The Iran war has revealed some unsettling lessons for the United States and will fundamentally change the global economy. The U.S. military has demonstrated its unrivaled capacity to project power through its extraordinary professionalism, technologically superior high-end weapons such as the stealthy F-35 fighter, and its intelligence apparatus. It has significantly degraded Iran’s conventional forces, missile stockpiles, air defenses and capacity to aid terrorist groups. Iran’s nuclear program has been set back many years. However, Iran can still effectively keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and harass neighbors. Although Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are using spare pipeline capacity to circumvent the strait, global oil supplies have been reduced by about 15 million barrels a day, or nearly 15%. China was revealed to be no friend of Arab states, as it supports an Iran that attacks the economic assets of noncombatant states such as Qatar. What all this means during prolonged negotiations or a tenuous peace will depend on how the United States repairs its capacity to protect allies while finally following through on its long-promised pivot to Asia. During the conflict with Iran in the 1980s, the U.S. deployed some 30 warships to the Persian Gulf. This time, only about a dozen ships are just outside the Gulf because the U.S. Navy has significantly fewer surface combatants: destroyers, cruisers and frigates. Iranian drones have damaged at least 10 American radar sites, and the United States has significantly depleted stockpiles of expensive, slow-to-replace interceptor missiles to knock out inexpensive, quick-to-manufacture drones. Military suppliers are working feverishly to develop less expensive alternatives that can be supplied more quickly in sufficient numbers.

Anecdotal experiences of foreigners living in China often include stories about otherwise well-educated and informed Chinese people never having seen iconic Tiananmen-related images like ‘tank man’ or the ‘Goddess of Democracy’ and having very little knowledge about the 1989 protest movement other than ‘something bad happened,’” the report said. The tank man was a lone Chinese dissident who risked his life and stood in front of a line of tanks headed for Tiananmen Square in a bid to halt the operation. He was never identified by name. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the White House is reviewing a multibillion arms package for Taiwan. Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that there is bipartisan support for selling weapons to Taiwan to deter China, a nation he called the most significant U.S. strategic threat. Mr. Coons said Congress in January “pre-approved” a $14 billion package, but the State Department over the past six month has not formally approved the sale. Mr. Rubio said an $11 billion arms package was approved in December and was larger than all arms sold during the entire four years of the Biden administration. “The other $14 billion is being reviewed. It’s under review. I think it’s been noted but it hasn’t been approved. It’s under review by the White House,” the secretary said. President Trump said after last month’s summit in Beijing that he is considering holding off on arms sales to Taiwan in exchange for improved trade relations with China. Beijing opposes the arms sales to what it regards as its chief rival. “We want to see the status quo preserved as it is at this moment,” Mr. Rubio said. “It’s a very … delicate relationship to balance, but our policy on Taiwan is not changing.”

The report concluded: “Despite the nearly four decades of intervening censorship and recent attempts to rewrite the narrative, the brutal response of the Chinese Communist Party against its own population’s efforts to have a greater say in their own governance will continue to inform international perspectives of the Party, the nature of the regime, and its willingness to commit atrocities to remain in power.” Between April and June 1989, tens of thousands of students, workers and other Chinese, prompted by the death of a reformist communist leader, took over Beijing’s main Tiananmen Square to demand free speech and oppose CCP rule. At one point the protesters erected a statue similar to the Statue of Liberty, which they called “the goddess of democracy.” On May 20, 1989, then-Chinese Premier Li Peng declared martial law, and PLA forces began mobilizing in preparation to forcibly clear the square. On June 4, PLA armored personnel carriers moved into the square, crushing unarmed protesters beneath the treads. Troops then fired automatic weapons into crowds of unarmed civilians. Official Chinese government estimates put the death toll at 200 killed and 7,000 wounded. However, declassified cables from Britain and other foreign governments estimated the loss of life to be as many 10,000 people killed, with many thousands wounded. After the massacre, the CCP launched a decades-long propaganda and information warfare narrative to spin the events at Tiananmen. The information operations were partially successful through a long-term campaign of suppression and censorship that sought to gradually erase the attack from popular memory. Chinese media remains barred from mentioning June 4, which is also banned from school curricula, blocked from inclusion in textbooks and purged from all public commemoration. The global suppression campaign has been largely successful and now extends to all Chinese artificial intelligence chatbots, which are rigorously trained to avoid all mention of Tiananmen.

The Chinese Communist Party on Thursday will mark the 37th anniversary of its use of military force in the massacre of thousands of unarmed pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. Commemorating the event is a new report by the Air Force China Aerospace Studies Institute that reveals the Chinese Communist Party’s new disinformation narrative seeks to “flip the script” on what happened during the military attack on civilians on June 4, 1989. No longer seeking to erase all memory of the killings, the new propaganda effort attempts portray the political mass murders as heroic work by People’s Liberation Army troops. “Instead of suppressing memory through censorship, [the CCP] has now undertaken an effort to reimagine the events altogether,” the report said. Beginning in 2022, the CCP started promoting propaganda images that seek to show PLA troops as “the real heroes of Tiananmen,” the report said. “The protesters are not only labeled ‘counter-revolutionaries,’ but now they are also ‘terrorists.’ It was the PLA soldiers who ‘sacrificed’ to save the country from these enemies of the nation,” the report said. The new propaganda campaign reflects greater confidence by the CCP that decades of censorship and disinformation about the events in 1989 produced a blank slate in public consciousness that can now be filled with the new narrative. The new CCP narrative calls for never forgetting what the report said is a false version of events. The report includes a copy of a propaganda poster showing a saluting PLA soldier atop a tank under the phrase, “We salute the sacrifices of the People’s Liberation Soldiers during the counter-revolutionary rebellion of 1989.” The image includes white doves flying with olive sprigs over the tank, signaling the soldier had worked to restore peace. In a separate social media post, the CCP published the image of a monument to the “heroes of the revolution” marking the spot where pro-democracy protesters first gathered. The posting states: “Never forget the sacrifices of the PLA heroes who defended the country against terrorism during the June 4th Incident.”

An American who worked for Beijing state media pleaded guilty on Thursday to acting as an unregistered agent of China in helping obtain secrets for the Chinese intelligence service. Thomas W. Pauken, 50, was arrested in March and entered the pre-indictment plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, although his cooperation with investigators could lead to a reduced sentence, prosecutors said. “In effect, Pauken admitted to being part of a conspiracy to obtain sensitive information from the U.S. government for the PRC,” said John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, using the acronym for People’s Republic of China. “His actions are a betrayal of this nation and pose an unacceptable risk to our national security.” According to court documents, Pauken was paid at least $100,000 for working with Ministry of State Security intelligence handlers identified only as “Cathy,” “Richard” and “William.” From around 2019 to February, he supplied communications gear that was used in helping recruit Americans with access to secrets for the civilian spy service. FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said Pauken admitted working to infiltrate U.S. political circles for the MSS and “gathered intelligence” on American recruitment targets that was reported to Chinese officials. “This case illustrates the lengths to which the Chinese Communist Party will go to undermine our democratic institutions and degrade our political freedoms,” Mr. Rozhavsky said. The plea agreement in the case stated that Pauken would plead guilty to a single count of illegally working as an agent of China. Federal law requires notifying the Justice Department of such work. District Judge Leonie Brinkema accepted the guilty plea and set sentencing for Sept. 1.

Besides Judeo-Christian values, the West rose to greatness through capitalism, which brought us the Industrial Revolution and a booming middle class. Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” was published the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted. One provided for a republic based on limited government and human rights; the other established the rationale for free markets. Both are imperiled. A 2025 poll found that 62% of Americans younger than 30 support socialism. New York and Seattle have socialist mayors. Collectivism is a forced march backward to a world of serfs and lords. The family is also on the decline. Although not a uniquely Western institution, it provides the foundation of Western civilization. In 1970, married couples were 70% of U.S. households. Today, they are 47%. Nearly 40% of children are born to unmarried couples. In 2024, the United States reached a record-low fertility rate of 1.6 children per woman, below the 2.1 needed to maintain population stability. No industrialized nation has a fertility rate anywhere near the replacement level. Cradles are not empty in the Third World. In sub-Saharan Africa, the fertility rate is 6.0. Civilizations that are confident about their future have children. Those that lack confidence do not. The West is also afflicted by what psychologist Gad Saad calls “suicidal empathy.” It took centuries to build Western civilization. It is taking decades to demolish it. We were not paying attention to what our children were being taught in school and how the public was misled by media. We slumbered while America burned. If the West is lost, then a new dark age will descend in the blink of an eye. Instead of barbarians on horseback, Muslims with Shariah and Marxists calling themselves progressives will dance on the ruins.

I recently saw the wonderful 1962 movie “How the West Was Won,” which dramatized the westward expansion from the Erie Canal to the closing of the frontier. The cast included trappers and homesteaders, prospectors and railroad men, sheriffs and outlaws. Imagine a movie that celebrated White men bringing civilization to a savage land. How hateful! Quick, somebody call the Southern Poverty Law Center! Americans were optimistic then ? a big, brawling, confident lot who lived in an eternal spring. Now, winter is closing in fast. British historian Arnold Toynbee observed, “Civilizations die from suicide and not by murder.” The barbarians are not at the gate; they are inside. We let them in. The foreign-born population of the United States is now 14.8% of the total, the highest ever recorded. This includes millions who invaded under President Biden, aka, the Welcome Wagon lady. Many of these gate crashers don’t speak English. Most receive government benefits. The overwhelming majority are from Third World countries. Among their numbers are murderers, rapists and pedophiles. The left is fighting to keep them here. Arrivals from the wonderful world of Islam pose a special danger. The number of mosques in America increased 32% from 2010 to 2020. It is worse in Europe. The continent once known as Christendom is being colonized by the Religion of Rest in Peace. Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion. From 2010 to 2020, the number of Muslims worldwide grew by 347 million, versus the growth of 122 million for Christians. In Britain, the most popular name for baby boys for the past 16 years has been Muhammad. It is difficult to imagine a religion less compatible with Western civilization than Islam. Tolerance? Pluralism? Seriously?

Of all the concerning trends in American politics right now, the juvenile arrogance of today’s millennials and Gen Zers must rank near the top of anyone’s list. Just look at any social media thread on any given day and the proof reveals itself in spades. The junior high-ish attitude of, as Bill Maher calls them, “the kids,” is legion, and it exists on both the right and the left. It doesn’t matter what the topic is; they know more. Suggest that socialism has never worked and never will, and their response is, “OK, boomer.” Point out that no nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity, and yep, you guessed it: “OK, boomer.” Argue that if you really want to follow the science, you might want to start with acknowledging the biological fact of what it means to be male and female: “OK, boomer.” Make clear that it might be a good idea to stop an Islamic regime hell-bent on your death and destruction from acquiring nuclear weapons: “OK, boomer.” The list goes on and on. There literally seems to be no topic about which “the kids” don’t know more than anyone else. Whether it’s climate change, masking, vaccines, sexual identity, fiscal policy, education, the Electoral College, parenting, packing the courts, Charlie Kirk’s murder, Mossad, marriage or morality, the response is always the same: “OK, boomer.” The thoughtlessness of the rejoinder is stunning. It’s as if an entire generation (or two) has been brainwashed to dismiss reality, logic and any semblance of rational thought and to simply respond with a flip of the hair, a roll of the eyes and, yes, the mindless and, oh so predictable, “OK, boomer.” If you have a sense of deja vu here, you should. Stories of the pitfalls of youthful arrogance are as old as time. Consider the cautionary tale of Mao’s Red Guard. Anyone who has even a mediocre public-school education should know it.

Poland has offered to build the necessary infrastructure to host a permanent U.S. troop presence in a bid to “clarify the situation” between the two longtime NATO allies, the country’s deputy defense minister told The Washington Times. In a recent interview, Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski said that the offer to host U.S. troops permanently - including a full military station that could house service members’ families - was part of broader discussions this week between high-ranking U.S. and Polish officials. His comments to The Times came shortly before President Trump announced this week that he is sending an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland. Mr. Zalewski said his nation is prepared to build the needed facilities for more U.S. troops in the country, which is a crucial hub for the movement of U.S. and European arms eastward into Ukraine, which remains locked in a bitter war with Russia. “We have offered to build infrastructure for an American permanent presence and we understand what that means,” Mr. Zalewski told The Times. He said that as part of conversations to “clarify the situation” between Poland and the U.S., the offer of a more permanent base wasn’t just for troops, but a full station that could host their families. The U.S. has between 80,000 and 100,000 troops in Europe at any given time, with the exact numbers fluctuating regularly. There are about 10,000 in Poland. About 35,000 active-duty military personnel are stationed in Germany, the largest U.S. contingent in any country on the continent. Mr. Trump’s decision to send more troops to Poland could be viewed as a way to punish Germany while strengthening NATO’s eastern flank. He announced the decision on Truth Social and tied the deployment directly to his relationship with Karol Tadeusz Nawrocki, who took over as Polish president in August 2025.

Memorial Day asks us to take time out from our daily lives to honor those who gave so much to keep us free. After the Civil War ? the war with the highest number of casualties in our history ? the tradition began of decorating the graves of those who died in battle, hence the holiday’s original name, Decoration Day. The simple gestures of placing flowers on the graves of war dead helped to assuage the suffering of those who lost loved ones in the conflict. From 1775 to the present, it’s estimated that more than 1.1 million Americans died for our country, on battlefields everywhere from the United States to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. They fought to liberate, not to colonize. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said America did not engage in empire building and that the only foreign soil we sought was places to bury our dead. Memorial Day answers the eternal question: Why fight when fighting can be avoided? If we hadn’t resisted the British crown in 1775-1783, America might still be a very large colony of a very small country. At the time of the Civil War, the South wasn’t prepared to free its slaves without a fight. Except for the Allied resistance during World War II, Germany and Japan would rule the world. The Islamic republic of Iran has made it abundantly clear that it will never give up its fissionable material voluntarily. Is it worth a fight to keep a maniacal regime from getting a nuclear bomb? More than a remembrance, Memorial Day is also a pledge reflected in the words of the World War I poem, “In Flanders Field.” “Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields.” Brave men died to keep us free. It is our sacred duty to see to it that they did not die in vain.