This article was originally posted at Huffington Post. Early in this sordid and salacious campaign season, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump derided Mitt Romney for losing his 2012 presidential bid against Barack Obama with these words: “He choked like a dog.” But the choking dog today has orange hair. Nominated by the party of Lincoln, the […]

This article was originally posted at BBC Radio Wales. On Wednesday, we should know who will become the most powerful person in the world. The US Presidential election has been called ‘the biggest unpopularity contest in America’s recent history’, with torrents of allegations about both candidates, and revelations ranging from the breathtaking to the simply squalid. […]

This article was originally posted at The Times. Next year marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s challenge to the Catholic Church that launched the Protestant Reformation. However, it was in 1516 that a brilliant scholar and reformer — a Catholic humanist — cleared a path for the spiritual revolution that would shatter the unity of […]

This article was originally posted at Huffington Post. The Donald Trump “sex tape” that has sent Republicans scurrying like rats from a sinking barge—just weeks before the presidential election—is spectacle enough. Now add to this cavalcade of confusion the volte-face of a handful of prominent evangelical voices who, up until this moment, declared Trump “a morally […]

This article was originally posted at Providence. Perhaps the most telling political moment of the Syrian refugee crisis arrived last week, during a verbal bout between Senator Bob Corker, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State. Their exchange occurred just as the latest “cease-fire” agreement, intended to allow humanitarian […]

This article was originally posted at Standpoint. Rome’s greatest statesman, a man deeply admired by the American Founders for his insights into morality, law, and politics, drew his last breath in Formia. Marcus Tullius Cicero was at his seaside villa, north of Naples, along the old Appian Way, when soldiers sent by Mark Anthony arrived on […]

This article was originally posted at The Weekly Standard. Ventotene, Italy On this ragged and remote island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, when Europe was in the throes of the Second World War, a political prisoner dreamed of a continent unified and at peace. Altiero Spinelli, who had joined the Italian Communist party as a young man […]

This article was originally posted at Providence. “People are dying,” explains Mahmoud Fadlallah, “and we run toward death.” This is the ethos of the 3,000-strong Syrian Civil Defense, which conducts search-and-rescue missions in war-torn Syria. Known as “the White Helmets” for their signature headgear, they have saved thousands of Syrians, mostly civilians, since the onset of […]

This article was originally posted at Providence. Nearly two years after the start of the Second World War—with most of continental Europe under German occupation—Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill held their first wartime meeting. From Aug. 9-10, 1941 at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, the two titanic leaders in the West agreed to find common cause in the […]

This article was originally posted at Providence. Four years ago, in celebrating the 60th anniversary of Turkey’s membership in the NATO alliance, Secretary General Anders Rasmussen offered unstinted praise. Turkey, he said, “has shown its commitment to stability, security, and solidarity time and time again.” He praised Ankara’s “steadfast commitment” to the International Security Assistance Force […]