Tag: US foreign policy

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America lost the Iran War on the first day.

Pyrrhus of Epirus was one of the greatest generals of the ancient world. In 279 BCE, Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in Southern Italy. But the battle was so costly to Pyrrhus that he remarked that one more such “victory” would ruin him. This is the origin of the term “Pyrrhic victory,” meaning a victory that is really a defeat.

The lesson here is that the real victor is not the one who prevails on the battlefield but rather whoever gains power from the fight. By that standard, some battles have no victors. By that standard, the United States lost the Iran War on the first day. (more…)

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Greg Johnson and David Zsutty on the Iran Crisis.

Now for your streaming or downloading pleasure. To listen in a player, click here or below. To download, right-click the link and click “save as.”

USS Gerald Ford, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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More respondents now say that the US-Israeli relationship is a net negative than a net positive. Declining support for Israel is likely accelerating.

The number of respondents who said they support airstrikes on behalf of Israel fell from 37% in July, 2025, to 27.9%. This drop was largely driven by Republicans.

The 27.5% who support striking Iran are outnumbered by the 52.2% who oppose it.

A US strike on Iran could cost Republicans 4.7% of the white vote in the midterms, including 13.8% of white voters age 18-29.

48.3% of respondents said they can think of a concrete example of Israel hurting America interests, up from 41.9% in 2025 and 29.3% in 2024. Only 29.3% claim they can think of an example of Israel aiding American interests.

Originally posted at The Homeland Institute. (more…)

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Sulmaan Wasif Khan
The Struggle for Taiwan: A History of America, China, and the Island Caught Between
Basic Books, 2024

Economically, Taiwan is to Asia what Holland is to Europe in that Taiwan’s people punch above their weight in most categories of industry. Dreadfully near Taiwan is mainland China, which is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. (more…)

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Back when people knew something about history and great men, “crossing the Rubicon” meant committing oneself irrevocably to a momentous course of action. Today, men who are ignorant of history and greatness just talk about “red lines.” If you cross a red line, that means war.

As I write, Israel and Iran are at war, and Donald Trump—who is hailed by some as a great man of history—is standing on the red line. But is he in, or is he out? Right now, Trump looks less like Julius Caesar than an overgrown kindergartener doing “The Hokey Pokey”: (more…)

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Alexander Vindman
The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine
PublicAffairs, 2025

The greatest tragedy of the twenty-first century so far is the Ukraine War which started in 2022. (more…)

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(English version here)

Desno trećesvjetaštvo tendencija je među pristašama široko shvaćene desnice (nacionalistima, novim desničarima, itd.) pristajanja uz stranu „Trećega svijeta”. Oni Treći svijet shvaćaju drugačije od izvornoga značenja, koje se odnosilo na zemlje koje su za vrijeme Hladnoga rata bile nesvrstane. (more…)

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“Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shape,
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice.”

William Shakespeare, Richard III

Archeology: “the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.” (more…)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

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Democracy may not be the silliest idea concocted by man but, for anything larger than a small town, it is crackpot. It consists in the idea that a public, on average knowing almost nothing, can choose leaders in popularity contests among provincial lawyers who know little more and are required to know nothing, except how to get elected.

In a democracy, this ignorance is both a protected quality, such as motherhood, and a valued resource. By common consent, the ruled do not look too closely at the mentality of elected rulers, and the rulers speak solemnly of the wisdom of the people, who have none. (more…)

Oliver North

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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

Iran and the Contras

Ronald Reagan cruised to reelection in 1984 on a good economy and his sunny disposition. (more…)

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Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

The Iran-Contra Affair is an almost forgotten relic of the 1980s. The story of the episode has been overwhelmed by the spectacular events which followed: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Persian Gulf War, and so on. (more…)

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The four months that have passed since America’s debacle in Afghanistan have made it increasingly clear that this was a model that was successful from commanders and managers’ perspectives. It is therefore highly likely that it will be repeated on other battlefields. (more…)

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I’d like to say that the assassination of Qasem Soleimani isn’t the end of the world, but it’s too soon to say, because World Wars have started with similar provocations.

It is, however, safe to say that Donald Trump has made his dumbest foreign policy decision yet, for the same reason he made all of his other dumb foreign policy decisions: listening to the Israel First lobby (more…)