It's fashionable to say the US is in terminal decline. Don't bet on it - still less wish for it

Conor Cruise O'Brien (1917-2008): A tribute to Ireland's greatest modern public intellectual

‘Let’s stop accusing the US of being a big bully. They are the ones who foot the bill and provide the military hardware’

Piracy on the high seas, especially near failed and unstable Muslim states, is becoming an international security headache