Victor Davis Hanson is a real treasure. Even if you don't share National Review Online's politics (which are more flexible and diverse than some people seem to think), Hanson alone is worth a semi-regular trip over there. I have never found a column by him that wasn't worth my time. He's working on a book on military history that'll be on my Amazon wish list as soon as it's published. (I'll bet it's got Casey Tompkins' name all over it, too.)
Hanson's recent column on Europe and America is very worth reading. I know at least three Americans whose entire families hail from over there who would probably like it very much. Our relationship with the Europeans is a strange one nowadays, and that seems to mostly be because they can't deal with the fact that their little brother has grown up.
An entire archive of Hanson's work for NRO can be found here. You could do worse things with your time than browse through it.
Here, Here. I visit NR online just to read his articles. He has a new book out, "Autumn of War."
Great writer, plus he has a great world view.
Hi
I regularly read Victor Hanson's articles and in most cases find myself in broad (if somewhat sceptical) agreement with his view on the world order. However I feel that in one respect Mr Hanson may (deliberately?) lack perspective and that is in lumping Great Britain in with Europe. We are members of the EU but the pact of Napoleonic centralism and federalism that is continental Europe is not the UK's way - we are uneasy bedfellows.
It may be that the UK will join the Euro but it is also quite possible that the UK will choose not to.
One thing is certain we are an island (insular) race used to looking after ourselves and fighting hard when attacked, just like the US. Some of us also remember that our fathers and grandfathers fought to defend our freedoms against Fascism and that the US fought with us. It is almost certain that we could not have won the European war alone (despite my dad and the RAF). It may be that the next few years will again demand a stand against fascism, not the fascism of Germany and Italy but the fascism of radical Islam. Pluralist democracy is a delicate flower that needs to be protected, by force if necessary – this is something some (but not all) of our continental cousins seem to have forgotten. Germany is still in a paroxysm of guilt over the last war, France is concentrating on creating a greater Europe (in envy of the US?). Only the UK, Spain, Italy and the new members (who remember what communism was like) seem to be ready to stand up and be counted. Please remember that Europe is a series of member states not a unified whole.
Should Iraq be your Thermopylae then the Britain may well be Thespiae to your Sparta, militarily tiny compared to you but willing to fight to the death for what we believe in.