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Clifford D. May

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a columnist for The Washington Times. He can be reached at cliff@fdd.org.

Columns by Clifford D. May

The people of Iran, Venezuela and Ukraine deserve America’s support

Iran, Venezuela and Ukraine are very different countries, but most Iranians, Venezuelans and Ukrainians want the same thing: to not be ruled by tyrants.

January 20, 2026

After Maduro’s arrest, Venezuela’s corrupt power brokers still remain

Nicolas Maduro was led to believe that Russian air defense systems would keep American helicopters from landing near his fortified compound in Caracas. He was misinformed.

January 13, 2026

The many shades of Islam

After the massacre on Bondi Beach this month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that the killers were adherents of a "radical perversion of Islam."

December 30, 2025

All about Trump’s revised National Security Strategy

Every U.S. president publishes a National Security Strategy because, as the one recently released by the Trump administration says, "all Americans need to know what ... we are trying to do and why."

December 23, 2025

Hamas continued disinformation war fuels a global assault on Israel’s survival

The hostage release and ceasefire President Trump brokered in October has brought Israelis palpable relief and renewed optimism. However, they also recognize that peace is not yet at hand.

December 16, 2025

Fixing Putin’s Russia-Ukraine war peace plan

President Trump is a master multitasker, but I doubt he had time last week to carefully examine the 28-point "peace" plan drafted by Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy.

November 25, 2025

New York, New York, it’s a socialist town

My beat is national security and foreign policy, so I don't usually weigh in on municipal elections, but when the world's foremost capitalist city elects a socialist mayor, I make an exception.

November 18, 2025

The war against Christians

"Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria," President Trump asserted on X last week. HIs concern is justified.

November 11, 2025

Meet the Muslim Brotherhood

In 1918, V.I. Lenin renamed the Bolshevik Party the Russian Communist Party.

November 4, 2025

America needs energy dominance

National security requires energy security. American greatness -- by which I mean the maintenance of American power second to none -- requires more than that. It requires energy dominance.

October 28, 2025

Letter to Trump: Putin wants to out-negotiate you, Stalin-style

Dear President Trump: I understand you're thinking about meeting with Vladimir Putin again, this time in Budapest.

October 21, 2025

Gaza celebrates while Hamas prepares for next war

For the past few days, large crowds of healthy, energetic Gazans have been cheering, dancing in the streets and chanting "Allahu akbar!" -- all recorded on their fully charged cellphones.

October 14, 2025

Trump’s Gaza plan gives Hamas a final choice between survival and martyrdom

They say there are no atheists in foxholes. When it comes to Hamas, that's not reassuring.

October 7, 2025

‘What is the purpose of the United Nations?’

When I was in graduate school, back in the previous century, I took two courses simultaneously on the United Nations.

September 30, 2025

Qatar: Not an Arab Switzerland but a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist haven

A disturbing thought experiment: Imagine your children have been kidnapped and are being tortured in a dungeon.

September 23, 2025

Twenty-four years after 9/11, the war on the West expands not contracts

Last week, we remembered the almost 3,000 victims of the al-Qaida terrorists who, on Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked passenger aircraft and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

September 16, 2025