Politics How Biden Courted Johnson for Ukraine Aid State of the Union: President Biden takes a victory lap over persuading Speaker Johnson to pass more Ukraine aid. President Joe Biden’s administration is taking a victory lap as the president prepares to sign a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $61 billion for Ukraine. Specifically, Biden and company are boasting about how they worked over House Speaker Mike Johnson in the six months since the Louisianan started his tenure. “For months, President Joe Biden and his team pressed the case for additional aid both publicly and pr ..read more

Books Meritocracy and the Great Power Competition A new book examines weaknesses in China’s meritocratic system—and in our own. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi via Getty Images) The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline, Yasheng Huang, Yale University Press, 440 pages Whether you are a globalist or a supporter of economic nationalism, a China hawk or dove, you must consider a number of critical questions. What is the basis for the stability of CCP—how has the party managed to survive so many upheava ..read more

Foreign Affairs What $61 Billion for Ukraine Won’t Do There are problems money can’t fix. (paparazzza/Shutterstock) On April 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the long-delayed $61 billion aid package for Ukraine. The package quickly passed Tuesday night through the Senate on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk, where it will quickly be signed.  House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly reversed course and led the aid package through the House in part because, during intelligence briefings, he came to “believe the intel” that without the “lethal aid,” “Vladimir Putin woul ..read more

Politics The CIA’s Man in Constantinople The U.S. government is making itself felt in Orthodox internal politics. Everyone knows that the Moscow Patriarchate is in bed with the Kremlin. Few realize that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is deeply beholden to the United States government.  This ignorance is surprising, given that many Greek Orthodox leaders are quite proud of the fact. In 1942, Athenagoras Spyrou—the Archbishop of America for the Greek Orthodox Church—wrote to an agent of the Office of Strategic Services. “I have three Bishops, three hundred priests, and ..read more

Politics Trump Could Be in Serious Trouble State of the Union: Could the hush-money case against former President Trump be over before it has even begun? Today, the hush-money prosecution of former President Donald Trump started in earnest. But could this case be over before it has even begun? In the prosecution’s opening statement, Matthew Colangelo, on behalf of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, told the jury that Trump orchestrated “a criminal conspiracy and a coverup,” to win the 2016 presidential election. Predictably, in his own opening statement, Trump’s leading lawyer To ..read more

Nottingham is a weird old town, radical and reactionary at the same time. It was the place where King Charles I raised his standard against the Parliament, starting the English Civil War. It is overgrown with Robin Hood statues all over the city center. It is a Labour party stronghold, although it is surrounded by working-class deep Englanders who voted for Brexit in nearby Mansfield and Chesterfield. Almost next door, in Lincolnshire, Margaret Thatcher was born—and is reviled to this day. It is where I completed my PhD, at the University of Nottingham, a Russell Group University. It is near w ..read more

Books The Columnist The Library of America gives Jimmy Breslin the treatment. Jimmy Breslin: Essential Writings, ed. Dan Barry, Library of America Every publication—every good publication, anyway—is a bit like a baseball team. You’ve got your writers of various sorts, editorialists, book reviewers, and so on. These are your players. Foremost are the reporters, invariably badly dressed, usually gregarious, usually late on deadlines, rarely your great literary stylists but they shake out the interesting details of things. You’ve got your editors, usually better (or at least more formally ..read more

Politics Does the Gay Rights Movement Hold Lessons for Pro-Lifers? There is no more notable precedent in recent years for an underdog cause toughing it out. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Same-sex marriage advocates lost 32 times in a row before November 2012, when several states then voted in their favor. Yet at no point during that extensive losing streak did they settle for a “compromise,” like civil unions or domestic unions, as their ultimate goal. Neither should we, pro-life Americans, settle for a compromise—in this case, a 15-week abortion ban that (in the words of a ..read more

Politics The New Litmus Test for Republican Candidates The U.S. needs political leaders who will get serious about fentanyl. (Chess Ocampo/Shutterstock) Monday, April 15, was the two-year anniversary of the worst day of our life—the day my wife Kathy and I lost our son Joey to fentanyl poisoning. Joey had his struggles, but never did we imagine his life would be taken by a poison infiltrating our southern border from our enemies. Our family isn’t alone. There has been a 1,000-percent increase in fentanyl deaths among young people from 2020–2023.  Over 100,000 American sons and da ..read more

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