Last week, on May 16, COMMENTARY held its annual dinner at the Union League Club. Giving this year’s Norman Podhoretz Lecture—the dinner’s main event—was our former ambassador to the UN John Bolton. Bolton was given stellar introductions by COMMENTARY’s editor-in-chief Neal Kozodoy and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Here are a few highlights of Bolton’s speech, on regime change, preventative action, Iran, North Korea, and the general outlook for U.S. foreign policy going into the 2008 elections.
Contentions
2 Responses to “The Norman Podhoretz Lecture: John Bolton”
May 2012
-
Articles
-
The Jigsaw Puzzle & the Chessboard
Henry R. NauThe making and unmaking of foreign policy in the age of Obama.
-
What the Evangelicals Give the Jews
Michael MedvedThe true, and hidden, virtue of a controversial relationship.
-
Three Days that Shook ObamaCare
Tevi Troy -
The War Obama Wanted
Alana GoodmanHow Democrats got the better of Republicans on contraception vs. religious liberty.
-
Ryan's Hope
James PethokoukisAre the politics changing when it comes to reining in Medicare?
-
Capital Offense
Omri Ceren -
Eisenhower and the End of Greatness
Michael J. LewisFrank Gehry's design doesn't know how to convey a singular truth.
-
Deviated: A Memoir
Jesse KellermanA cautionary tale from the brave new world of health-care coverage.
Politics & Ideas
-
Class Dismissed
Jeff JacobyA review of Jonathan D. Sarna's "When General Grant Expelled the Jews"
-
The Closing of the American Nietzsche
Charles M. StangA review of Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen's "American Nietzsche"
-
In Tropes They Trust
Jonathan Neumann -
Prudishness Lost
Peter Lopatin
Culture & Civilization
-
Beloved by Whom?
D.G. Myers -
The Incredible Shrinking Conductor
Terry Teachout -
Roth’s Complaint
William GiraldiA review of "Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters," edited and translated by Michael Hofmann
-
The Game Change Game
Andrew Ferguson
John Podhoretz
-
Culture Warrior in Chief
John Podhoretz
Threat Assessment
-
The Iran Leakfest
Jonathan S. Tobin
Letters
-
Taking the Jewish Vote for Granted
Our ReadersLetters in response to Jonathan S. Tobin's “Jews, Money, and 2012"
-
Bickel and Judicial Restraint
Our ReadersLetters in response to Adam J. White's "The Lost Greatness of Alexander Bickel"
-
Objectivity and the Haredim
Our ReadersLetters in response to Mati Wagner's "The Ultra-Orthodox on the Warpath"
-
What About the Urban Poor?
Our ReadersLetters in response to Bruce D. Meyer and James X. Sullivan's "American Mobility"
Enter Laughing
-
disgusting
There is only one way for Israel and that is to forget there is TV and go out and hammer whatever lay in its path to demolish Hamas. All out war to…OMG, he’s going to say it…. WIN! The world doesn’t like Israel now, it would like it less during and after its victory. BUT, Israel would have made itself safer, and put the requisite fear back into its enemies (read, IRAN).
I can’t stand the military analysts on all the major netwoorks telling us what Israel can and cannot do — “there can’t be too many civilian causulities on the Palestinian side” for instance. Why not? They voted for Hamas and support them. They are the Nazi German citizenry of that region, plain and simple.
If Israel wants to survive, they have take the “world” out of the equation — turn off their TV’s — and make quick work of the vicious terrorists that only want Israel’s destruction.
Polls? You trust polls? Oiy vey.
Haaretz polls? Geez.
Funny, weren’t the disengagements also ostensibly a response to public opinion? Never mind.
Look, I’ve been beating up on the IDF relentlessly because the results of Lebanon ’06 were that catastrophic. The deterrent power of the armed Israeli Soldier was completely lost.
What matters is not how the ground operation begins, but what its aims are and how it is brought to a conclusion. Only a situation in which the IDF is clearly victorious can begin Israel’s long, hard slog back to respectability. Only through strength are negotiations for a durable peace possible.
One must prepare for war to keep the peace. Israel has forgotten this in its desperate dash for the next marginal shekel. Now it must return to the old virtues of its Zionist founders to survive.
I remain skeptical, but hopeful. This is a staff sergeant’s and young officers war. I pray tonight that the young leaders in the field will take the initiative and win the day, as they must.
The NCO’s will earn their pay tonight.
Rosner,
something tells me the IDF is looking for more than a cease-fire. As long as Hamas exists it will attack israel, but if it doesn’t run the “Palestinian” government, it will be less dangerous.
Shmuel and “Section9:” You overlook the Winograd Commission report after the 2006 Lebanon campaign failures.
Rest assured, because Israel has a new Defense Minister (Barak); and Olmert already stated that he has taken to heart the lessons learned in Winograd.
Once they’ve decided to commit ground forces, the stakes rise tremendously.
They can’t let this one conclude as did the last one in ’06.
We should all say some prayers for those going in, because not all of them are going to emerge unscathed.
And Dan S., some of us have some serious questions whether Barak had enough time to right the ship after the Winograd Report.
We’ll find out soon enough.
Some comments here are full of wishful thinking. There can be no clear victory against terrorism. It never happens. The only time it happens is when you negotiate with them (please remember IRA and what happened in Ireland). The other victory would be killing all Palestinians. Well, there is one problem with that: Israel depends on the world. Especially on USA. Its military, its economy – everything depends on USA. If USA gets annoyed and is not willing to help – Israel will have to do things that are accepted here. Without our money, Israel would have to negotiate and forget about dropping precision bombs. The fact that none of the goals above have to do with Southern Israel, saving Israeli civilians and so on and have everything to do with elections and politics – that means the operation will fail.
So this powerful army must kill, maim and terrorize thousands of innocent, impoverished women and children to prove to its neighbors that it is “not afraid of war” and to engender its citizens’ confidence in itself? That is easily one of the sickest, most sociopathic rationales for war I have ever heard. Please tell me the Israeli people have not devolved this far. This is truly cold-blooded, and I fear what is happening to our friends the Israelis. They’re quickly falling to the level of Hamas.