Prominent columnist and noted author Austin Bay tackles the nation's issues and foreign affairs from his unique analytic and historically-incisive perspective in a weekly column syndicated by Creators Syndicate. His insightful columns have touched readers throughout Europe, Central America and the Middle East.
Bay's commentaries frequently appear on National Public Radio's Morning Edition program, and he has also appeared as a guest commentator on CNN, C-SPAN, and ABC News Nightline. In the early 1990s, he was a guest columnist with The Houston Chronicle, and has written a military issues and foreign affairs column for The San Antonio Express-News since 1994.
The Hard Thing of Democracy
7/2/2008 | The State Department Confronts the Synergy Crisis
6/24/2008 | Mugabe the Obscene
6/17/2008 |
Behind Gates' Decision to Fire Up the Air Force
6/10/2008 | The Cluster Behind the Cluster Munitions Ban
6/3/2008 | Iraqi Democracy, Two Years On
5/28/2008 |
Memorial Day 2008
5/21/2008 | Limited Options in Burma
5/13/2008 | Michael Yon's "Moment of Truth in Iraq"
5/6/2008 |
Darfur: Facing the Peacekeeping Conundrum
4/29/2008 | Consequences: A Rapid US Military Withdrawal From Iraq
4/25/2008 | Back to Basra: Challenging the Blunderbusses
4/23/2008 |
Food Crisis: The Maze Behind Maize
4/16/2008 | Petreaus' Anaconda
4/8/2008 | Whittling Away at Sadr
4/2/2008 |
War Stories and Cameras
3/26/2008 | Al-Qaida's Fading Victory: The Madrid Precedent
3/12/2008 | Behind the Colombia - Ecuador - Venezuela Border Fracas
3/4/2008 |
On Assassinating Freedom
2/27/2008 | Fidel Castro's Painfully Long Finale
2/20/2008 | Super Sunday: Did Europe Dodge a War?
2/12/2008 |
Grisly Information
2/12/2008 | Halting Kenya's Chaotic Spiral
1/31/2008 | From Kosovo War to Cold War?
1/22/2008 |
Mexico's Cartel War: Calderon in the Cauldron
1/16/2008 | Speedboat Bluff in the Persian Gulf
1/9/2008 | War -- or Crime -- in Cyberspace
1/1/2008 |
The Terrorists' Tet
12/25/2007 | Goodwill and Armed Vigilance
12/19/2007 | TR's Big Stick: The Great White Fleet's Voyage
12/12/2007 |
Potholes Swallowing Martyrs
12/5/2007 | Al-Qaida's Emerging Defeat
11/27/2007 | Manned and Unmanned in the Air
11/21/2007 |
On Signing a Bomb
11/14/2007 | An India-U.S. Alliance?
11/7/2007 | A Diplomacy of Neighborhoods
10/31/2007 |
The PKK's Dream
10/24/2007 | Recognizing the Armenian Genocide
10/17/2007 | War and Peace With Cultural Anthropologists
10/3/2007 |
A Revolution In Diplomatic Affairs
9/26/2007 | Afghanistan Six Years on
9/18/2007 | The Petraeus-Crocker Testimony
9/12/2007 |
Avoiding Surprise
9/5/2007 | Gen. Petraeus' Pivotal Report
8/29/2007 | Preparing for the Hard Facts of Hurricanes
8/22/2007 |
The United Nation Returns to Iraq
8/14/2007 | Strategic Patience
8/8/2007 | The Latest Mexican War
8/1/2007 |
The Interagency Illness
7/25/2007 | Iraqi Withdrawal: Seven Scenarios
7/18/2007 | When Cheap Products Kill: Emerging Global Trade Regulations
7/10/2007 |
Baghdad Clock, Washington Clock
7/3/2007 | Palestine's Crooks And Kooks
6/26/2007 | From Russian Tantrum to Collective Missile Defense
6/20/2007 |
Al-Qaida Fails Sexual Politics
6/13/2007 | A Second Falklands?
6/6/2007 | Counter-Insurgency and "The Single Narrative"
5/30/2007 |
From Surge to Sustain
5/22/2007 | Ending Darfur's Genocide
5/16/2007 | How Many Ground Troops Does the United States Need?
5/9/2007 |
Exploiting Al-Qaida's Weaknesses
5/2/2007 | "Give 'em Hooey" Surrenders
4/24/2007 | An ABM for Europe?
4/18/2007 |
A Quiet Step Forward for the Rule of Law
4/11/2007 | An Armed Liberal Asks the Iraqi People About U.S. Withdrawal
4/3/2007 | Iran's Latest Hostage Gamble
3/28/2007 |
Growing Condemnation for Mugabe's Regime
3/21/2007 | Iraq's Accomplishments in Perspective
3/13/2007 | Maliki's Political and Economic Bullet
3/7/2007 |
The Next Steps in Iraqi Economic Reform
2/27/2007 | The Real News Behind "The Surge"
2/20/2007 | Time to Fix the Great American Failure
2/14/2007 |
Meanwhile, Back in Afghanistan
2/6/2007 | The Battle of Najaf, 2007
1/30/2007 | The Quest for Kosovo's "Final Status"
1/23/2007 |
"Unified Action" in the 21st Century's War for Modernity
1/16/2007 | The Age of Proximity
1/9/2007 | "Look On My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair!"
1/2/2007 |
The Looming Tower: Egyptian Ideological Origins of Al-Qaida
12/26/2006 | Operation Call Home
12/19/2006 | The Book List: Adding Depth to the Headlines
12/12/2006 |
A Week of Leaks: Options for the Long War
12/5/2006 | Iraq's War of Perception: "Who is Jamil Hussein?"
11/29/2006 | Reconciliation, from Vietnam to Iraq
11/22/2006 |
James Baker and the Desert Storm Legacy
11/15/2006 | Saddam's Conviction
11/8/2006 | A Return to the New York Times' Swift Disaster
11/1/2006 |
A Strategic Lunch with Mr. Rumsfeld
10/25/2006 | Steyn's "America Alone"
10/17/2006 | China's Moment of Choice
10/11/2006 |
Al-Qaida's Narrative of Doubt
10/4/2006 | From Rwanda To Darfur
9/26/2006 | The CBS Ambush
9/20/2006 |
Why Censor Disney?
9/13/2006 | Five Years On
9/7/2006 | The Aftermath: Hezbollah's Looming Loss
8/30/2006 |
Ballistic Missile Defense in an Era of Terrorism
8/23/2006 | Debunking Tarted Up Horror Tales
8/16/2006 | The Guns of August, the Missiles, Rockets and IEDs of July
8/9/2006 |
Lose Face, Face Sanctions: China's Lesson to North Korea
8/2/2006 | Will Islamo-fascism follow anarchism�s path?
7/26/2006 | Halting Rocket Fire From Hijacked States
7/19/2006 |
The Mumbai Terrorist Attack
7/12/2006 | The North Korean Missiles Behind The Elvis Summit
7/5/2006 | The Axis of Abuse
6/28/2006 |
Somalia's Chaotic Battlefield
6/20/2006 | Bush's Suprise Visit to Baghdad
6/14/2006 | Zarqawi's Death: An Important Opportunity for New Iraq
6/8/2006 |
From Cold War Containment to "A Forward Strategy for Freedom"
6/7/2006 | Europe's Specter: A Ghost of Its Former Self?
5/31/2006 | ANN: The Astonishing News Network
5/24/2006 |
Solving the Border's "Baby Predicament"
5/17/2006 | When Iran's Genocidal Mullahs Think the Unthinkable
5/9/2006 | George Clooney's Darfur Dilemmas
5/3/2006 |
Bin Laden's Latest Rant: The Darfur Genocide as Holy War
4/26/2006 | "The Euston Manifesto": Principled Left Considers War On Terror
4/19/2006 | The Quiet War Against Muqtada Sadr
4/12/2006 |
The "Difficult Dimensions" of Immigration and Border Security
4/5/2006 | Remembering Saddam's Slow War
3/29/2006 | Holding the Dictators Accountable
3/15/2006 |
News of the Nation-State's Demise May Be Very Premature
3/7/2006 | The U.N. Human Rights Council: What's in a Name Change?
3/1/2006 | Declassified Al-Qaida Documents: Jihad, with Medical Benefits
2/22/2006 |
Haiti: Clinton's Photo-Op War a Lesson for the War on Terror
2/14/2006 | Rushdie, Danish Cartoons and Free Expression
2/7/2006 | Palestine's Hamas Government: Old Radicalism or New Pragmatism?
2/1/2006 |
"Canadian Military" an Oxymoron?
1/26/2006 | From "The Beirut Spring" to Toppling Assad
1/18/2006 | Kennedy and Robertson: Burned by Hot Buttons
1/10/2006 |
The Mullah's Quest, The Mullah's Fear
1/3/2006 | The Big Story of 2005 (Someone Tell The New York Times)
12/29/2005 | A Sunday in Iraq
12/23/2005 |
Tne Great Revolt Continues
12/14/2005 | To Fix Intelligence, Hire Artists and Fire Bureaucrats
12/7/2005 | "Let's Kill All the Lawyers"
11/29/2005 |
Sharon's Historic Gamble
11/23/2005 | 21st Century Piracy: Long John Isn't Long gone
11/15/2005 | Will Chirac Fiddle While Paris Burns?
11/9/2005 |
The Dirty Work of the Beltway Clerks
11/1/2005 | Democratic Revolutions Slow, Painfully Incremental Miracles
10/26/2005 | Wealth and Democracy in Iraq
10/19/2005 |
Zaraqawi's Losing Strategy
10/12/2005 | The Fear Market is Down
10/5/2005 | Military and Natural Disasters
9/28/2005 |
The Friction of War
9/21/2005 | Light Water Shell Game
9/21/2005 | Return to What?
9/8/2005 |
Continuing the Democratic Surge
8/31/2005 | Waging Peace
8/24/2005 | Is Iraq Ready for Democracy?
8/17/2005 |
'Soldiering' -- Korea, Vietnam and Safe Places
8/11/2005 | 'Thank God for the Atomic Bomb'
8/3/2005 | The Jihadists' War on Tourism
7/27/2005 |
The Palestinian Civil War Has Left the Alleys Moved to the Streets
7/20/2005 | Al Qaeda's Information War
7/13/2005 | Securing Terror Target No. 1
7/6/2005 |
Why the Long War Must Be Won
6/29/2005 | Austin Returns to Baghdad
6/21/2005 | Modern Slavery
6/8/2005 |
Chirac, Political Dead Man Talking
6/2/2005 | The DIME Ballet
5/25/2005 | Newsweek Meets 21st Century War
5/18/2005 |
Armor Amour -- Suddenly The Beltway Loves Tanks
5/14/2005 | A Look Back at V-E Day
5/4/2005 | The Next Failed State
4/27/2005 |
Bolton the UN Reformer
4/20/2005 | The "Iraqi Tet" Fantasy
4/13/2005 | Mugabe, Thug on the Loose
4/5/2005 |
Can the UN be Saved?
3/30/2005 | A War We Are Winning
3/23/2005 | Lebanon a Battle of Crowds and Cameras for Now
3/16/2005 |
Danger on Route Irish
3/9/2005 | The Angry Arab Meets the Texas Cowboy
3/2/2005 | The Second VE Day
2/23/2005 |
The Ground Truth About Ground Zero
2/16/2005 | Bush's Vietnam - NOT!
2/9/2005 | A Bridge Between the Future and the Past
2/2/2005 |
Technology, Democracy and Terror
1/26/2005 | Saddam's Henchmen Cast Their Votes
1/19/2005 | The Challenge of the South Asia Tsunami
1/12/2005 |
Where Were the Cameras?
1/5/2005 | 2004's Most Important Issue
12/29/2004 | "Wait"
12/23/2004 |
The Coming Arab Revolt
12/15/2004 | The World is Al Qaeda's Battlefield
12/8/2004 | Ukraine and the Russian Wish to Return to Super-Power Status
12/1/2004 |
Peaceful Guidance in a World of War
11/24/2004 | Arafat's True Legacy
11/17/2004 | Ending the Reactionaries' Reign of Terror
11/10/2004 |
The Trials and Tribulations of Zarqawi
11/8/2004 | Continuing the War On Terror
11/3/2004 | October's Most Important Election
10/27/2004 |
Flu and Smallpox the Ignored WMD
10/13/2004 | The New Greatest Generation
10/6/2004 | Bullets, Money, Ballots
10/6/2004 |
Touted National Intelligence Estimate Out of Date
9/22/2004 | Money Is Ammo in Iraq
9/15/2004 | Back Home, Safe, and Enlightened
9/8/2004 |
The Threat of Chemical Attacks From Sea
8/25/2004 | "Surprise, Security and the American Experience"
8/4/2004 | The Danger of Agro-terror
7/14/2004 |
Deception and Warfare
7/1/2004 | Bob Kerrey: On Iraq and Democracy
6/18/2004 | The Awkward Killer
6/2/2004 |
UNSCAM
5/26/2004 | Everyone Is Part of the War
5/19/2004 | Lighting the Entrepreneurial Fire in the Third World
5/12/2004 |
Triggering War on the Sub-Continent
5/12/2004 | Success is Up to the People of Iraq
5/12/2004 | The Silver-Lining of Abu Ghraib
5/5/2004 |
Cyprus In or Out or Both?
4/28/2004 | The Myth of Oil for Food
4/21/2004 | Saddam's Trial, the Antidote for the Poison in Iraq
4/14/2004 |
Fallujah Islamo-fascists Meet The Marines
4/8/2004 | How Much Political Will?
4/1/2004 | The Big Picture Behind the Assassination of Yassin
3/24/2004 |
Al Qaeda, Sewer Rats, and the "Reconquista"
3/17/2004 | Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Liar, or Victim of the Bush Administration?
3/10/2004 | The Threats to Democracy in Iraq
3/3/2004 |
Viral Terror
2/25/2004 | "Ground Truth"
2/18/2004 | Sunni vs. Shia: The Rich Boys' Plan
2/11/2004 |
Everyone's A Critic
2/5/2004 | "Meanwhile, back in North Korea..."
1/23/2004 | House of Saud Fighting for Survival
1/14/2004 |
Mad How Disease: An American Strategic Weakness
1/8/2004 | Hot and Hotter: Security Challenges in 2004
12/30/2003 | Give the U.S. GIs the Nobel Peace Prize
12/28/2003 |
Cascading Effects of Saddam's Capture
12/18/2003 | The Ace of Spades in the Baathist Ratpack Behind Bars
12/14/2003 | What is the Score in Iraq?
12/11/2003 |
Reporting on the Real Iraq
12/3/2003 | European Fat Cats Lack Will and Courage
11/26/2003 | Twaddle from the Axis of Neville
11/19/2003 |
Hooey, Hogwash and Malarkey from the Critics of the Iraq War
11/12/2003 | Burundi Bleeds While the First World Ignores the Bleeding
11/5/2003 | The War for Brainpower
10/30/2003 |
Getting It Done Under The Gaze Of Peter Jennings
10/22/2003 | Getting It Done Under The Gaze Of Peter Jennings
10/22/2003 | "Walk Back the Cat" -- Third in a series on intel assessments and Iraq
10/15/2003 |
"Walk back the cat" Part II
10/8/2003 | "Walk back the cat"
10/1/2003 | A Victory For the Civilized
9/24/2003 |
Conservative Lead Liberation of Iraq Unacceptable for Liberals
9/17/2003 | Perseverance Will Defeat Terrorism
9/10/2003 | America's Trump Card
9/7/2003 |
A War We Are Winning
8/27/2003 | Why Didn't Amin Rot and Die in Jail?
8/22/2003 | Will We a Have Deterrent for a Future Nuclear Attack?
8/14/2003 |
Michener Letter About the Necessity of the A-bomb
8/13/2003 | Jemaah Islamiya (AKA Al Qaeda) Alive and Kicking in Southeast Asia
8/6/2003 | An Intelligence Failure with Catastrophic Consequences
7/30/2003 |
Iraq Isn't Vietnam
7/23/2003 | Why the Dictators Hate the U.S.
7/19/2003 | Anatomy of an Ambush
7/19/2003 |
Bad Month for Diplomats
7/19/2003 | "Let's say you survived the nerve gas..."
7/19/2003 | Congo Tragedy
7/16/2003 |
Liberian Chaos
7/9/2003 | Democratization is a Messy Business
7/9/2003 | The Need for Missile Defense
5/29/2003 |
Remember Afghanistan?
5/21/2003 | Mr. Kim's Neighborhood
5/14/2003 | Does Accounting For Saddam's WMD Matter?
5/7/2003 |
Bug Kicks Tiger
4/30/2003 | Garner's Media Woes: When Will They Learn
4/23/2003 | What Does the Quick Victory Bring?
4/16/2003 |
Urban Judo
4/9/2003 | After the Bullets Comes the Re-Building
4/9/2003 | Just Give CENTCOM a Chance
4/5/2003 |
What's going on inside Iraq's high command?
4/2/2003 | How long will the war last? Who knows, but here's a guess.
3/28/2003 | Military Synergism Meets Baghdad
3/26/2003 |
Rolling to Baghdad
3/26/2003 | Squeezing Baghdad
3/26/2003 | Twelve Years, Seven Months and No More Counting
3/19/2003 |
Saddam's Victims
3/13/2003 | Iraq March 2003, What Happens Next?
3/5/2003 | The Mother of All Debates?
2/26/2003 |
Will the U.N. Become the League of Nations?
2/22/2003 | The Formula for Hell in the 21st Century
2/19/2003 | To Explore, or Not To Explore, That Is The Question.
2/5/2003 |
Know Your Enemy
1/29/2003 | Iraq: The Fighting Never Stopped
1/22/2003 | United Nation's Credibility: Torn, Ripped, and Shredded
1/15/2003 |
What the US Needs is a Liberal Hawk
1/8/2003 | Can the U.S. Handle both Korea and Iraq?
1/2/2003 | The Christmas Rush
12/27/2002 |
Little Wars Cripple Small Countries in Big Ways
12/19/2002 | McDonalds: the Best Weapon Against Terrorism
12/11/2002 | Peace and Security Breed Prosperity: A Lesson from Uganda
12/4/2002 |
The BBC Weapon of Mass Instruction
11/20/2002 | U.S. Good Cops - Bad Cops
11/13/2002 | Al Qaeda Fighting American Robots
11/13/2002 |
Zimbabwe the Next Genocidal Killing Field
10/30/2002 | North Korea's Nuclear Revelations
10/23/2002 | Baghdad the Day After: Revisited
10/16/2002 |
Is a Coup Possible in Iraq?
10/9/2002 | McDermott and Bonior the Neville Chamberlains of Our Time
10/9/2002 | An Islamic Reformation
9/19/2002 |
Osama bin Laden's Unintended Legacy
9/12/2002 | 9/11: Images We Cannot and Should not Forget
9/11/2002 | America's Vacation is Over
9/4/2002 |
Iraq - No Discipline, No Loyalty, No Win
8/29/2002 | Mud, the Crusader and Inter-Service Distrust
8/22/2002 | Homeland Security: Security versus Liberty
8/15/2002 |
Homeland Security: Offense as Homeland Defense
8/8/2002 | Homeland Security: Disseminating the Information, No Easy Task
8/3/2002 | Homeland Security: Defending Infrastructure
7/25/2002 |
Homeland Security: Role of the Individual American Citizen
7/20/2002 | The Eagle's and the Bear's Relationship Redefined
7/11/2002 | Remembering the Atlantic Charter
7/3/2002 |
A Full Report on Operation Anaconda -- America's First Battle of the 21st Century.�A Complete�After Action Interview with COL Weircinski
6/29/2002 | Q & A With An Anaconda Vet
6/27/2002 | World Cup Soccer a Reflection of Global Affairs
6/24/2002 |
What Do Mating Dinosaurs and Merging Government Agencies Have In Common?
6/13/2002 | Bingo Games and Toasted Muffins
5/30/2002 | Investigating 9-11
5/23/2002 |
Enemies Beware, "Transformation" of Democracy's Arsenal
5/16/2002 | What Can Solve the Palestinian Problem? Money!
5/9/2002 | Invasion Iraq
5/1/2002 |
The Curious State of Iran
4/24/2002 | Baghad, the Morning After
4/18/2002 | Babies, Shekels and Bullets
4/10/2002 |
Iraqi Blood Money
4/4/2002 | "Thinking Red"
3/27/2002 | "Micro-development" Offers New Hope in Third World Countries
3/27/2002 |
Anti-Americans Struggle to Find Their Voice After 9-11
3/13/2002 | A Long and Difficult War
3/7/2002 | Daniel Pearl's Murder Reinforces West's Sense of Purpose.
2/28/2002 |
Africa's "Slobo"
2/20/2002 | "French Hiss"
2/14/2002 | List of Horrors
2/7/2002 |
The Legal Limbo at Guantanamo
1/30/2002 | The Philippines Is No Afghanistan
1/23/2002 | What Is Still Keeping Donald Rumsfeld Up Late At Night? - It Isn't Letterman.
1/17/2002 |
Somalia: Planet's Foremost "Failed State"
1/17/2002 | Pray for the Best, Prepare for the Worst
1/3/2002 | Indian and Pakistani Hostilities Rekindled
12/29/2001 |
Arafat's Uncertain Future
12/21/2001 | On to Baghdad or Somalia or Yemen or ...
12/13/2001 | So what comes after the caves?
12/7/2001 |
The Millennial War Is Clearly a Fight for the Future
11/29/2001 | Bolton's List of The Evil, The Bad and The Ugly
11/22/2001 | The Diplomacy of Battlefield Victory
11/15/2001 |
The "Chit-Chat" Class Loses Patience with the War
11/7/2001 | Humanitarian Aid Critical to Success of US's War on Terrorism
10/31/2001 | Homeland Defense From the Frontlines
10/24/2001 |
High Noon in Afghanistan: The SOF and Osama Shoot It Out
10/18/2001 | "HA and HE"
10/11/2001 | Why Afghanistan Will Topple Itself
10/3/2001 |
Target. Besiege. Strike.
9/26/2001 | War On Terrorism Will Take Guts
9/19/2001 | The World Trade Center Attack 21st Century Pearl Harbor
9/11/2001 |
World Festival of Hate Rhetoric and Inflammatory Theatrics
9/5/2001 | Operation Essential Harvest, NATO Brings Gun Control to the Balkans
8/29/2001 | The Tangled Web of Terrorism
8/22/2001 |
Lost Boy Tommy Must Bid Bye-Bye to Slick Willie Pan's Never Never Land
8/15/2001 | An End to the Korean War, Wishful Thinking?
8/9/2001 | August the Month of Saddam Hussein
8/2/2001 |
"Cool Hand" Putin
7/25/2001 | The End of the Two War Strategy
7/19/2001 | HEY! Get that marine out of my backyard!
7/11/2001 |
Milosevic Did The Crime, But Will He Do The Time?
7/4/2001 | Shinseki's Berets Endanger Medium Brigade
6/29/2001 | NATO Expansion, Anchorage for Emerging Democracies
6/20/2001 |
"Royal Air Force may recruit Luftwaffe pilots." It isn't a Joke but European Leadership is.
6/13/2001 | Ground Pounders vs. Smart Bombs: Lessons from Macedonia
6/6/2001 | Hope for the Political Football (Better Known as sub-Saharan Africa) of the Left and Right
5/30/2001 |
Are Californians Stupid?
5/24/2001 | The International Fallout of Foot and Mouth Disease
5/16/2001 | Playing the Bad Guy is Fun and Infomative!
5/9/2001 |
ABM Treaty Bites the Dust
5/2/2001 | China's Imitation Media
4/25/2001 | Rogue Voyage of a 21st Century African Slave Ship
4/20/2001 |
China's Boistrous Borders
4/20/2001 | The USA is China's Devil du Jour
4/20/2001 | It's a Cold Snap, No Cold War
4/20/2001 |
What's Keeping Donald Rumsfeld Up Late At Night?
1/23/2001 |
