Isaiah Berlin, the Enlightenment, and What the Jews Can Teach the World

The British-Jewish philosopher Isaiah Berlin made it his life’s work to understand and write about the European critics of the 18th-century Enlightenment—not because he, too, opposed the Enlightenment, but because he thought Western civilization would benefit from recognizing its own faults and limitations. Yoram Hazony argues that the substance of this critique of Enlightenment ideas has roots in Jewish thought going back to the Hebrew Bible. (Video, about 50 minutes.)

Read more at Chabad.org

More about: Enlightenment, Hebrew Bible, History & Ideas, Isaiah Berlin, Jewish Philosophy, Philosophy

To Stop Attacks from Yemen, Cut It Off from Iran

On March 6, Yemen’s Houthi rebels managed to kill three sailors and force the remainder to abandon ship when they attacked another vessel. Not long thereafter, top Houthi and Hamas figures met to coordinate their efforts. Then, on Friday, the Houthis fired a missile at a commercial vessel, which was damaged but able to continue its journey. American forces also shot down one of the group’s drones yesterday.

Seth Cropsey argues that Washington needs a new approach, focused directly on the Houthis’ sponsors in Tehran:

Houthi disruption to maritime traffic in the region has continued nearly unabated for months, despite multiple rounds of U.S. and allied strikes to degrade Houthi capacity. The result should be a shift in policy from the Biden administration to one of blockade that cuts off the Houthis from their Iranian masters, and thereby erodes the threat. This would impose costs on both Iran and its proxy, neither of which will stand down once the war in Gaza ends.

Yet this would demand a coherent alliance-management policy vis-a-vis the Middle East, the first step of which would be a shift from focus on the Gaza War to the totality of the threat from Iran.

Read more at RealClear Defense

More about: Gaza War 2023, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy, Yemen