By Andrew L. Jaffee

America: Land of the free and home of the brave. A 92-year-old woman, Betty Owen, today epitomized the spirit that built this great nation — a true grit which I can only hope we will sustain. (Actually, we are in need of revitalizing that spirit and sense of unity.) I hope this story gets a modicum of coverage, that some smart school teachers will share Owen’s story with their pupils, that parents will tell their kids about what Owen did today — indeed, that Americans everywhere will pause to ponder the spunk needed to be a good citizen all throughout life. From the AP:

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~by E.D. Kain

This is a pretty apt description of the lefties whose apologism to Islamist radicals has gotten so out of hand, that publishers, theatres, and art venues have all started pre-censoring just about anything critical of Islam from Mozart to the new authour “The Jewel of Medina” by Sherry Jones.

(note: the link to Amazon above results in a dead search)

Mick Hume writes for the Times Online, and published an article recently decrying this abandonment of our freedoms. He writes:

The threat to freedom here does not come from a few Islamic radicals, but from the invertebrate liberals of the cultural establishment who have so lost faith in themselves that they will surrender their freedoms before anybody starts a fight.

Indeed, though the Islamists are responsible for initially causing a great deal of noise about the publication of various cartoons and pictures, it is the Left that has buckled, along with corporations fearful for their profits and employees’ safety.

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by David F. Winkler
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2007. 244 pp. $34.95

Reviewed by Dale Eikmeier
U.S. Army War College

Written as a history of the U.S. Navy’s relationship with Bahrain and aimed at naval historians, Winkler’s book, Amirs, Admirals, and Desert Sailors: Bahrain, the U.S. Navy, and the Arabian Gulf, fills a void for scholars of U.S. Middle East policy. Winkler, director of programs and development at the Naval Historical Foundation in Washington, D.C., chronicles the history of the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf from the mid-twentieth century’s petroleum and shipping offices to the present-day headquarters of the Fifth Fleet. He reveals how a series of naval officers with scant foreign policy experience forged productive relationships with Bahrain’s rulers based on mutual respect, the Navy’s need for oil, and Bahrain’s need for security. As Sheikh Essa is quoted saying to an American, “Your men and women, the ships and aircraft of the Fifth Fleet, are a mountain of fire that separates us from the Iranians, and that presence of naval forces is what has given us peace and prosperity.”

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~by E.D. Kain

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.”

~WInston Churchill

The Russians are tricky. They have suckered the world into thinking that they are a more peaceful, progressive nation than they were during the Soviet era. We have been duped into believing this over the years, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Now, as Georgia burns, and the world wonders whether a ceasefire will hold or whether Putin’s puppet Medvedev will simply (as the Russians so often do) say one thing and do another…

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by Michael Rubin*

Press and pundits applauded George Bush’s decision last month to send a representative to Geneva to join a meeting with Iran’s nuclear negotiator. Barack Obama, the 2008 presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said, “Now that the United States is involved, it should stay involved with the full strength of our diplomacy.” Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, said the decision might be “the most welcome flip flop in diplomatic history”.

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by Michael Rubin*

Obama’s words are inspirational, but if anything will be learned from the Bush administration, it is that leadership must run deeper than rhetoric. Berlin’s freedom was won with blood and treasure. It was secured neither with withdrawals nor unilateral disarmament.

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A briefing by Douglas J. Feith*

Douglas J. Feith was undersecretary of defense for policy in the Bush administration (2001-05), and is a professor of national security policy at Georgetown University. He previously served in several capacities in the Reagan administration. His articles on foreign and defense affairs have appeared in the Middle East Quarterly as well as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Commentary. He was educated at Georgetown University and Harvard College.

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By Barry Rubin

Here’s what Israel thinks: Since Iran’s regime is thoroughly radical and deeply committed to its destruction, Israel can’t accept Tehran having nuclear weapons. Unless sanctions and pressures can stop this program Israel must attack in order to defend itself.

That’s a correct strategy. But there are problems with it, as is always true of even the best policies.

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by Daniel Pipes*

“Since 9/11, there have been over 2,300 arrests connected to Islamist terrorism in Europe in contrast to about 60 in the United States.” Thus writes Marc Sageman in his influential new book, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century (University of Pennsylvania Press).

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By Shirzad Azad

This article suggests that Japan’s staunch support for the United States over the course of the Iraq War was substantially influenced by its foreign policy toward the Persian Gulf region in general and Saddam’s Iraq in particular after the 1990-1991 crisis, as well as by its security alliance with the United States.

In his January 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush branded Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "Axis of Evil." Less than three weeks later, Bush made a state visit to Japan. After a speech at the Japanese parliament on February 18, 2002, he met with then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Joined only by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Toshiyuki Takano, Bush informed Koizumi that the United States would attack Iraq.^[1] Koizumi had roughly 13 months to prepare the ground for Japan’s support for this development.

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By Barry Rubin

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of articles have been written on President George Bush’s visit to the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And not a single one that I’ve seen has mentioned the ridiculously obvious point that goes so far in explaining everything.

To paraphrase the nursery rhyme about circling endlessly, Bush is merely taking us around the mulberry bush once more. Namely, this is an exact replay of Bill Clinton’s presidency. Eight years ago, in his last twelve months in office, Clinton, too, decided that the conflict must be resolved right away. Result: total, humiliating failure and a five-year-long bloody Palestinian war on Israel.

As if this were not enough, whether or not even more violence will follow, Bush, through no fault of his own, is in a far worse position to play this game than was his predecessor.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Some people insist that America has lost all moral credibility. In my view, those who judge America (and Israel) by higher and different standards are the ones whose credibility and perhaps sanity remain highly questionable. Yes, I am talking about the western intelligentsia, international human rights organizations, Islamic world despots, Islamist terrorists, the United Nations, and the non-governmental organizations which have attached themselves to the allegedly crumbling edifice on the East River of Manhattan known as the United Nations. All these groups view “the international community,” as a sacred deity whose wisdom and benevolence is merciful and all-encompassing.

I kid you not. Yes, the same “international community” which refuses to stop the genocide and mass gang-rapes in Sudan is still viewed as humanity’s Savior. Only America and Israel are singled out for condemnation. PRESS HERE.

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By Ted Belman, Israpundit

“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” Pres Bush said after 9/11. He went on to identify N. Korea, Iran and Iraq, the “axis of evil” and to declare the “war on terror”. The last thing he wanted to do was to identify the enemy. N. Korea was included in the list for fear that someone might think, G-d forbid, that Moslems were the enemy or that Islam was the enemy just as Communists and Communism were during the cold war.

It’s not that he didn’t know who the enemy was. After all, 15 of the 19 highjackers were Saudis who were inspired by Saudi supported Wahabbism. Its not that he viewed the use of terror as the enemy because the US had created al Qaeda to use terror to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. It is not that this was the first time that the US was attacked by Arabs or Muslims starting with the Islamic revolution in Iran and the hostage taking of US diplomats.

Angelo Codeville, a professor of international relations at Boston University, wondered and wrote a startling article in the Fall of ‘02, Post Mortem to a Phony War. If you missed this article, don’t miss it now. It’s a classic. Read it here.

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By Phyllis Chesler

This year, summer eerily, languorously, lingered on. We enjoyed balmy days in New York City clear through November. Even now, the trees outside my window remain in full, green leaf. But winter is also here and the days are becoming bitterly cold and windy.

This is the first time in seven years that I have remained silent about so-called “peace” initiatives in the Middle East. What can I possibly add to what has already been said about the meeting in Annapolis? Or, for that matter, about the witch-hunt against AIPAC and the continued, ghastly imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard?

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by Daniel Pipes*

Some thoughts on the eve of the Annapolis meeting:

Called the best friend Israel ever had in the White House, George W. Bush is, in my view, worrisomely over-confident. He believes he has discovered the solution to a highly complex and subtle century-old conflict. But I expect major problems.

The cover of the Nov. 24 Economist shows a picture of Bush under a bold headline that reads “Mr Palestine.” The subtitle deems him “The only man who could make it happen” – with “it,” of course, being a Palestinian state. The title is especially provocative when one recalls that for many years Yasir Arafat was the one known as “Mr. Palestine.”

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