Intellectual Conservative Politics and Philosophy » Foreign Affairs, National Defense

What Baseball Might Tell Homeland Security: The High Risks of Sloppy Induction

John Harris — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:08:57 +0000

The truth is that several such saboteurs as the infamous Underwear Bomber have been foiled only by their own incompetence and by the vigilance of private citizens—not by this contradictory system’s “efficiency”. Of the many talents useful for living in the twenty-first century which I lack, one is clearly a facility for creating catchy acronyms. [...]

Nation Building: From Success to Failure

Ron Lipsman — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:05:21 +0000

An examination of the differences between recent and past US nation building efforts; why the latter succeeded and the former failed. The United States has been involved in serious nation building over the last decade in two Middle Eastern nations – Iraq and Afghanistan. These ventures recall two other major efforts of this type dating [...]

Murderers of the Fogel family in Israel are Heroes

Dan Miller — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:34:23 +0000

Five members of “an Israeli family” — antiseptically left unnamed by the Times — were knifed to death in their sleep but the gravamen of the story was that the Israelis responded by deciding to build more settlements on the West Bank, a decision, our former paper of record sniffed, that “the attack and the [...]

DHS Intelligence Gathering Should be Localized

Jim Kouri — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:10:39 +0000

Instead of increasing its interaction with foreign nations' law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the Department of Homeland Security should focus on building relationships with local police agencies and private-sector security departments in order to secure infrastructure and U.S. borders, say security experts.

A new report by a bipartisan group of security experts argues that [...]

Ron Paul in 2012: Defeat the Elites!

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:32:34 +0000

Ron Paul has a broad base of support and is the only GOP presidential candidate who is not a neocon. "The increasing complexity and precariousness of our economic life have forced Government to take over many spheres of activity once left to choice or chance. Our intellectuals have surrendered first to the slave-philosophy of Hegel, [...]

A Grope A Day Keeps Osama Away

Michael Shannon — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:04:55 +0000

TSA is a law unto itself and is designed to intimidate the public and insulate its employees from outside accountability. Observe how their uniforms now look like police uniforms.

Sen. Rand Paul (R–KY) made the news Monday when he declined to get up close and personal with TSA guards at the Nashville, TN airport. [...]

Enlightened Self-interest and International Relations

Dan Miller — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:34:28 +0000

In theory, it may beat commonly praised alternatives. But to what extent can we rely on it in practice?

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (1872 – 1970) was a British mathematician and philosopher. He wrote prolifically in both disciplines and also wrote a few mediocre short stories. He stood three times, unsuccessfully, for [...]

Should Politics and Foreign Policy Affect our Military Justice System?

Dan Miller — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:43:57 +0000

The military justice system demands justice for our troops, not revenge upon them to curry favor with others.

The video of U.S. Marines who apparently urinated on Taliban corpses has gone viral and not only the Islamic world is watching. Ranking Government officials have condemned the suspect Marines. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [...]

Why Ron Paul is Unelectable

JB Williams — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:58:56 +0000

Most Americans share the goal of defeating Obama at any cost. They will have to do it without Paul supporters, who seem to have a very different kind of moral compass.

First, I must state that I deeply appreciate and applaud the passion and energy of the Ron Paul campaign and their undying [...]

Le Besoin de Voir Clair: A Plea for a Non-Tribal Discussion of National Defense

John Harris — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:52:57 +0000

About a week ago, Katie Kieffer dared to ask a few questions of the sort I have in mind on Townhall.com, tentatively advancing the proposition that Ron Paul is not entirely insane. Directly opposing her signature photo on the Townhall homepage was the equally lovely visage of Star Parker—whose column charged Paul supporters with being [...]