Free Republic

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, on October 5, 2001, Francis Fukuyama declared that his "end of history" thesis remains valid twelve years after he first presented it shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Fukuyama’s core argument was that after the defeat of Communism and National Socialism, no serious ideological competitor to Western-style liberal democracy was likely to emerge in the future. Thus, in terms of political philosophy, liberal democracy is the end of the evolutionary process. To be sure, there will be wars and terrorism, but no alternative ideology with a universal appeal...

This may be the most important speech given by our president to date.

In Warsaw today (7:15 a.m. ET), President Trump delivers what the White House sees as one of the most important speeches of his presidency. He won't identify himself with the nationalist populist ruling party in Poland, but has something grander in mind. The president will present himself as the leader of the West during an address to thousands of Poles in a public square. Trump's team, led by senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, saw an opportunity to use the story of the Polish resistance as the setting for a new rallying cry to Western civilization. From Trump's text: "The fundamental...

US President Donald Trump is to argue that the future of Western civilisation is at stake in a keynote speech in the Polish capital Warsaw. Holding up Poland as an example of a country ready to defend civilisation, he will warn against the threats of "terrorism and extremism". Poland's conservative government shares Mr Trump's hostile view of immigration and strong sense of sovereignty. Mr Trump is in Poland ahead of a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. "Because as the Polish experience reminds us - the defence of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will...

...With Greece a Persian province what would have happened next? Forward into the Balkans and be met by Eastern Europe's barbaric tribes. It is likely on the evidence of the Romans occupation of that area that the Persians would struggle so far away from their own lands to subdue the Balkan and Italian areas even with the support of its Macedonian allies. But their incursion into this area of Europe would have stopped the formation of the Roman Empire as we know it, The Germanic tribes may have spread further and the migration of the peoples of the Steppes( Maygars...

Sometimes Private Eye runs a spoof "Apology - printed in all newspapers", which says something like: "We used to say that X was a disgusting, brutal pig, unworthy to hold public office. We now recognise that X is a living saint." Such a volte-face has just taken place about Ariel Sharon. If you had followed the British media, particularly the BBC, with average attention over the past 25 years, you would have concluded that Sharon was an intransigent, murderous, semi-fascist. So you would have been perplexed by his sudden announcement this week that he is to leave the "Right-wing" (favoured...

This geographical accident connects the heart of Western Civilization--the need for man-made power to drive our industrial civilization--to the heart of Islamic Civilization: the holy city of Mecca and the traditionalist Arab-Muslim societies of Arabia. Like fratricidal Siamese twins, two opposing civilizations have been joined at the heart.