The Nazi legacy is an understandably heavy burden for Germany, even today. This leaves Germans emotionally vulnerable to comparisons to their 20th century forebears. And with the country exercising ever-more influence over its European Union allies, cutting remarks that include such comparisons are blossoming like mushrooms after a spring rain. So how to deal with it? For Germany’s Die Zeit, Bernd...

Is it possible that American citizens, now under arrest in Cairo, were involved with a plot to partition Egypt into four smaller states? According to columnist Muhammad Dunia of Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram, maps that were discovered during a raid on the Cairo offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute prove that at least some of the foreign NGOs operating in Egypt are actively involved...

UPDATE: A wave of unusually severe cold is gripping Europe. But the weather is not the only thing that is chilling over there. Under the headline “A Chilling Verdict in Spain,” the New York Times reports that “The enemies of Judge Baltasar Garzón have finally gotten their way” as Spain’s Supreme Court has found Judge Garzón guilty of misapplying the country’s wiretap law and suspended him from...

As the crisis — and brutality — continues to unfold in Syria, keep an eye on Iran, its role and its designs. Michael Youhana has a must read in the NYU Local. Here’s part of it: The Syrian regime’s appalling crackdown — which has left around 6000 dead — has been one of the most violent government responses to the Arab Spring’s wave of uprisings. On Friday, bad became worse when, according...

When it comes to the oppression of dissent in Syria, are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council undermining global peace and security by issuing ‘reckless vetoes’? According to this editorial from Japan’s Kochi Shimbun, by concerning themselves with the interests of their own countries rather than what is best for the world, China, Russia, America, Britain and France are demonstrating...

Would the United States, utilizing what is known as a ‘false flag’ strategy, sacrifice a nuclear aircraft carrier to persuade the world that a war against Iran must be waged? According to columnist Anna Pinderak of Poland’s Wprost24, a theory is making the rounds that the Pentagon has sent the famed USS Enterprise to the Persian Gulf – to sink it – and then to blame Tehran...

Hindsight is always 20-20, of course, but it turns out that the widespread fear — bordering on panic — that there would be a second wave of attacks in the months after 9/11 was misplaced because it turns out that Al Qaeda was a one-hit wonder. This reality is revealed in an article in a leftist rag called the Air Force Times that says that the government underestimated the terrorist group before...

Way back in 1971 when I was a young Air Force captain I clearly remember a woman in my Service totally outranking me — receiving her first star. The woman was Brigadier General Jeanne M. Holm and I remember it clearly because Holm was the first female general in the Air Force — a thing unheard of in those days. She would make history again a couple of years later when, in 1973 , she was promoted...

Are young people in America less stridently nationalistic than their predecessors? Columnist Fyodor Lukyanov of Russia’s Gazeta, citing recent Pew Research Center polling data, asserts in this detailed evaluation of U.S. public attitudes, that there is a declining tendency on the part of the U.S. population to believe in American exceptionalism, and concludes that U.S. foreign policy will be increasingly...

How should we characterize the impending end of Western military operations in Afghanistan? Was it a painful defeat, a hard-won success, or something in between? Columnist Danièle Fonck of Luxembourg’s Le Jeudi writes that nothing worthwhile has been gained by the Afghanistan invasion, and the soldiers who died – whether Westerners want to admit it to themselves or not – did so in vain. For...

By now most readers know my (changed) position on the Afghanistan War. I have expressed concern among other about rampant corruption and backstabbing at the highest levels in the Afghanistan government, incompetence of and disloyalty among its military and police and continuing human rights violations. I have mourned our casualties and fretted about our huge financial costs. But — perhaps insensitively...

Yesterday, in a YouTube/Google Plus town hall, President Obama finally admitted to what the world has known for years: that the United States has been using drone aircraft to kill militants in among other places, America’s supposed ally, Pakistan. This editorial from Pakistan’s The Nation welcomes this admission of the obvious, but wonders how the president could claim that most of those killed...

For those who may have been distracted by the Republican nomination race, the first potentially armed conflict since the Thatcher years between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands – known by Latin Americans as the Malvinas – is brewing. Unfortunately, according to columnist Gilson Caroni Filho of Brazil’s Opera Mundi, the United States, even if it doesn’t recognize British...

An obvious yet often overlooked persective on the Guantanamo Bay prison is that of Cuba itself – where the prison is located. Will Cuba ever get Guantanamo Bay back from the United States? And what does Havana do with the $4085 Washington sends it every month to lease the land that the base is on? According to Enrique Milanés León of Cuba’s state-run Juventud Rebelde, ending Washington’s...

NATO’s campaign to overthrow Libya’s strongman Gadhafi had 2 terrorist groups rejoicing. A recent UN’s report confirmed what many suspected – NATO’s operation unintentionally provided stocks of heavy weapons to terrorist groups in Northern Africa. Among the groups benefiting from the arms are al-Qaeda and the deadly Islamic terror organization Boko Haram, which is currently on a killing...

It was 10 years ago, give or take a few days, that President Bush delivered a State of the Union address with a passage alluding to an “axis of evil” and asserted that the world’s leading rogue regimes — Iran, Iraq and North Korea, by name — and terrorist groups like Al Qaeda threatened world peace. David Frum, who had a hand in crafting the speech, writes that it has withstood...

Why is Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ proving to be the longest and most deadly battle in the nation’s history? Columnist Luis Javier Garrido of Mexico’s La Jornada outlines in great detail how the companies and government agencies which are supposed to battle narco-trafficking are proving so profitable, neither governments nor the companies they pay wish it to end. For La Jornada,...

While most people weren’t looking, America’s controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay turned ten years old a few weeks ago; for some reason, the President didn’t mention this during the State of the Union. I used the occasion of Guantanamo’s birthday party in Washington, D.C. to meet, and to arrange an interview with, retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis, once the Chief Prosecutor...

Frank Wuterich arrives at court with lawyer Neal Puckett Iraqis are reacting with outrage — and appropriately so — that the ringleader of the 2005 Haditha massacre that left 24 of their countrymen dead received no jail time and merely a reduction in rank to private as part of a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to a single count of dereliction of duty. “This is not new, and it’s not...

Back in September of 2009, I started one of my several articles on the Afghanistan War as follows: As the fighting in Afghanistan intensifies; as that war claims more and more casualties; and as critical decisions loom on national objectives, strategy and corresponding troop levels and deployments there, the debate also intensifies. As the war has continued unabated and has indeed claimed more and more young...

Israeli Ambassador to the USA Dr. Michael Oren (a native of New Jersey) spoke this evening at Cincinnati’s Mayerson JCC. It is still rather icy out and over 700 people came to hear him. These are not his exact words, just my notes on some things he said: Someone asked how we live with uncertainty – we do it every day and have done so since 1948. Keeping in mind what Iran has done without...

Guest post by Rob Miller Rob Miller is a US Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. A Charleston native and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, Rob and his family currently reside in Beaufort, South Carolina. Having served over thirteen years in the United States Marine Corps, from enlisted infantry Marine to Company Commander, serving twice in Iraq to include the Battle...

Has the North Korean regime ‘played’ one of the Western World’s leading news agencies? Cho Jong-ik of South Korea’s Daily North Korea reports on concerns about the announcement that North Korea has given the Associated Press permission to become the first Western outlet ever permitted to open an office in Pyongyang. For the Daily North Korea, reporter Cho Jong-ik writes in part: North...

There is no question as to how utterly uniformed Rick Perry’s remarks about Turkey were Monday night in South Carolina. Calling one of our staunchest NATO partners a country that is being ruled by “Islamic terrorists” is not really the savviest thing one would expect from a presidential candidate. But perhaps we are being too rough on the Texas governor. Here’s the question posed specifically to Perry...

The same Republican presidential wannabe who would send U.S. troops back into Iraq and thus would most likely again need the use of Turkish land and air space to provide logistics support to our troops there, now labels that nation a country that is being ruled by Islamic terrorists — and worse. During Monday’s GOP presidential candidates debate in South Carolina, Texas governor Rick Perry also...