Naftali Bennett, then the prime minister of Israel, found himself praying aboard a cramped, decrepit plane last year as it sailed over Kazakhstan. The long flight, arranged with help from the Mossad, was bound for Moscow on a desperate mission: broker peace between Russia and Ukraine just after the two countries had gone to war.

It turns out that peace through weakness is a failed national and economic security strategy. Remember how the world, especially the American media, fawned over former German Chancellor Angela Merkel? The adoration was so over the top that in 2015 Time magazine named Merkel its "Person of the Year."

Commentary Oh, great- another addition to the energy crisis. One of the world's largest natural gas liquefaction plants suffered an explosion on Wednesday. The cause of the blast is not known, but the Freeport LNG plant on Quintana Island - about 70 miles south of Houston - will be out of service for at least three weeks, the Houston Chronicle reported.