Free Republic

Throughout history, starting and then losing unprovoked wars has been a reliable way for dictators to forfeit their grip on power, either at the vengeful hands of the countries they targeted, via palace coups by disgruntled elites or occasionally even through uprisings by ordinary citizens weary of making sacrifices for a tyrant's deadly delusions. Within days of losing the Falklands Islands War to the United Kingdom in 1982, Argentina's General Leopoldo Galtieri, the leader of the embattled military junta that had launched the war to head off popular demands for new elections, resigned his office and started the process of...

Six weeks out from the Iowa caucuses, the presidential race looks more uncertain than ever. Only last week did the schedule of contests become certain: The day before Thanksgiving, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner set the state's primary on Jan. 8, and the day before that, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Michigan primary can proceed on Jan. 15. Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani continue to lead the competitions in national polls and in the large states, but on the Democratic side, there is a virtual three-way tie in Iowa, and on the Republican side, Mitt Romney...