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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

Putin only understands strength: Time for Trump to show it

A year ago, amid indications that Iran's rulers were preparing to launch a direct attack on Israel, President Biden publicly warned them: "Don't!"

April 29, 2025

Truth matters: Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks now documented for history

The atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were recorded by the terrorists themselves on their hip GoPro cameras, their mobile phones and even the phones of their victims.

April 22, 2025

A ‘Reverse Kissinger’ would be a fool’s errand for Trump

You probably know what a reverse mortgage is because you've seen Tom Selleck selling them on television commercials, and you may recall what a reverse half-nelson is from high school gym class.

April 15, 2025

Israel’s second War of Independence

It has been 18 months since Hamas' invasion of Israel and the barbaric pogrom that followed. Hamas is still holding and torturing hostages.

April 8, 2025

Obama and Biden’s failed Russia policies

In 2008, Vladimir Putin's troops invaded neighboring Georgia and seized control of two regions. That chilled Russia's relations with the United States.

March 25, 2025

Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy faces Putin test

First, President Trump muscled Volodymyr Zelenskyy into accepting, without guarantees, a 30-day ceasefire in the brutal war that Vladimir Putin has been waging against Ukraine.

March 18, 2025

The clean energy revolution that never happened

Cast your mind back to Sept. 6, 2019, when candidate Joseph R. Biden took the hand of a 24-year-old activist. "Kiddo," he said, "look in my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We're going to end fossil fuel."

March 11, 2025

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