's no secret that the Obama administration badly wants a nuclear deal with Iran. And it's no secret that the Iranians are playing hard to get. The talks, which were supposed to yield a final agreement this week, have been extended to July. That's a relief, because right now, the best deal is no deal."

The Reckless Kingmaker

In Britain, Conservatives Face Defeat in ‘Crisis’ By-Election, Weekly Standard Blog, November 19, 2014. "On Thursday, English voters in the constituency of Rochester and Strood, in the country of Kent south-east of London, are likely to return Mark Reckless to Parliament as the UK Independence Party’s (UKIP) second MP. When Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron promised a month ago to throw “everything we can” at the campaign, this wasn’t the result he anticipated."

Russia's Troubled Periphery Troubled by Russia

Russia’s Aggression Isn’t Stopping in Ukraine, Newsday, November 16, 2014. "NATO confirmed on Wednesday that Russian tanks were moving into rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. But Russia's aggression under Vladimir Putin didn't begin in Ukraine and, unless the West stops vacillating, it won't end there, either."

Willow Run Hums Again

Up From the Ashes, Weekly Standard, November 24, 2014. "There aren’t a lot of four-lane highways in rural Michigan. But the vast field a few miles east of Ypsilanti once needed a wide road. It was the site of Ford’s Willow Run plant, the heart of the Arsenal of Democracy. And now it’s becoming America’s first museum dedicated to the World War II production miracle that armed and saved the free world."

His Challenges, Unfortunately, Are Ours Too

Foreign Crises Weaken Obama at Home, Yorkshire Post, November 3, 2014. "The conventional wisdom is that US voters don’t care about foreign policy. Even on its face, this is silly: Korea, Vietnam, 9/11, and Iraq mattered in the ensuing elections. But voters don’t just care about wars. They care about perceptions of strength. And since 2013, President Barack Obama has looked weak."

Of Ghosts, Ghasts, and Liberals

Haunting Liberal Superstitions, Newsday, October 31, 2014. "On Halloween weekend, everyone pretends to believe in ghosts. But a recent Chapman University study found that liberals are more likely to really be quaking in their boots. The supernatural doesn't scare me. But I am afraid of liberal faith in policies that make as much sense as astrology."

Your Talk Is Big, Sir, But Your Act Is Small

From Libya to Ebola, Obama Administration Talks Big But Acts Small, Newsday, October 19, 2014. "The Obama administration has responded to the Ebola epidemic by talking big. It does that well. From the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti to Syria's use of chemical weapons in 2013, the administration has made a lot of splashy responses. But making a splash isn't the same as being serious."

A Tale of Two Strategies

What’s At Stake in U.S. Strategy in Syria, Newsday, October 4, 2014. "The Obama administration's strategy for Syria relies on using U.S. air power to support local forces. If this approach fails, as it has failed in the past, the United States will find itself still lacking an effective, politically viable strategy for fighting Islamist terror more than a decade after 9/11 attacks."

American Politics in the United Kingdom

Politics of Floating Voters Dominate the Conferences, Yorkshire Post, October 3, 2014. "This year, I attended the Conservative Party Conference, which has just concluded in Birmingham. As a historian of British politics, and as an American conservative who believes that the American and British systems are each excellent in their own way, it was not what I expected."

At the Conservative Party Conference, Cheers All the Way

In Birmingham, Shut Up and Cheer, National Review Online, October 1, 2014. "A regular complaint of British Conservatives is that the party conference is no longer what it once was. It’s not simply small to American eyes; it’s sadly diminished in British ones. There are now no motions from the floor, no debate, and little sense that the party has much interest in reflecting the views of its most active members. As one MP put it to me, the conference is now for lobbyists, corporate donors, and television. Like American political conventions, it exists to affirm the leadership, not to challenge it. Above all, it must be a success."

Norms v. National Security

Obama Says No to Landmines, with Steve Groves, National Review Online, September 29, 2014. "On March 6, 2014, America’s highest-ranking military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, called anti-personnel landmines (APLs) “an important tool in the arsenal of the armed forces of the United States.” Yesterday, President Obama banned the armed forces from using them. Why? To comply with a treaty — the Ottawa Convention — that the United States hasn’t even ratified. The U.S. Senate has not given its advice and consent to the treaty, but the Obama administration still feels compelled, in the words of a State Department spokesman, to “underscore its commitment to the spirit and humanitarian aims of the Ottawa Convention.”

More Norm Talk at the UN

Obama’s UN Speech Reveals why Arms Trade Treaty is So Dangerous, Fox News, September 26, 2014. "Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, President Obama said that all nations “must meet our responsibility to observe and enforce international norms.” What he meant by that wasn’t exactly clear, starting with what those norms are, and who gets to define them. But that kind of thinking on the president’s part is precisely why the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is so bad for the United States."

Promoting the Obvious: Free Trade Between the US and the UK

Freedom from the EU: Why Britain and the U.S. Should Pursue a U.S.-U.K. Free Trade Area, with Nile Gardiner, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief, September 26, 2014. "A referendum on British membership in the European Union is scheduled for 2017. EU supporters argue that exit from the EU would hurt Britain’s economy and, in particular, its ability to negotiate trading arrangements with the rest of the world—a responsibility currently exercised by the EU on behalf of all of its member states. But there is every reason to believe that Britain, the world’s sixth-largest economy, would be able to negotiate trade agreements independently. If Britain does decide to leave the EU, one of its central priorities should be to negotiate a modern free trade area (FTA), based on sovereignty and freedom, with the United States. This is a goal that the U.S., which should abandon its policy of supporting the EU at the expense of the sovereignty of its member nations, should also champion."