Tag: national security

Normalizing Cuba?

President Obama has now met with Raul Castro and begun the normalization of relations process with Cuba, thereby reversing American policy that has been in effect for more than 50 years, ever since the Castro brothers and their chief lieutenant, Che Guevara, ousted what was admittedly a corrupt Cuban government. However, replacing a corrupt government with a totalitarian Marxist regime that routinely rounds up “enemies” of the state and executes them is not an improvement. Allowing the old Soviet Union… Read more »

The Gates Book

Robert Gates is a man who has served faithfully on defense issues in administrations from Nixon to the present one. He has worked with both Republican and Democrat presidents and has built a reputation of steadfastness and integrity respected by both sides of the political world. He has now decided to let his thoughts out on what it was like to be secretary of defense for both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Gates’s new book, Duty: Memoirs of… Read more »

Don’t Erect That Pedestal Just Yet

As of this past Sunday, we have a new household name: Edward Snowden. In these two-plus days of his notoriety, his actions have divided people, and not clearly along ideological lines. Some conservatives and liberals support what he has done; others deplore his decision. What has he done? Working with a company contracting with the National Security Agency (NSA), he leaked secret information about the “date-mining” the NSA is doing. Then he left everything and everyone behind, sneaked over to… Read more »

A Contrast, Not a Comparison

A new theme being promoted by some in the media and, implicitly, by the Obama administration itself, is the similarity between the current occupant of the people’s White House and Ronald Reagan. Time magazine was up front with the linkage this week on its cover: Well, I would like to do a comparison myself. Let’s start with the economy. Both Reagan and Obama inherited a mess. Reagan’s solution was to reduce the tax burden on citizens and cut back on… Read more »