Clifford D. May
Columns by Clifford D. May
Gaza celebrates while Hamas prepares for next war
For the past few days, large crowds of healthy, energetic Gazans have been cheering, dancing in the streets and chanting "Allahu akbar!" -- all recorded on their fully charged cellphones. Published October 14, 2025
Trump’s Gaza plan gives Hamas a final choice between survival and martyrdom
They say there are no atheists in foxholes. When it comes to Hamas, that's not reassuring. Published October 7, 2025
‘What is the purpose of the United Nations?’
When I was in graduate school, back in the previous century, I took two courses simultaneously on the United Nations. Published September 30, 2025
Qatar: Not an Arab Switzerland but a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist haven
A disturbing thought experiment: Imagine your children have been kidnapped and are being tortured in a dungeon. Published September 23, 2025
Twenty-four years after 9/11, the war on the West expands not contracts
Last week, we remembered the almost 3,000 victims of the al-Qaida terrorists who, on Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked passenger aircraft and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Published September 16, 2025
The art of lying about Israel
For centuries, Jews have been the targets of lies. I'll mention just three. Published September 9, 2025
How Biden’s failed clean energy revolution weakened America’s national security
"A clean energy revolution is helping to save this planet." Thus spoke President Obama in 2015. Published September 2, 2025
The long U.N. war against Israel
As a foreign correspondent roving around Africa years ago, I often met United Nations personnel. Published August 26, 2025
Alaska summit revealed Putin’s neo-Soviet goals
Friday's summit meeting in Alaska was short on substance but long on symbolism. Published August 19, 2025
European leaders siding with Hamas make Gaza ceasefire harder for Trump
At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Sunday, U.S. Amb. Dorothy Shea offered an observation about the Gaza conflict: "This war could end today if Hamas would let the hostages go." Published August 12, 2025
Vladimir the Terrible: Trump must make Putin recalculate the costs, benefits of war
President Trump now sees Vladimir Putin through clearer eyes. I suspect first lady Melania Trump deserves much of the credit. Published August 5, 2025
Syria’s endangered minorities deserve protection
The Arab Spring was the media's name for a wave of protests -- some peaceful, some violent -- against various Middle Eastern dictatorships from 2010 to 2012. Published July 29, 2025
History shows tyrants in Iran, Russia and China only respond to decisive force, not empty talks
"You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies." That aphorism, attributed to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, has always struck me as more hopeful than convincing. Published July 15, 2025
Law and disorder: Interpol does the bidding of bad guys
Interpol is such a cool idea: Cosmopolitan cops chasing criminals around the world. The reality, I'm sorry to tell you, is rather different. Published July 8, 2025
America wins, media spins: Why liberal news outlets hate Trump’s success against Iran
President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were hopping mad last week over attempts to minimize what they had achieved against the nuclear weapons facilities in Iran Published July 1, 2025
No more appeasement: Trump took out Iran’s nuclear crown jewel while others only talked
The uranium enrichment plant at Fordow was known as the jewel in the crown of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader. Published June 24, 2025
Roots of the Middle East conflict trace back centuries
In 1979, I spent several months in Iran covering what was then called the Iranian Revolution. Published June 17, 2025
What a Stalin statue in a subway station should tell Trump about Putin
A statue of Josef Stalin was recently unveiled in Moscow's Taganskaya subway station. Published June 10, 2025
A secular jihadi brings the intifada to Washington
Not so long ago, homicidal antisemitism in America was widely regarded as peculiar to neo-Nazis, White supremacists and other far-right extremists. Published May 27, 2025
What Qatar wants, Qatar gets
Lots of people have been duped by the Qataris. I was one of them. Published May 20, 2025
