Free Republic

The U.S. military could not achieve victory in a war with China using its current, all-volunteer force, according to one expert. The United States will thus need to radically transform its force structure to better contend with the emerging threat environment, up to and including by reinstating conscription, said Jonathan Askonas, an assistant professor of Politics at Catholic University of America. “This is a five-alarm fire,” Askonas said during an April 11 discussion with the Hudson Institute think tank. “We’re facing global threats and we have a force structure which we know will not work against those threats. “We basically...

So there’s a global war, we’re the main target of the aggressors, and our leaders don’t see it and therefore have no idea how to win it.

Being able to describe something accurately is the first step to understanding it, then fashioning a course of action. What happened in the House Speaker vote is that, although some opposition to Boehner began to surface, no candidate ran for the position against him. For days Mark Levin has been urging an opponent to run, but nobody did. Therefore, the options were Boehner, Pelosi, or continued votes without a winner. You can't beat somebody with nobody. Many thought Cantor was going to challenge Boehner when Cantor and the other leadership voted against the "cliff deal". They were mistaken. It's possible...

While it is probable that Obama had information that the murder of our ambassador in Libya was not the result of an obscure video trailer, he has claimed that he did not know. He has said he had no idea that on the anniversary of 9/11 there was an orchestrated terrorist attack on our American mission in Benghazi, Libya. Americans should stand amazed at this Obama defense. For the sake of argument, let us take them at their word. That leads to the conclusion that the entire intelligence community, if we believe Joe Biden, did not inform the President of...

In the debate Mitt Romney suddenly assumed the stature of a president while American hasn't found its way under Obama's failing leadership When you accumulate some of the adjectives from the pundits, the media, and other appraisals that were not from the right but from baffled sympathizers and centrists, there is no doubt that President Barack Obama clearly lost the debate this week, as a matter of both substance and tone. Take your pick from the river of insults: listless, meandering, lazy, dull-brained, long-winded, languid, and flaccid were just some of the epithets from the pundits. Even the New York...

GUESTS: AVI LIPKIN, and 3 other Middle East Experts, Walid Shoebat, David Rubin, former mayor in Israel, and I.Q. al-Rassooli. CREDS: U.S.–Israeli and Middle East policy expert, former member of Israeli Defense Forces, former translator inside Israeli Prime Minister’s Office P.O.V: For years, Lipkin has been predicting the overthrow of Egypt & Saudi Arabia. Napoleon had his Waterloo. Will this be Mubarek’s Sand-loo? Avi is an American-born Israeli citizen who travels extensively in the Middle East. Israel Mayor David Rubin and son were wounded in terror attack. CONTACT: Amy Reis or Lynne Campbell of Special Guests at: 630-848-0750. Avi is...

Narcissists dread the stigma of failure. Our self-admiring president is so fearful of ever being blameworthy that he reflexively shrinks from consequential decision making. Barack Obama’s aversion to making difficult decisions has left America effectively leaderless. Mr. Obama’s decision-making malfunction was no big secret before his election. Back in 2006, Mr. Obama himself had warned us in the opening pages of The Audacity of Hope that “I am new enough to the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to...

On Nov. 19, 2002, right after the Republicans had dashed Democratic hopes of retaking the House of Representatives or the Senate in the midterm congressional elections, I wrote in this column that the Democrats "can still win in 2004." But then I added, "Here's the bad news: If they don't change their losers' strategy, they haven't a prayer." Well, they still haven't a prayer. As was said of the reactionary Bourbon kings of France in the 19th century, since then the Democrats have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Their presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, continues to make the...

"(snip)...Oregon Republicans, particularly the conservative insiders and public leaders of the party are all, it seems, ignorant of a simple premise known well to those who participate in sports. A win is determined by the score. Doing real good, but ending up with the lower score is called a "loss." In the case of politics, a "loss" means the other party is in charge of things. Which laws are passed and signed, which judges are appointed, how things are done at the various government agencies, and so forth.As of today, the Oregon Republican Party begins its 21st year of not...