The U.S. Navy’s so-called Golden Fleet initiative sketches a vision that is at once ambitious and revealing. At the surface level, the story is about ships: numbers, readiness, industrial capacity, and the strategic anxieties of an increasingly dangerous world. But beneath the steel and spreadsheets lies a deeper question about how America understands power, responsibility,…
Deterrence, Covenant, and the Cost of Power
One of the dangers of modern geopolitics is that we talk about power almost exclusively in terms of capacity—how many missiles, how much money, how quickly we can move hardware—while forgetting that power, untethered from order and responsibility, has a long track record of going sideways. President Trump’s decision to move forward with a massive…
Syria, Sacrifice, and the High Cost We’re Too Quick to Call “Waste”
The deadly attack on American personnel in Syria—and President Trump’s pledge of a decisive response—has once again forced the country to confront a question we never seem to settle: What is worth the cost? Every time U.S. service members are killed abroad, the debate begins almost instantly. Why are we there? What are we gaining?…
Beirut, Bombs, and the Endless Blame Game
There are two things you can always count on in the Middle East: somebody’s going to launch a rocket, and somebody’s going to swear it was “totally justified, absolutely necessary, and incredibly precise.” It’s like the region’s version of “eat, pray, love,” except it’s more “threaten, strike, retaliate.” Recently Israel carried out a pinpoint airstrike…
The Moral Weight of America’s Return to Nuclear Testing
When President Trump tells the Pentagon to dust off the old test tunnels in Nevada, you can almost hear the collective gasp echo from Washington to Geneva. After more than three decades of quiet on the nuclear front, the United States is preparing to “match Russia and China” by restarting nuclear weapons testing. That’s not…
Trump’s Nuclear Sub Deal with South Korea
When President Trump announced that the United States would share nuclear-powered submarine technology with South Korea, jaws hit the floor faster than a dropped anchor. It’s not every day that the world’s most guarded military technology gets a ticket across the Pacific. But in classic Trump fashion, it’s a move that’s both audacious and strategic:…
Why America’s Naval Move in the Caribbean Deserves Both Support and Scrutiny
When President Trump ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group into the Caribbean to combat narco-terror networks, the world took notice. The decision—backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—wasn’t just a routine show of force. It was a declaration that America will no longer tolerate cartels poisoning our children, destabilizing our neighbors, and infiltrating…
Oops, Wrong Border? A Look at Russia’s Violation of Polish Airspace
I’ve been mulling over the latest drama out of Eastern Europe. Between September 9th and 10th, Poland found itself playing host to dozens of uninvited Russian drones. The fallout? Airports went into panic mode, flights grounded, fighter jets scrambled, and Polish air defenses got a live-fire training exercise they didn’t exactly sign up for. NATO…
When Due Process and National Security Collide
Last Friday, Judge Jia M. Cobb, who serves on the bench in D.C., handed down a ruling that essentially hit the brakes on President Trump’s expanded expedited removal policy. For years, expedited removal has been on the books as a kind of fast-track deportation system. It was limited in scope: if someone was caught within…
Wings, Not Boots: My Take on U.S. Air Support in Ukraine
President Trump made it clear this week that American boots won’t be marching into Ukraine, but he didn’t shut the door on helping from above. Instead, he left U.S. air support on the table as part of a possible peace deal with Russia. The idea is to build a framework for ending the war, maybe…
The Independent Christian Conservative 