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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

Getting the U.S. and Ukraine back on track

Vladimir Putin doesn't drink much, but I bet he poured himself a glass of Rossiyskoye Shampanskoye after watching relations between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump meltdown last Friday.

March 4, 2025

Putin’s imperial playbook leaves no room for mystery

Churchill famously called Russia "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Is the same true of Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia with an increasingly tight fist since 1999?

February 25, 2025

Trump can halt Russia’s war against Ukraine

President Trump has begun to seriously turn his attention to Russia's war against Ukraine, which began three years ago Monday.

February 18, 2025

Are Arab rulers with or against America?

More than 6 million Syrians fled their homeland during that country's almost 14-year-long civil war. Other nations took them in. It was the humanitarian thing to do.

February 11, 2025

Defeating the Houthis

President Trump has re-designated the Houthi rebels of Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization. That they deserve the label is indisputable.

February 4, 2025

Hamas-Israel hostage deal sets dangerous diplomatic precedent

As the ceasefire-for-hostages agreement went into effect over the weekend, Hamas terrorists no longer disguised themselves as civilians and rode through the streets of Gaza in fully fueled vehicles.

January 21, 2025

Britain’s ‘rape jihad’ scandal exposes flaws in America’s immigration policies

Over decades, thousands of young British girls were systematically raped and, in some cases, murdered by immigrant gangs.

January 14, 2025

Border security is national security

Not long ago, Republicans, Democrats and even big-time TV reporters agreed that secure borders were both good and necessary.

January 7, 2025

American greatness requires great military power

Most Americans understand that the only winning strategy for the U.S. is "peace through strength" -- shorthand for what became known as the Reagan Doctrine.

December 31, 2024

A letter to the Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski

On Jan. 27, there will be a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where roughly 1 million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis.

December 24, 2024

The day after in Syria: Curb your enthusiasm about new regime

Following revolutions, we Americans are inclined to ask: "Are the new leaders like us? Are they moderates who believe in tolerance and peaceful coexistence?"

December 17, 2024

Assad exits and Khamenei’s strategy unravels

The fall of the Assad regime and the fracturing of Ali Khamenei's anti-American and anti-Israeli axis have created a chance to restructure the Middle East.

December 10, 2024

Israel’s gift: Lebanese patriots now have a chance to throw off Iran’s yoke

Do you recall the Cedar Revolution?

December 3, 2024

Another week of attacks on Israel

For more than a year, Israel has been fighting a brutal multifront war against Iran's rulers and their terrorist proxies: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Shia militias in Syria and Iraq.

November 26, 2024

What needs to be achieved in Trump’s second term

Dear Mr. President/President-elect: Congratulations! You're the comeback kid. Not many 78-year-olds win that title.

November 19, 2024

A few words of advice for the departing commander-in-chief Joey Biden

I imagine the past few weeks have been stressful for you and Dr. Jill. I noticed that on election day, she was dressed in red - not blue. Was her Freudian slip showing?

November 12, 2024

West’s appeasing of sworn enemies doesn’t work

Sting was -- I think he still is -- a marvelous singer. But the naive notions expressed in his 1985 song "Russians" are long past their sell-by date.

November 5, 2024

Israelis eliminate top Hamas terrorist Yahya Sinwar, but the war must go on

Last week, Israeli soldiers on patrol in Gaza encountered and eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas commander who plotted and implemented the invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the massacre that followed.

October 22, 2024

Year after Hamas attacked Israel, anti-Zionists cry out for more massacres

Last week, decent people mourned the 1,200 victims of the pogrom waged by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 - the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

October 15, 2024