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 Clinton and George Bush I, and the Russophobia of those they brought with them into power, has been a primary cause of the ruptured relationship. And the folly of what they did is evident today, as Putin’s party, United Russia, rolls to triumph on a torrent of abuse and invective against the West.

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 accomplishment in politics, government and business. Why, then, do they seem to have failed so dismally?

In my new book, “Day of Reckoning,” published this week, I offer an answer. If there is a one root cause to the Bush failures, it has been his fatal embrace of ideology.

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 freedom.

Consider the front-page story in the New York Times of Nov. 8, “House backs broad protection for gay workers.”

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 Cairo University:

“For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.”

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 easily have won a second full term. Silent Cal went home. Hoover, whom he privately derided as “Wonder Boy,” presided over the Crash of ‘29 and the first three years of the Great Depression.

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 naval or air war on Iran.

“The Pentagon is not preparing a pre-emptive attack on Iran in spite of an increase in bellicose rhetoric from Washington, according to senior officers,” concluded the FT in the lead of its story.

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, Singapore and Israel. Has Rudy thought this through?

by Patrick J. Buchanan

“Inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan, and I cannot allow the country to commit suicide.”

Thus did President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declare a state of emergency and invoke martial law.

The Supreme Court has been dismissed, the chief justice put under house arrest. A thousand lawyers and political opponents have been incarcerated. Human rights organizations have been shut down. Independent news media have been silenced.

Musharraf has effected a second coup, the first being his takeover in 1999. Doing so, he invoked Abraham Lincoln: “By general law life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life.”

by Patrick J. Buchanan

The euro, worth 83 cents in the early George W. Bush years, is at $1.45.

The British pound is back up over $2, the highest level since the Carter era. The Canadian dollar, which used to be worth 65 cents, is worth more than the U.S. dollar for the first time in half a century.

Oil is over $90 a barrel. Gold, down to $260 an ounce not so long ago, has hit $800.

Have gold, silver, oil, the euro, the pound and the Canadian dollar all suddenly soared in value in just a few years?