Bob's Blog

Walter Russell Mead writes in The American Interest,

News that North Korea has detonated another bomb comes as no surprise; few things are as obvious in this crazy world as the fact that this murderous dictatorship is making steady progress on its weapons program. The Norks are getting better and better at making more powerful bombs and longer range missiles to put them on. President Obama, like Presidents Clinton and Bush before him, sputters indignantly and wrings his hands, but the tick-tock tick-tock of North Korean nuclear build-up goes on.

...That the Norks should mark President Obama’s final departure from the region he placed at the center of his foreign policy career with the largest nuclear blast in their history is, in its way, fitting; it is a useful reminder of how history actually works.

The problem isn’t that the goals of the liberal internationalists are bad goals. They are excellent goals: no war, the spread of democracy and human rights, limits on weapons of mass destruction, strong institutions. The world they dream of is a much better world than the one we have now. And the liberal internationalists are also right that the world can’t afford to go on in the old way. Given 21st century technology and the vulnerability of our large urban populations to anything that disrupts the intricate networks on which we all depend, old-fashioned great-power politics with its precarious balance of power shored up by recurring wars is a recipe for utter disaster and, maybe, the annihilation of the human race.

But the difficulty that over and over sinks hopeful efforts by liberal internationalists is this: Liberal internationalist methods won’t achieve liberal internationalist goals. Power, not communiqués, is what makes the world go round.Liberal internationalist methods won’t achieve liberal internationalist goals. Power, not communiqués, is what makes the world go round.

...The world is less peaceful, less stable and less liberal today than it was when Barack Obama took the oath of office in January, 2009; Kim Jong-un’s latest nuclear test, and the lack of an effective response by the United States, is merely a sign of the times.

Read more here.

"The way you achieve peace is by preparing for war! Pacifism only means that other people are going to die for you. If one day the lion and the lamb are going to lie down together, you better make damn sure you're the lion."


Thanks to Scott Ott

Leslie Loftus writes,

Look around the grocery store. It’s full of Philippians 4:8: “Whatsoever things are Honest, whatsoever things are True… ” Just, Pure, Lovely. We can buy everything but Chastity. They aren’t selling Chastity.

Poor Peace. It is already a staple beauty-pageant-joke punchline, the safely unattainable yet high-minded declaration of good intentions. Now we can get it in an aerosol.

Last night after work I went to a candle light Christmas Eve church service at the Mile High church in Lakewood, Colorado. A fellow employee at work invited me. He has been very kind to me. I had recently apologized to him for making fun of his new age beliefs. I prefer Victor Davis Hanson to Deepak Chopra.

He asked me to meet him in the parking lot of a church just west of where I work. He said that church was a "sin and fear" church on the north side of the road. That church was dark, having already had its candlelight service two hours earlier. I parked my car there under a light, and he drove me into Lakewood, which was about an hour away.

The Mile High church tells its audience members that "you are the ones you have been waiting for!" I audibly winced and almost jolted out of my seat when I heard those words come from the pastor's mouth. I thought I was listening to Barack Obama!

Divine? I know that I am one hundred percent human, and zero percent divine. I am real clear about that. If there is any divine in me, it is the Holy Spirit, not me. I want the Holy Spirit to be able to make me a gift of His grace to others, but I know the difference between divine and human.

Peace on Earth? Not as long as there are jihadists killing Christians and preparing nuclear warheads aimed at Israel. Not as long as there are brutal totalitarian regimes building up their militaries while we scale down ours.

The church was packed to its 1100 seat capacity. The music was fabulous. The cellist was superb, as was her fellow acoustic musician who played several guitars. There was also an organist/piano player who was excellent, and a drummer who was outstanding. There was a large exuberant choir and a smaller children's choir. One of the children had the most beautiful, pure soprano voice, and she sang a breathtaking version of O Holy Night. There were several other soloists who were first rate. My favorite was the black man who led us in singing Joy To The World, which was the most rousing rendition I have ever participated in. Throughout the hour and one-half music and dance was interspersed with the new age message from the various pastors.

I was wishing my three children would have been with me. They have been going to a Catholic Church with Colleen in Santa Fe. They hate it. "Boring" is always how they describe the experience. Colleen loves it, though. The priest is an escapee from North Korea, and she admires him greatly. She also like the reverence and discipline of the service. She believes church is a place where you go to worship God, not be entertained. The kids would have enjoyed Mile High church, though.

One God, one truth. Rejoice and be glad!