by Patrick J. Buchanan Our next president will likely face a Russia led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, determined to stand up to a West Russians believe played them for fools when they sought to be friends. Americans who think Putin has never been anything but a KGB thug will reject accusations of any U.S. role in causing the ruination of relations between us. Yet the hubris of Bill Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan Over lunch, a liberal friend expressed puzzlement. Citing the title of Tom Oliphant's new book about the Bush administration, "Utter Incompetents," he wondered aloud. Like him or not, he said, Bush is not an unintelligent man, and he is a principled and energetic executive. As for Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and the others, almost all had long resumes of Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan "Our Enemy, the State" was the title of libertarian Albert Jay Nock's classic that was once widely read by conservatives. Nock was not an anarchist but a Jeffersonian. Government was necessary, but in its centralization lay the roots of tyranny. And in 21st century America, Leviathan is indeed rising – and, oddly, being welcomed by people who talk incessantly of Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan Which is more critical to the United States in the Islamic world – that a government be democratic, or that it be a friend and ally in the war against al-Qaida and Islamic extremism? In the Bush era, the answer has seemed unequivocal. We are for democracy first. For democracy is the best guarantee of our security interests. As Condi Rice famously said in 2005 at Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan In March 1929, the Harding-Coolidge era came to an end. The eight years had witnessed the greatest peacetime prosperity of any nation in history: America in the Roaring 20s. Early that March, Calvin Coolidge handed the presidency over to Herbert Hoover, who had just pulled off a third straight Republican landslide. "I do not choose to run," said Coolidge, who could Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan Is a Bush pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz, or on the Al Quds force of the Revolutionary Guard, a more remote possibility today than it was several weeks ago? So it would seem. The latest indication is a candid interview in the Financial Times with Adm. William "Fox" Fallon, head of Central Command, who would be the Tommy Franks of any Continue reading...

by Patrick J. Buchanan Rudy Giuliani has made a "promise" not to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear capability, even if it requires U.S. military action. Though the U.S. Army is scrimping to meet recruitment goals, Rudy has pledged to add at least 10 new combat brigades. Speaking to an Atlantic Bridge conference in London, Rudy called for NATO expansion to include Japan, India, Australia, Continue reading...