Ralph Peters
Latest Articles
The world is descending into tyranny
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, democracy was supposed to be irresistible. While some of us were more skeptical than others, even...
Democrats' shabby attack on Trump's new CIA pick
The latest Washington cry of “You’re Fired!” will elevate current CIA Director Mike Pompeo to the secretary of state’s chair. He’s reasonably qualified and up to date on global challenges....
The West is still letting Putin run wild
If anyone needed further proof of Vladimir Putin’s malevolence, the last 10 days provided chilling examples. His agents attacked a Russian defector and his daughter with nerve agent on British...
It's time to stand up to the NRA's bullying
Wayne LaPierre, the well-compensated boss of the National Rifle Association, routinely warns of approaching tyranny against which “real” Americans must arm themselves. He’s wrong. The tyranny’s already here. It’s the...
I’m a military man and I think we should ban assault weapons
Guns and I go back a long way. My father was a champion skeet shooter. A picture of him aiming his favorite pump skyward has pride of place in our...
Love revolution: the real force for Mideast change
Something momentous happened in the Middle East last week and it didn’t involve war or fanaticism: Saudi Arabia let its citizens celebrate Valentine’s Day. For years hard-line clerics there condemned...
Putin had to approve Russian attack on US troops
It was inevitable. Russian “mercenaries” attacked a forward base in Syria where they knew American advisors were stationed. It was a test. And our military passed. Let’s hope the administration...
Stage a grand military parade? No way – it’s a wasteful, gaudy distraction
Early in his presidency, Richard Nixon was impressed by the elaborate uniforms of ceremonial guards he encountered in Europe. So he ordered special outfits for the Secret Service guards protecting...
Don’t abandon the Kurds to the ‘mercies’ of Turkey’s tyrant
The United States has been the protector and ally of the Kurds for a quarter-century. And the Kurds have proven to be, man-for-man and woman-for-woman, the best fighters in the...
The final act of the Syrian bloodbath
The euphoric hopes of 2011’s Arab Spring soon collapsed into a long winter of blood and devastation. From the Middle East through much of North Africa, dictators fell, but societies...
How Trump's foreign policy started to sing
In the media’s two warring camps, President Trump is either a new messiah or Satan incarnate. One destructive result is that we see little serious, politics-free analysis of the president’s...
If North Korea's nukes don’t scare you, take a look at its biological weapons
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Pestilence, War, Famine and Death — gallop through the Book of Revelation, and they’ve put in plenty of grim appearances elsewhere. Lately they’ve...
Let's hope Trump supports his new national-security strategy
The Trump administration’s just-released National Security Strategy is a useful compilation of common sense, self-contradiction, clear analysis and political compromise. Of the many questions it raises, foremost is: “Does President...
Why the 'Arab street' didn't just explode
In the wake of President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week, the “experts” crowding the media predicted strategic calamity: Vast, violent protests and a wave of terror...
Tillerson's exit can only begin to fix US foreign policy
If the rumor proves true that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is about to lose his job, he’ll doubtless regret leaving far less than accepting the post in the first...
Here's what the US is doing in Africa
Last month, four American soldiers died in an ambush in Niger, a country few college graduates can locate on a map. Media figures either couldn’t pronounce the name properly or...
Attack on Egyptian mosque targets civilization itself
Friday’s bloodthirsty attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula during noontime prayers was a crime against all humanity. It wasn’t “just” an attack on Muslims. It was an attack...
Tensions between Iran and Saudis could draw US into another war
While our eyes are fixed on North Korea, the Middle East threatens to explode. If it does, we’ll be drawn in — and the carnage and cost will make Iraq...
Bergdahl goes free, but the wounded serve life sentences
Attention, all troops peeved with your platoon sergeant, bored with your field rations, or who just want a little private time: It’s okay to desert your post in a combat...
Kelly is right about Robert E. Lee
In these willfully ignorant, fiercely partisan times, let’s recall that we fought our bloodiest war to end human bondage. Almost three-quarters of a million Americans died in a complex struggle...