The tragic deaths of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady Maria Kaczynska, and dozens of senior Polish officials, are being mourned today by tens of millions of people across the free world. For much of the 20th Century, the Polish people fought to be free, from the twin evils of fascism and communism, and their sacrifice and bravery has been a testament to their courage and indefatigable spirit, as well as an inspiration. In recent years as well, Poland has shed blood in the defence of freedom, with …
Littered throughout the President’s proposed budget and health care plan are over $2 trillion in new taxes. In the budget we see tax hikes on businesses including the death tax; new detrimental restrictions on a tax provision called “deferral” that is vital for U.S. companies operating abroad; and potential new taxes to raise revenue for health care reform. We also see in the proposed health care plan a new Medicare tax on investment income. Heritage experts have pointed out that tax increases have a negative effect on the economy and …
In publicizing the President’s State of the Union address, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett announced that one of the achievements of which the administration was most proud in its first year in office was its action to repair “badly frayed global alliances” and “to restore America’s leadership in the world.” That leadership was not much in evidence in the President’s speech, which is only fitting, because it has been lacking in reality as well. The President name-checked the obvious foreign crises. Haiti, predictably, took pride of place, and here, at least, …
President Obama has lavished time and attention on Europe in spades. He made Europe his first foreign port of call after his inauguration and since then has visited at least eight European countries (plus Russia). His popularity ratings in most of Europe, especially in Western Europe, would make the average Hollywood A-lister blush. He has even been referred to in some quarters as “the first European President of America.” And some in Europe – the utopian European elites and chattering intellectual classes of Brussels – are pretty pleased. President Obama …
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin and said: “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” On November 9, 1989, just two years after Reagan made his Brandenburg Gate speech, the people of Germany did tear down “this wall” and in so doing they freed hundreds of millions of people from …
EU elites have been lining up in euphoric droves to celebrate the passage of the Lisbon Treaty. Having fudged, connived, bullied and browbeaten the final hold-outs, the creation of an EU super-state will now take its greatest leap forward. Contrast the throngs of headlines over Lisbon’s passage with the EU’s response to Russia’s simulation of a nuclear attack on Poland. A Polish newspaper recently revealed that Moscow simulated a war game in which Russian armed forces invaded Poland and nuclear missiles were fired. Eerily similar to the propaganda methods adopted …
When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Munich in March she presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift intended to symbolize the Obama administration’s desire to “push the reset button” on U.S. relations with Moscow. Problem is, the lettering on the little red button said “overload” (peregruzka), not “reset” (perezagruzka). This high level gaffe is just about the perfect symbol for how Obama’s Russian relation relaunch has gone. White House wordsmiths seem to also have forgotten that if you push the reset button, old software bugs get …
Last week, I wrote a column in the New York Post, questioning the Obama administration’s proposed plan for missile defense in Eastern Europe which will replace the Bush-era ground-based interceptors (GBI) in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. I especially questioned the ability of the new Obama system to defend the United States against an Iranian ICBM until their land-based SM-3 comes on-line around 2020. This Saturday, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. P. O’Reilly, responded, writing in part: Contrary to Brookes’ assertion, with our long-range …
As Vice President Joe Biden completes his arm-twisting tour of Central and Eastern Europe, the Czechs have announced that they are ready to participate in America’s new missile defense plan, but only in the context of NATO. In the clearest sign yet of dissatisfaction with their second-class treatment by the new Administration, the caretaker Czech Government announced that Czech participation in the new missile defense architecture will no longer be on a bilateral basis. It is clear that President Obama sent Biden to Central and Eastern Europe to paper over …
Vice President Joe Biden began a trip to Eastern Europe including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania this week. The trip comes on the back of the disastrous announcement by the Obama administration abandoning third site missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of improving relations with Russia. Biden is making a weak attempt to reassure Eastern Europe, especially Poland, of continued U.S. partnership as he is trying to force them into accepting the new reality.
