ISIS Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Trump, Russia, and Churchill’s Wisdom

8 March 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Published 8 March 2017 on the Daily Caller, under the title “A Lesson on Russia for Trump.” Their title, not mine; I do not presume to offer anyone lessons.

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.” —Winston Churchill, 1939

“If Putin likes Trump, guess what, folks, that’s called an asset, not a liability. Now I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there’s a good chance I won’t.” —Donald Trump, 2017

Russia National Interests

Trump-Churchill comparisons are invidious and silly.…

Praise for “Avoidable War”

23 November 2015 Comments 0 Comments

Churchill and the Avoidable War will cost you the price of a cup of coffee. You can read it in a couple of nights. You may then decide if Churchill was right (or wrong) that World War II could have been prevented. Click on “Buy Now” under the book image at right on this page.

Here is an excellent survey of the key “what if” junctures where history could have taken a different turn. What I like about it especially is that it conscientiously steers away from any definitive pronouncements about one zig or zag making all the difference in preventing World War II.…

“Rats in a Hole”: Churchill’s Apology

12 May 2015 Comments 0 Comments

Imagine if the President of the United States declared, “We will dig out terrorists ‘like rats in a hole.” Many would applaud and think maybe they had misjudged him. Or would they?

A colleague sends an exchange in the House of Commons on 7 March 1916. “Colonel Churchill,” recently returned from the Front but still a Member of Parliament, was speaking about the naval war with Germany. British naval planners must provide, Churchill was saying,

against what will be a continually increasing element of the unknown. I must also just point out another argument which shows that, great as were the anxieties with which we were faced in the first four months of the War, they have not by any means been removed, or, indeed, sensibly diminished by the course of events.…