Author: Rachel Marsden

Last week, I switched over to Fox News’ Republican debate immediately after watching the Canadian federal leaders’ debate. (Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper faces re-election on Oct. 19th). Thankfully, culture shock can’t kill you. Normally, in political debate, a candidate is asked a question, offers a response, and then the other candidates can weigh in […]

History will remember U.S. President Barack Obama for having unshackled Iran from economic sanctions so it could enjoy the full benefit of its oil revenues — some $100 billion or so on standby, according to U.S. Treasury estimates. Obama has arguably done more for Iran’s energy independence than he has for America’s. “The U.S. is […]

I recently heard a panel of journalists complain on a radio show that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump won’t stop hijacking the news cycle and is effectively preventing them from covering other stories. There were no such complaints during Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, even when it consisted mainly of platitudes about “hope and change.” […]

The fight against terrorism could literally go on forever if we let it. Just ask Ken Taylor, the former Canadian ambassador to Iran best known as the mastermind of the plot to exfiltrate American diplomats from Iran during the hostage crisis, as depicted in the movie “Argo.” “This is going to go on for generations,” […]

PARIS — French police arrested the chief executive of Uber France and the general manager of Uber Europe this week for “inciting illegal employment.” Translation: Uber is disrupting a system in which a cartel deprives the free market of alternatives while imposing widespread consumer misery. But, hey, at least the distribution of such misery is […]

PARIS — For the latest example of Russia’s “long game” in its worldwide competition against Western interests, look no further than how Russia is handling the matter of Greece and its endless financial woes. And if Russia ultimately wins, we in the West have only ourselves to blame. Since at least 2009, Greece has been […]

PARIS — Two years ago, former NSA contractor and CIA employee Edward Snowden bailed to Hong Kong with a stash of digitized top-secret documents, some of which have since dribbled out into the public domain. According to a newly declassified report by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General, systemic vulnerabilities in the intelligence community […]

U.S. President Barack Obama recently cautioned U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates in a commencement speech: “I’m here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security. And, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country.” Whenever someone utters the words […]

Parts of the U.S. Patriot Act expired on Sunday. You may not have noticed, but the terrorists did. At least that’s what CIA Director John Brennan said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I think terrorist elements have watched very carefully what has happened here in the United States,” Brennan warned. Presumably Brennan means that while […]

PARIS — The fight against the Islamic State is making for some odd bedfellows — namely, the U.S. and Iran. Perhaps that isn’t a bad thing, as average Americans could be the ultimate beneficiaries. U.S. military action against the Islamic State has already cost $2.44 billion, according to the Pentagon. For that price, the terrorist […]

PARIS — Pentagon officials are touting the success of a Delta Force special operations commando raid in Syria last weekend that resulted in the dispatch of about a dozen Islamic State riffraff. Not to take anything away from Delta Force, which is comprised of America’s most elite warriors, but this kind of straightforward, direct-action job […]

PARIS — Stupidity and obesity are now matters of U.S. national security. And it’s only the tip of a more significant iceberg that threatens America from within. An organization called Mission: Readiness comprised of more than 500 retired generals and military leaders routinely publishes reports — including one just last month — detailing how a […]

PARIS — Hillary Clinton isn’t just a Democratic candidate for president of the United States; she’s co-president of the breakaway Republic of Clintonstan. As Clinton said herself in the early ’90s when her husband was running for president: “If you vote for my husband, you get me. It’s a two-for-one, blue plate special.” A lot […]

PARIS — The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation seems to be dreaming of foreign lands. Poland, to be exact. Circa World War II. In an article for the Washington Post adapted from a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, FBI Director James Comey wrote, “In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of […]

PARIS — As U.S. political focus turns to declarations of presidential candidacies, there needs to be a deliberate effort to avoid a repeat of the “Obama adventure.” Remember how Obama was supposed to be some kind of benign political homemaker who, unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, was going to wrap up overseas military engagements, […]

PARIS — We’re witnessing arguably the most unfocused and undisciplined U.S. foreign policy in history under President Barack Obama. If I’m seeing it and you’re seeing it, then it’s a safe bet that America’s opponents are seeing it — and attempting to exploit it for long-term gain. What might that exploitation look like? Take a […]

PARIS — The Green Berets need to throw more tea parties, don’t you think? The federal government is requesting public-sector proposals from contractors to train U.S. Special Forces in ethnography and cultural work. That includes, according to the wording of the government tender, “the distinct cultural and societal differences and engagement considerations between U.S. Country […]

PARIS — American radio host Howard Stern conducted a lengthy interview with Madonna last week. Although the world-famous singer might not share my conservative political views, I found myself hard-pressed to think of another woman whose story I connected with more (except perhaps that of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as portrayed by Meryl […]

PARIS — One of the most alarming things about Islamic State terrorists is how effective they’ve become at creating propaganda — slickly produced videos depicting violent acts against their captives, paired with various denunciations of Western foreign policy and related demands. In some cases these videos feature recruits from Western nations attempting to reach out […]

PARIS — Ever since Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov was gunned down while walking with a girlfriend near Moscow’s Red Square last week, there has been rampant international speculation about who’s responsible for the murder. Why is everyone in such a hurry to log onto social media, voice an opinion on Nemtsov’s killing, huddle with […]

PARIS — The Academy Awards represent the annual celebration of the most formidable soft-power cultural force the world has ever known: Hollywood. If there’s one thing that shouldn’t be expected from Hollywood, it’s depth — particularly of the political kind. What we can expect instead is mostly pathetic pandering to the worst of emotivist “yay/boo” […]

PARIS — While surfing the Internet on Valentine’s Day, I came across a love story so poignant that I just have to share it with you. I’m taking really hot and heavy — as in actual fire.   I noticed a banner advertisement for an event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April called the “Kingdom […]

PARIS — Massive interconnectivity in our era has ironically resulted in self-isolation, self-delusion and aggression — for individuals and nation-states alike. Did anyone predict that the perception of close proximity fostered by globalization and interconnectivity might lead to blowback? Yes, in fact several scientists did. In 1971, Charles Southwick wrote in the Ohio Journal of […]

PARIS — Does anyone else miss the days when intelligence agencies were permitted to operate covertly and it was considered totally acceptable that they do so? It seems to be increasingly the case that Western countries are perceived as less than democratic if their traditionally covert operations aren’t fully transparent to the public. It’s one […]

Federal prosecutors have filed espionage charges against three Russians allegedly working for Russia’s foreign intelligence service, SVR. The only one without diplomatic immunity was arrested in the Bronx, N.Y., on Monday, while the other two have left the U.S. The federal complaint reveals some amusing realities of modern espionage. — Spying isn’t terribly exciting. One […]

During a White House press conference last week in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, U.S President Barack Obama took the opportunity to school France on how to fight terrorism through social assimilation and approaches that don’t involve the military or law enforcement. Ironically, he lectured the French while standing just a few miles […]

As member of the French media, and as a French resident and immigrant, last week’s terrorist attack in Paris targeting the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo hit home literally and figuratively. Hopefully the political climate in the aftermath of the deadly attack can be leveraged to enact change on several fronts — change that, up […]

U.S. President Barack Obama, the premature Nobel Peace Prize winner, appears to have finally pried himself away from the gaming console and gone outside for some fresh air. Hopefully he’ll stay there so Europe can recover from its hangover — and from some of the most egregious, pointless and destructive interventionism in recent times. Obama […]