War

Leaving Afghanistan

Whatever one thinks about how the exit was handled, the Biden administration has done what we should have done years ago: admit defeat and come home. Continue Reading »

31 Aug 2021

Ethics of Leadership and Ethics of Teaching

by Kevin L. Flannery

John Keown spoke recently about the ethics of nuclear weapons. In his lecture, “The Pope and the Bomb: The Ethics of Nuclear Deterrence,” Keown argued that the aiming of nuclear weapons at cities and intending to use them in order to deter enemy attacks is immoral. Keown’s moral reasoning . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Apr 2021

Christian Armenia Under Attack

by Mark Movsesian

Last week, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive against Karabakh, reigniting its long-simmering war with Armenia. Continue Reading »

5 Oct 2020

Truman's Terrible Choice, 75 Years Ago

by George Weigel

Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs thinking, rightly, that doing so would save American and Japanese lives by shocking Japan into surrender. Continue Reading »

30 Sep 2020

Private Faces in Public Places

by Shalom Carmy

If the stature of a poet is measured by how well his words stick in the reader’s mind and refurbish our language, then W. H. Auden is one of the dominant English voices of the twentieth century. It is ironic that he came to “loathe” (his word) some of his best-remembered work. The most . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2020

How to Lose a Cold War
(and Why)

by Matthew Schmitz

North by Northwest’s style is so impeccable, its tone so effervescent, that many viewers fail to grasp the film’s seriousness. Ernest Lehman, the screenwriter, did not help when he described the film as an insubstantial caper in the vein of James Bond, “something that has wit, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2020

Big Julie

by Joseph Epstein

James Boswell, who knew a thing or two about hero worship, called Julius Caesar “the greatest man of any age.” Alexander Hamilton told Thomas Jefferson that Caesar was “the greatest man who ever lived.” Theodor Mommsen, in his History of Rome, called Caesar “the sole creative genius . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Apr 2019

11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour (Armistice 100)

by Mary-Patrice Woehling

10:59. The seconds slowly trudgeOver the top of the eleventh hourWhen shells and whiz bangs cease their lethal shower;We hold our breath and watch the minute budge.The church bells peal in joy, but time will judgeIf this is lasting peace or brooding power.On monuments crepe paper poppies flower;What . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2018