Clifford D. May
Columns by Clifford D. May
The many reasons Biden should not enrich Iran’s rulers
Tehran sponsors Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria and other countries, Shia militias in Iraq, Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Published January 19, 2021
Biden must heal the nation and show world adversaries a unified America
What a marvelous time to be America's enemy! Despots, dictators and other assorted villains are gloating. Published January 12, 2021
Europe capitulates to China’s rulers
The challenges facing what we used to call, with pride and confidence, the Free World are daunting. Illiberal authoritarians of various stripes are increasingly assertive and audacious. Published January 5, 2021
Islamic Revolution 101: Ambitious Iranian theocrats seizing power still widely misunderstood
In early 1979, I was sent to Iran to report on the rebellion then underway. I was woefully ignorant of Iranian history, politics and theology. Published December 29, 2020
Will Biden learn from Trump and keep making America secure again
"Build Back Better" was Joe Biden's campaign slogan. How different is that, really, from "Make America Great Again"? Both BBB and MAGA suggest the need for restoration, for reversing deterioration and decline, for fixing what's broken. Published December 22, 2020
We can’t predict what Biden’s foreign policy advisers will advise
We are now in that quadrennial season when Washington wonks spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to divine the policies of the next administration based on the individuals named as presidential advisers. Published December 15, 2020
The forgotten refugees of the Middle East
How much does the average Palestinian know about the Jewish refugees from Arab countries? My guess: very little. Published December 8, 2020
The Cold War with China has begun
China has been waging a Cold War against America for years. The current administration has recognized that reality. Published December 1, 2020
Abu Muhammad al-Masri’s assassination exposes relations between Tehran and al Qaeda
The assassins were professionals and they had planned carefully. On Aug. 7, 2020, around 9 o'clock on a warm evening, they rode a motorcycle down a street in Pasdaran, a well-off Tehran neighborhood. Published November 24, 2020
U.N. and other international organizations hijacked by despots
With the defeat of the Axis Power in 1945, the United States emerged as the strongest military, economic and cultural power on earth. Published November 17, 2020
The death threat to free speech in France
How consequential will it be if the French acquiesce, agreeing to carve out an exception to free speech in deference to Islamists? Very. Published November 10, 2020
Charting Natan Sharansky’s journeys: From prison to politics to an exodus from Africa
Natan Sharansky was born Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky in 1948 in Stalino, a grimy Ukrainian coal town renamed Donetsk following the death of the second Soviet dictator in 1953. Published November 3, 2020
Chinese Communist Party seeks nothing less than global domination
Mr. Xi is pursuing not global leadership but global domination. His intention is to build a new illiberal international order, one with rules made in China, for China and enforced by China. Published October 20, 2020
How Russia and China weaponize technology to manipulate the masses
Tyrants have learned to use high technology to spread disinformation while, in totalitarian countries, censors have become adept at repressing truthful information they find inconvenient. Published October 13, 2020
Gen. H.R. McMaster on the urgent need for ‘strategic competence’
There was a simplicity to the Cold War. Free peoples, and those who aspired to that status, were threatened by communism, a totalitarian ideology aggressively propagated by the Soviet Union, an expansionist empire. Published October 6, 2020
After Abraham Accords, time to look at Palestinian-Israeli conflict with fresh eyes
Before there was a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there was an Arab-Israeli conflict. Last week, on the White House lawn, that older conflict was put to rest. Published September 22, 2020
At 75, the U.N. General Assembly in need of reform
The 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly is underway. Publicists are calling it "historic." I suspect you're thinking: Is this exciting or what? Published September 15, 2020
Stopping jihadists is a mission worth discussing during presidential election
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were a wakeup call. They led a low-intensity armed conflict that, 19 years later, remains inconclusive. Published September 8, 2020
Battle for Belarus: Former Soviet republic struggles to become a real republic
It was once thought probable, if not inevitable, that from the ashes of the U.S.S.R. would arise liberal democracies. But few Soviet republics have become real republics. Published September 1, 2020
Lebanon may be broken beyond repair
Long before the blast, Lebanon had begun shattering, politically and economically. Its elites bear the blame, and street protests against them have raged for almost two years. Published August 25, 2020
