Monday, August 27, 2018

Richard Pipes, Bernard Lewis, Charles Krauthammer, Paul Laxalt and John McCain, In Memoriam


Since late spring, numerous great scholars and authors have died, including several of interest to conservatives, as have two key current or former conservative United States Senators.  What follows is a brief summary of the particular significance of each of these individuals, Richard Pipes, Bernard Lewis, Charles Krauthammer, Paul Laxalt and John McCain.

Richard Pipes
Pipes was an American historian of the Soviet Union who helped implement U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s successful strategy of rolling back the Soviets, which was a break from the policy of Containment that had been implemented at the beginning of the Cold War.

Bernard Lewis
            Lewis was an American author and the foremost Western scholar on Islam, whose analysis was sought especially after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks against the U.S. by al-Qeada Islamists.   Lewis recognized the difference between Muslims and militant Islamists who believed in violent jihad (Islamic holy war) to advance Islam.

Charles Krauthammer
            Krauthammer was an author and television pundit.  Despite a paralyzing injury, he became a psychiatrist and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a director of psychiatric research and later by President George W. Bush to the Commission on Bioethics.  In the meantime, Krauthammer became a contributor to the New Republic and a speechwriter for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in 1984.

Krauthammer then became a Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for the Washington Post.  During this time, the anti-Communist and pro-Israel he became a leading neo-conservative, having coined the term, the “Reagan Doctrine,” in reference to the President’s support for anti-Communist rebels around the world, while writing for Time.  Krauthammer also was a contributor to the Weekly Standard.  He supported a rigorous defense against militant Islam, both secular and Islamist, including the Liberation of Kuwait in 1991 and of Iraq in 2003 and the global War on Terrorism.  Krauthammer believed not only in defending America against threats, but in supporting liberty throughout the world.  He became a television contributor, first on PBS and then on Fox News.  Known for the articulate promotion of his principles, Krauthammer was a mentor and inspiration to many other political commentators.      

Paul Laxalt
            Laxalt represented Nevada in the U.S. Senate from 1974-1987, where he was a conservative Republican leader, particularly in opposition to the Panama Canal Treaties.  He had served in the Army in the Second World War, became a lawyer, was elected District Attorney, Lieutenant Governor and then Governor, serving from 1967-1971.  Laxalt was a friend of President Reagan who worked with his neighboring Governor, chaired Reagan’s presidential campaigns, including the unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination in 1976 and then his winning campaigns for the GOP nomination and the election to the presidency in 1980 and 1984, and then served in the Senate as Reagan’s main ally for the advancement of his policies, such as tax cuts, increased defense spending and the Reagan Doctrine.  He chaired George H.W. Bush’s election campaign in 1988 and Robert Dole’s in 1996.

John McCain
            McCain was a war hero, a lion of the Senate and the leading American elected official to advocate for American security and liberty around the world.

            McCain was a Navy pilot during the Vietnamese War.  He was shot down over Hanoi, injured and made a prisoner of war for five and a half years, enduring torture and prolonged solitary confinement.  McCain had refused to break the military code by accepting an early release because he was the son and grandson of Admirals, a publicity stunt which would have made the Communist North Vietnamese appear to have been merciful.

            McCain was elected a U.S. Representative as a Republican from Arizona in 1982, serving two terms from 1983-1987 and a U.S. Senator in 1986, serving from 1987 until his death.  Although he was an independent thinker and was able to compromise with the opposing party, he had a conservative record especially on defense and foreign policy, during the late Cold War in support of Reagan’s policies and afterwards against Islamist terrorism and the authoritarian Russian regime of Vladimir Putin, as well as in opposition to wasteful government spending and in support of the right to life.  McCain was the GOP presidential nominee in 2008.  Among his accolades was the Liberty Medal, which he was awarded because of his championing of human rights around the world.      

           Krauthammer and McCain did not support Donald Trump’s election to the presidency and were highly critical of him, adhering to their conservative principles over partisanship.     

Foreign Digest: Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Russia


Venezuela
            The socialist tyrannical Venezuelan regime’s policies have precipitated a refugee crisis for Colombia and Ecuador of people fleeing Venezuela, exceeded only by the current refugee crisis of the Mediterranean.

Zimbabwe
            The first presidential elections were held in Zimbabwe over the weekend since the military ouster of long-time dictator Robert Mugabe, but they were won by his ruling party replacement in the absence of a full development of representative government based upon free and fair elections.

Russia
           Russian democratic opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested over the weekend, ahead of planned protests against they tyranny and corruption of the Russian Federation authoritarian and kleptocratic regime of Vladimir Putin.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Foreign Digest: South Sudan, Romania, Argentina and Mali


South Sudan
A peace accord was recently between the rival factions of South Sudan, after a bloody civil war since independence from Sudan in 2011.

The peace deal in South Sudan comes after neighboring Ethiopia reached a peace accord in June with its northern neighbor, Eritrea, after a decade-long war.  Ethiopia, which has freed political prisoners, has also recently restored diplomatic relations with its Horn of Africa neighbor, SomaliaSomalia continues to be in civil war against Islamist terrorists, but the government has been gradually gaining territory, thanks in part to American-led international support in this battlefield in the War on Terrorism.  Piracy by Somalis has also decreased dramatically because of international efforts.  It is hoped that peace and freedom will replace war, terror and tyranny in eastern Africa.

Romania
            There were more massive protests last week against the Romanian government’s authoritarianism.

Argentina
            The Argentine Senate recently defended the right to life by blocking a bill that had been approved by the lower chamber of Argentina’s national legislature to legalize abortion.

Mali
           The President of Mali was easily reelected late last week.  The turnout was well below 50% because of continued threats from al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists, but those Malians who did vote are to be congratulated for their bravery in voting, especially in the north, where the Islamist terrorists are most active.  The President has been defeating the Islamists, with French and African help, but there remains a significant threat.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Italian News: Populist Policies and Russian Interference


           The populist Italian Government last week increased welfare benefits in the form of public income and delayed for a year the implementation of the requirement that nursery school students be immunized, despite a measles outbreak.

            Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the largest center-right party, has expressed principled conservative and free market criticisms of the populist Government, composed of a somewhat leftwing, but heterodox anti-establishment party and a far-right anti-immigrant party, despite his party’s continued alliance with the latter in regional and local elections, after they had campaigned together as a bloc in the March parliamentary elections.  He expects the fractious coalition Government, which enjoys only a slim majority in Parliament, not to last long.  Berlusconi late last week encouraged the far-right leader, who is Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, to continue the Turin-to-Lyon high-speed train, which has been under construction.  The project between Italy and France is opposed in Italy by socialists, anarchists, environmentalists and the anti-establishment ruling party.

           Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors are investigating Russian attacks through an Internet troll campaign on the Italian President after his rejection of one of the populist coalition’s proposed Cabinet ministers late May.  Italian Neo-Nazis are also being investigated for recruiting volunteers for the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.  The authoritarian and kleptocratic Russian Federation regime of Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014, in violation of Russia’s treaty with Ukraine in which it agreed to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.  The populist Italian Government opposes the European Union’s sanctions on Russia.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Foreign Digest: Nicaragua, Iran and Georgia


Nicaragua
            A Nicaraguan human rights organization recently reported that hundreds of Nicaraguans have disappeared during the authoritarian Marxist Sandinista regime’s deadly crackdown on dissent.

Iran
            There continue to be protests against the tyrannical Islamist Iranian regime.

Georgia
           Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the Russian Federation invasion of Georgia.  The authoritarian and kleptocratic regime of Vladimir Putin seized two breakaway territories, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in 2008.  Russia established puppet states in those territories and has also made further encroachments into Georgian territory.  The Russian invasion of Georgia was followed by the invasion of Ukraine in 2014.  Georgia is considering joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  Russia has threatened Georgia with war if it joins.