Harlan Ullman

A year ago, I proposed six recommendations for the incoming Biden administration to consider as it developed its policies. The administration did not. As it begins its second year, on the current course, the administration is in or close to extremis. Inflation is at thirty-year highs. The filibuster seems here to stay. The Build Back […]

January 6 marked a day of reckoning in America. One year ago, rioters protesting the 2020 presidential election had stormed the US Capitol. Donald Trump was impeached for fomenting the insurgency and, then, acquitted by the Senate. A recent poll showed over 90 per cent of registered Democrats and 70 per cent of Independents believed […]

Whether or not schools, colleges and universities still issue report cards, one is desperately needed to grade how well or badly the United States is doing at home and abroad. Unfortunately, no adults seem to be around to ensure that necessary corrective action will be taken to rectify deficiencies and low or failing grades. Fortunately, […]

The arrival of Omicron and the extraordinary mutations that may have created a far more contagious and possibly lethal virus paints what could be a very grim picture for 2022. Thus far, Covid-19, A-D variants, will claim more lives than were killed in all the wars the United States has fought since 1776. Omicron threatens […]

Make no mistake: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is winning the fight in Ukraine-so far. Threatening to invade is far wiser than invading. Putin knows that. Barring a catastrophic mishap, Putin has no intention of invading or attacking Ukraine. The costs would be too great in Russian casualties and crippling sanctions that would trigger a huge […]

Last March, the Biden administration released its Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. Aside from a veritable handful of national security scholars and no doubt many more Chinese and Russians, beyond the administration, this document probably sank without a trace before it was even launched. In fairness, the Congressionally-mandated National Security and National Defense Strategy reviews […]

Centuries ago, the first American settlers gave thanks for their survival now called Thanksgiving. Today, too many politicians are offering thanks for not having to confront or answer otherwise frighteningly direct questions about America and its role in the world. When pluralistic societies fear addressing tough questions that challenge the basic foundations for those societies, […]

The two greatest of all America’s great documents are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Both were written by the best minds of the eighteenth century.  But are both still relevant and fit for the twenty-first century?Consider four lurking and potentially fatal flaws.  The first arises from the most trenchant line in the Declaration […]

Given the Biden administration’s blunders and stumbles, last week’s column wondered if President Joe Biden’s approval ratings actually should be much lower. But last Tuesday’s election in which Democrats got mugged may mark a turning point and redound to the president’s fortune-an unintended stroke of luck. Why? The Democratic party was split by the uncivil […]

Too often, American public opinion operates as if it were a school of fish. Even the slightest disturbance in the water can impel the school to change course instantly and en masse as if it were a practised drill team. Elevating China and Russia from competitors to adversaries is a case in point by exaggerating […]