Geert Wilders ‘Wins’ Dutch Elections

The trend toward hard-right parties continues.

Israel at War: It’s a Reckoning

A roundup of news and opinon.

Far Right Politics Spreading Across the West

The trend shows no sign of abating.

Bill Richardson, 1947-2023

The longtime politician and statesman is gone at 75.

Looking to Poland

Protests against the governing party signal tensions in advance of fall elections.

Poland ‘Renames’ Kaliningrad

The city once known as Koenigsberg is now Krolewiec, at least in Polish government documents.

Why the Catholic Church Sides with Putin and Orban

The Pope is siding with evil.

Dark Web Dragnet

International law enforcement agencies have made hundreds of arrests.

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NATO Sending Mixed Signals to Ukraine and Russia

Alliance leaders have significantly different priorities regarding the conflict.

Risk, Reward, and Statecraft

President Biden’s dangerous gambit seems to have succeeded.

U. S. Sending Abrams Tanks After All

An object lesson on the challenges of alliance politics.

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Turkey Sending Banned Munitions to Ukraine

A controversial artillery round is being used effectively against Russian forces.

AP Fires Reporter For Reporting

James LaPorta is being scapegoated for poor editorial process.

Reparative Semantics? Or Gobbledygook?

Do last year’s words belong to last year’s language?

The Depth of US Support to Ukraine

The collaboration has been even more robust than advertised.

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Russia Resorting to Brutality Because They Lack Precision Weapons

They’re hitting civilian targets partly because they can’t hit military ones.

Putin’s Nuclear Gambit

The threat is not idle and the options for responding are not good.

Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotaged; EU Blames Russia

The CIA warned of his months ago but the Biden administration is being cautious.

Italy Expected to Elect Post-Fascist Premier

Democratic backsliding appears to be spreading to another European country.

NATO Has Been Training Ukrainian Forces for Years

A fascinating report from the WSJ.

American Excess Deaths from COVID

We did much better in 2020 and worse since 2021 than we thought.

Biden Pleads for Regime Change in Russia

The President commits a Kinsley gaffe.

Zelensky’s Plea for Help

Ukraine’s leader wants more help than he’s going to get.

Putin’s War Gets Closer to NATO

Strikes near the Polish border show the real possibility of escalation.

Russia Sanctions Itself in Retaliation for Western Sanctions

Vladimir Putin is banning commodity exports.

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Putin’s Offramp?

It’s hard to see how this crisis ends.

Over 1.5 Million Refugees

Putin’s war of choice has created a humanitarian nightmare.

West Shamed Into Action

Actions deemed unthinkable days earlier are suddenly mandatory.

Is Putin Predictably Irrational?

Putin is a monster, but he may also be just as irrational as the rest of us.

Ukraine Invasion Sending History in a New Direction?

The ferocity of the global reaction to Putin’s invasion is stunning.

Biden ‘Leading from Behind’ on Ukraine

The American President is once again leading the free world.

West Accelerates Pressure on Russia

NATO has stepped up in a pleasantly surprising way to resist the Ukraine invasion.

Deterring The Deterrers

Deterring Russia is a matter of principle.

It’s Like 1939, But Better In Some Ways, And Also Worse

The military threat is smaller, but the political one is bigger.

Russia Really Invades Ukraine

Putin’s forces are in Kyiv.

The Beginning of a Response to the Beginning of an Invasion

The first shoe has dropped.

Putin Invades Ukraine in Defiance of West

The much-anticipated escalation has happened. Now to see how the United States and its allies respond.

Is Autocracy Really Winning?

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

Saving American Democracy

The Politician’s Syllogism rears its ugly head.

Douthat Misses the Point on Hungary

Hungary is part of a broader global trend, but the real issue isn’t Hungary, it is the Americans who praise Hungary.

Smart Designers Create Imperfect Rules

Even the smartest designers can’t anticipate all the flaws with the rules they write.

United States Less Democratic Than it Used to Be

Multiple indicators point to a decline in the representativeness of the American system.

Eighteen Years of Blogging

Some reflections

George Shultz, 1920-2021

The longtime public servant has died, aged 100.

One Million Dead from COVID-19 Worldwide

Yet another grim milestone.

Regarding Hunter Biden

Seeking to have a US citizen investigated by a foreign government based on innuendo is a major problem.

The Fall Of The Berlin Wall, Thirty Years Later

Thirty years ago today, history took off in a brand new direction.

Trump Promised Xi That The U.S. Would Remain Silent About Hong Kong

President Trump has reportedly pledged to Chinese President Xi Jinping that the United States would not speak out against Chinese actions in Hong Kong.

Efforts To Influence Foreign Investigations Of Biden Deeper Than Thought

More information released last night confirmed the extent to which the United States was linking progress on its relationship with Ukraine to an investigation of Joe Biden and his son.