Victor Davis Hanson

Our year of decision

Sometimes long-festering problems collide - and explode - in a single memorable year. We can go as far back as the fifth century B.C. to see this phenomenon - and we may see it again in 2010.

January 8, 2010

Our flip-flopping fights

We don't hear all that much about Iraq these days, do we? The war at one point almost tore apart this country. Public anger sent President George W. Bush's approval ratings plummeting. The outrage over our losses helped elect vocal anti-Iraq-war candidate Barack Obama.

December 19, 2009

Why we fight

Has war been reinvented in Iraq and Afghanistan? Sometimes it seems so, with the confusion that has come with the instant communication offered by the Internet, YouTube and satellite television - along with the new arts of precision destruction via high-tech weapons like drones and GPS-guided weapons.

December 12, 2009

Voting present on Iran

Iran just announced a radical expansion of its uranium-enrichment facilities. The news followed the recent disclosure of the country's previously secret nuclear facility near the city of Qom - and came just two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency's censure of Iran for its failure to halt enrichment.

December 5, 2009

We ain’t seen nothing yet

When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."

November 28, 2009

Friend in need is a foe in deed

On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama found China, Japan and South Korea - like many nations these days - in no mood to hear more American lectures.

November 21, 2009

Same old, same old

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of murdering last week 13 people (12 of whom were soldiers) and wounding another 30 at Fort Hood, Texas. It was not the first, nor will it be the last, domestic terrorist incident since Sept. 11, 2001.

November 14, 2009

Martial mythologies

As President Obama decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, we should remember that most of the conventional pessimism about Afghanistan is only half-truth.

November 7, 2009

Double trouble

Immigration activists and Hispanic groups are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform.

October 31, 2009

The mouth that roared

President Obama keeps roaring out deadlines like a lion - only later to meow like a little kitty.

October 24, 2009

The saga of going gaga

Norway stunned the world by awarding the coveted Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who was nominated for the honor after being in office less than two weeks. But the award is in keeping with Europeans' behavior over these first nine months of Mr. Obama's presidency. They've gone gaga over the guy.

October 17, 2009

Guru America

President Obama last week flew to Copenhagen to persuade the International Olympic Committee to award the 2016 games to Chicago, his hometown. He and first lady Michelle Obama delivered their now well-known inspirational stories about their Chicago neighborhood experiences. They even had Oprah in tow, along with a number of other Chicago big shots.

October 10, 2009

Three dangerous stooges

Last week, three dictators - from Iran, Libya and Venezuela - delivered lunatic hate speeches at the General Assembly of the United Nations.

October 3, 2009

California dryin’

California is in an uproar over water. Nearly a quarter-million acres' worth of contracted federal irrigation deliveries have been cut from the big farms of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in central California. The water in large part is being diverted to the salty San Francisco Bay and the delta to improve marine ecology.

September 27, 2009

No rules in the arena?

It was certainly uncouth of Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, to scream out "You lie" at his commander-in-chief in the middle of President Obama's recent health care speech before a joint session of Congress.

September 19, 2009

Charles Rangel - sign of the times

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, is becoming a metaphor for almost all the sins of our age.

September 12, 2009

The Second World War — 70 years later

Seventy years ago this week, on Sept. 1, 1939, the Second World War broke out with the German invasion of Poland. Thousands of books have been written about the war. And by now revisionist historians of revisionist historians engage in an endless cycle of disagreement over why the war started, how it ended and what it all meant.

September 5, 2009

War? What war?

The antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan headed to Martha's Vineyard this week, where President Obama is vacationing. Once again she is protesting our two wars abroad.

August 29, 2009

Divine debt trumps all

In Greek mythology, even Olympian gods and heroes were subject to a higher divine power known loosely as "fate" -- an allotted moira, or destiny, that could not be changed even by thunderbolt-throwing Zeus.

August 22, 2009

Finally, their star has aligned

Galaxy's moves help Beckham find success

August 22, 2009