“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War Read Full Story
“You say it is heresy to speak of the scriptures in English. You call me a heretic because I have translated the Bible into the common tongue. Do you know whom you blaspheme? . . . Is it not from the Bible that we learn who is the Builder and Sovereign of the Church, what are the laws by which she is to be governed, and the rights and privileges of her members? Without the Bible, what charter has the Church to show for all these things? It is you who place the Church in jeopardy by hiding the Divine warrant, the missive royal of her King, for the authority she wields and the faith she enjoins. ” John Wycliffe (1330-1384) Read Full Story
In the wake of the President’s exchanges at the G20, an off-hand comment by Secretary of State John Kerry in London and a Russian initiative, we have kicked the can on whether to attack Syria in response to Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons (this time) and have embarked on a diplomatic course apparently led by Russia. The President’s speech offered little clarity and the administration’s muddled policies continue to unfold, now in a more dangerous world than before. Read Full Story
In 1785, Robert Burns wrote To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, which contained these famous words: “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy!” Those words aptly describe the misplaced confidence in the Obama administration’s touted “reset” strategies on a number of fronts—and lay a challenge for new “resets” to replace them. Read Full Story
General Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s 2006 Army War College Thesis on Democracy in the Middle East is worth a read to help understand how events in Egypt may unfold. While the military’s support for the moderate faction of the Egyptian body politic that protested against Mohammed Morsi’s rule is a welcome sign, his thesis includes some troublesome statements that raise questions about the future. Read Full Story
When Benjamin Franklin exited the 1787 Constitutional Convention, he was asked what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer: “A republic, if you can keep it.” This is still our challenge today, since many seem uninformed of critical differences between a republic and a democratic government, which historically has eventually failed the nations that adopted it—as we just witnessed in Egypt. To preserve our way of life, we must return to the views of our founders, and shore up all three legs of Ronald Reagan’s stool—economic conservatives, social issue conservatives and foreign policy/defense conservatives. All three legs need help, especially our defenses because existential threats are more eminent than most realize. Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.