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Why Kim Jong-un must feel 'maximum pressure'

March 20, 2019  •  The Washington Times

It was worth a try. For decades, one administration after another, Republican and Democratic alike, failed to successfully address the metastasizing threat posed by the dictatorship that rules North Korea. So President Trump took a different tack: He played Mr. Nice Guy. He twice trekked to Asia to meet with Kim Jong-un, the country's mass-murdering young despot. He flattered, sweet-talked and — apparently, at least — befriended him.

Encouragingly, Mr. Kim suspended testing of nuclear weapons and the missiles that can deliver them. He made a commitment — repeatedly, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — to permanently end his nuclear weapons program in exchange for American economic and diplomatic concessions.

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A brief history of Jew-hatred

March 13, 2019  •  The Washington Times

A freshman member of Congress openly espouses bigotry toward Jews and Israel. Her fellow Democrats, with only a few exceptions, fail to forcefully condemn her words and views. Troubling to be sure, but let's remember: This gnarly tree grows in an old, luxuriant and global forest.

Examples? In Belgium last week, the annual Carnival parade included floats carrying oversize effigies of religious Jews, snarling men with big noses, sitting atop bags of money, one with a rat perched atop his shoulder.

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Things we know that aren't so

March 6, 2019  •  The Washington Times

It's been observed — and variously attributed to Mark Twain, Will Rogers and Ronald Reagan, among others — that what gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, but what we know that isn't so.

For example, we know that modernity, like gravity, exerts a pull that nations and their rulers, sooner or later, find irresistible. As John Kerry said to Vladimir Putin after the Russian president invaded Ukraine five years ago: "You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion." Mr. Putin's non-verbal reply: And why not?

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America as sheriff, not a policeman

February 27, 2019  •  The Washington Times

Precipitously and with no plan in place, President Trump late last year announced his intention to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria.

Until then, roughly 2,000 special operators, backed by combat aircraft, had exemplified the concept of "economy of force." Achieving a lot with a little, enabling local allies to fight much more effectively than they could have on their own, they decimated the Islamic State, and helped contain the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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An Arab-Israeli talk-fest for peace

February 21, 2019  •  The Washington Times

In Warsaw last week, the Trump administration convened a conference on peace and security in the Middle East. The two-day ministerial did not change the world. But it did highlight significant ways in which the world has changed.

Envoys arrived from more than 60 countries, including 10 Arab nations. The one head of state was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was clearly pleased to be getting together with his neighbors. And they did not seem displeased to be getting together with him.

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