Clifford D. May

A sorry summit: Biden avoids pivotal issues in meeting with African leaders

Last month, President Biden hosted 59 African leaders in our nation's capital.

January 3, 2023

Strategery 101: When enemy Russia attacks friend Ukraine, back the friend

A week ago Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made a surprise visit to Bakhmut, where his troops are engaged in a bloody battle with Russian invaders.

December 27, 2022

Why Jordan has not joined the Abraham Accords

Some years ago, a colleague and I were in Israel at the home of a former member of the intelligence community who maintained his international connections.

December 20, 2022

Extremist ideologies proliferate in a world where anything goes

Extremist ideologies are proliferating, and it has become taboo in what we used to call polite society to criticize ideas that, not long ago, would have been seen as shockingly beyond the pale.

December 13, 2022

China’s Communist ruler Xi not playing games with U.S.

It's become common to speak of the "U.S.-China rivalry" or the "U.S.-China competition" -- phrases that suggest a game with one nation winning today and another tomorrow.

December 6, 2022

COP27 indictment: Americans are climate criminals and must pay

Three weeks ago, I warned you, dear reader, that the "climate summit" getting underway at the chic Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm El-Sheikh was up to no good.

November 29, 2022

Why sic the FBI on the Israeli Defense Force?

Covering armed conflict is risky business. Shireen Abu Akleh, a reporter for al-Jazeera, must have known that.

November 22, 2022

The speech Biden should give (but don’t hold your breath)

Good afternoon! Well, as you know, I'm just back from the Middle East and Asia. I've been doing a lot of thinking -- no joke! -- and I want to share some of my thoughts with you, my fellow Americans.

November 15, 2022

United Nations’ climate summit COP27 threatens our planet

COP27 began on Sunday and I'm following the action. By action, I mean 12 days of mind-numbing meetings, speeches, and virtue signaling, spiced up with misrepresentations of scientific research.

November 8, 2022

Left is having second — and third — thoughts on Putin’s Ukraine war

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, as I suspect you know, is the club for far-left House members.

November 1, 2022

United Nations goes DEFCON 3 on Israel

Vladimir Putin is slaughtering Ukrainian men, women and children. Xi Jinping is committing genocide against the Muslims of East Turkistan.

October 25, 2022

Mohammed bin Salman has legitimate grievances against U.S.

President Biden is hopping mad that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince and, since last month, prime minister, refused his request not to cut oil production -- or at least to wait a month before doing so. Mr. Biden is threatening "consequences" in retaliation.

October 18, 2022

What diplomacy with Putin would look like now

H.L. Mencken is said to have observed that for every problem there is a solution that is "neat, plausible, and wrong."

October 11, 2022

The problem with tyrants like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin

We're inclined to believe that those who rule nations, however despotic they may be, are not so different from us.

October 4, 2022

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman means to transform the kingdom

The last time I visited Saudi Arabia was in February 2017. Changes were occurring. "Baby steps," as one savvy young Saudi woman told me, adding: "There is at least an acknowledgment that we need to evolve."

September 27, 2022

Fascism for dummies

Fascism seems to be all the rage these days. I'll give you a few examples.

September 13, 2022

Pelosi showing up in Taiwan is not enough

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi cares deeply about the people of Taiwan as she has throughout her long career. That's my story and I'm going to try my darnedest to stick to it.

August 30, 2022

Impact of Biden’s capitulation to the Taliban

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed the lives of many Americans, mine among them.

August 23, 2022

Reporters in Gaza have never been free

Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood branch that rules Gaza, sat out this month's conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller Gaza-based terrorist group tied to Iran's rulers.

August 16, 2022

The ‘forever war’ against the West

Just under a year ago, President Biden asked, "What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?"

August 9, 2022