Clifford D. May

London terror attacks must be understood

"The Kafir's Blood Is Halal For You, So Shed it." That's just one of the catchier headlines in a recent issue of Rumiyah, a slick online magazine published by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

March 28, 2017

Donald Trump’s North Korea policy changing

America can do anything but America can't do everything, at least not within a four-year time frame. That suggests that the American president -- any American president -- needs to prioritize.

March 21, 2017

Pakistan a source of Islamic terror

Pakistan was meant to be a model, an example for other nations to emulate. It was founded after World War II, as the sun was setting on the British Empire and India was preparing for independence. India's Muslims, though glad to see the end of the Raj, were apprehensive about becoming a minority in a Hindu-majority land.

March 14, 2017

Israel-Palestine peace process cannot be rushed

This palm-fringed oasis in the Jordan Valley has been continuously inhabited for 10,000 years. That justifies it billing itself as the "oldest city in the world."

March 7, 2017

Left makes America apologize

Intellectuals of the left and those influenced by them judge the United States and certain European nations as uniquely guilty of imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia -- the list goes on.

February 28, 2017

Saudi Arabia attempts to be a legitimate nation

Saudi Arabia is changing. When government officials here tell you that, you take it with an oversized grain of salt. But when Saudi human rights activists say the same, you pay attention.

February 21, 2017

Border security necessary to head off disputes

Al Qaeda does not value diversity and it's not an equal opportunity employer. The same can be said of the Islamic State. And when the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran want to commit an act of terrorism -- the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, to take just one example -- they are likely to give the assignment to members of Hezbollah, a radical Islamic group of the Shia persuasion. They are highly unlikely to recruit Unitarians, Mormons or Baha'i.

February 7, 2017

Putting a price tag on the United Nations

This may come as a shock: It's possible, not likely but possible, that a committee of officials from the Defense, State and Justice Departments, as well as the National Security Council, will conduct a review of the disproportionate funding the United States provides to the United Nations and, hold onto your hats, come to the conclusion that American taxpayers should spend less on an organization that is inefficient, corrupt and inimical to American interests.

January 31, 2017

Ending Islamic terrorism will require a long war

In an inaugural address that was more purposeful than poetic, President Trump last Friday vowed to "unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth." I hope we can agree, across party and ideological lines, that those are worthwhile objectives.

January 24, 2017

Defining violent extremism down

Death, where is thy sting? For Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, it certainly didn't come from the mainstream media.

January 17, 2017

Cyberwarfare a serious concern

Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee was mischievous. Did it change the outcome of the 2016 elections? No evidence suggests that and the intelligence community isn't claiming that.

January 10, 2017

Trump’s first 100 days

It's apparent that Donald Trump was -- to employ a neologism coined by President George W. Bush 16 years ago -- misunderestimated. But those who gave odds that he couldn't transform from a successful businessman into a successful politician are now betting he can't transform from a successful politician into a successful statesman.

January 3, 2017

Obama throwing Israel to the U.N.’s wolves

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is, as its name suggests, an organization committed to jihad — against Israel most urgently, though not exclusively. So when the U.N. Security Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning Israel, PIJ spokesman Dawood Shihab was pleased. He called it a "victory." He wasn't wrong.

December 27, 2016

Syria horrors seemingly unending

Over the last five years, Syria has been descending into a hell on Earth. Over the last four months, the lowest depths of the inferno have been on display in Aleppo, an ancient city, once among the most diverse and dynamic in the Middle East. On Friday, in the final press conference of his presidency, Barack Obama addressed this still-unfolding humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.

December 20, 2016

How Obama and Iran are like Eisenhower Egypt

The Islamic Republic of Iran is, according to no less an authority than the U.S. government, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, suicide-bombed U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983. Iranian-backed Shia militias killed hundreds of American troops in Iraq more recently.

December 13, 2016

Mahmoud Abbas, no champion of democracy for Palestinians

One man, one vote, one time: In 2005, Mahmoud Abbas was elected to a four-year term as president of the Palestinian Authority. He hasn't bothered to run for re-election since.

December 6, 2016

Donald Trump’s top priorities should be prosperity, security, freedom

Slowly and perhaps even surely, Donald Trump is pulling together a team he believes can help him achieve his goals. Which are what exactly?

November 29, 2016

Constitution upholds states’ rights

The People's Democratic Republic of Oregon. That has a kind of ring to it, don't you think? The reason this phrase has crystalized in my mind: Just after it was confirmed that Donald Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton, a petition was submitted for a ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from these United States.

November 22, 2016

Donald Trump’s victories pale in comparison to challenges ahead

First and foremost: Nothing is more pivotal to democratic governance then holding free and fair elections that lead to a peaceful transference of power. Over the past week, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama all demonstrated that they get that. This is an achievement that should not be taken for granted -- an achievement that remains out of reach in too many of the world's nations.

November 15, 2016

The Islamist war against history

"He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past." This, as you may recall, was the slogan of the totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell in 1984, his classic novel.

November 8, 2016