The American Spectator

In his book, The Path to Rome, Hillaire Belloc wrote: “…and certainly men who know that the mere truth would be distasteful or tedious commonly have recourse to metaphor, and so to those false men who desire to acquire a subtle and unjust influence over their fellows…” If conservatism is in crisis, and there are many who believe it is, then a full and robust debate about the impact of illegal immigration on our national security must be aired. I do not believe this will happen soon, but I know where final accountability rests. To paraphrase the words on the desk of one president who accepted as his duty and responsibility what befell his country: the buck stops there.

p>Happy New Year, br> — Vincent Chiarello br> Reston, Virginia /p> p> PRECIOUS FLUIDS br> Re: James G. Poulos’s How to Stop Worrying and Love Gazprom : /p>

Why does the West persist in not seeing the smoke still rising from the ash-heap of history, where the “corpse” of communism was tossed a while back? And why does Russia belong in the “Western orbit”? We do not have that much in common, historically speaking. That we appear to be attacked by the same enemy is all that unites us. What strong bonds those!

p>Russia (as part of the Soviet Union) helped train and finance the terrorists who now seek our demise, not because they thought it was a good way to pass the time, but because they sought our demise as well. Is that all changed now? Putin was, and still is, a KGB thug. The idea that he cares about entering into some kind of alliance with the West is only believable to the point where Russia benefits, and the West does not. We have forgotten that unlike personal foes, old geopolitical enemies can rise from the dead. br> —