Jay Nordlinger

New York

Senior Editor at National Review

Music Critic at The New Criterion

Host at Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Music critic, The New Criterion

Articles

Cries for Freedom

3 weeks ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

Dear readers: The Oslo Freedom Forum took place from May 26 to May 28. OFF is the annual human-rights gathering in Norway’s capital. I have already written a little about this year’s gathering, and its people: here. Below are some more notes (journal-style, thus in the present tense). The Oslo Freedom Forum is a conference of the Human Rights Foundation, based in New York. The CEO of HRF is Thor Halvorssen, a Venezuelan with a Norwegian name.
The Will to Survive

3 weeks ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

“It was an attack of astonishing ingenuity—unprecedented, broad, and 18 months in the making.” So begins a report from the BBC. It continues,On 1 June more than 100 Ukrainian drones struck air bases deep inside Russia, targeting nuclear-capable long-range bombers. The scale of the operation dubbed “Spider Web” became clear almost as soon as it began, with explosions reported across several time zones all over Russia . . . Do people have a right to defend themselves against murder? They do.
The Consistency of Donald Trump’s Inconsistency

3 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Jay Nordlinger

World Events Some leaders the president loves, some he detests. Published June 3, 2025 Scroll to the comments section Audio versions are only available to subscribers of The Dispatch. Join Today! to listen to this post. You can credit President Donald Trump with a certain consistency. The first trip he took abroad during his first term was to Saudi Arabia. His first trip abroad in the current term was also to Saudi Arabia.
The Value of Foreign Students, &c.

3 weeks ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

About Trump vs. Harvard, much has been written, and all points have been made. Have they? I think so. But I would like to make, or stress, a point of my own. It has to do with “international students.”Really, we mean “foreign students.” “Foreign” and “international” are not synonyms, and they are not interchangeable. But I have been on this linguistic crusade for a long time, without success. For generation upon generation, foreign students have come to American colleges and universities.
Oslo Journal, Part III

4 weeks ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

Dear readers: The Oslo Freedom Forum took place on the first three days of this week. OFF is the annual human-rights gathering in the Norwegian capital. I have said a little about this year’s Forum already. I will have considerably more to say later. In the meantime, I’ve been jotting an Oslo journal. For Parts I and II, go here and here. We will wrap up today. Work has taken me to Scandinavian capitals—in past years and this year.
Oslo Journal, Part II

1 month ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

Dear readers: The Oslo Freedom Forum was held earlier this week. OFF is the annual human-rights gathering in the Norwegian capital. I have said a little about this year’s Forum already. I will have considerably more to say later. In the meantime, I hope you might like an Oslo journal. Yesterday’s installment—Part I—can be found here. ‘How now, brown cow?” goes an old, important line. I am in the land of brown cheese. People slice it, thin, at breakfast.
Oslo Journal, Part I

1 month ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

Dear readers: The Oslo Freedom Forum is being held this week. OFF is the annual human-rights gathering in the Norwegian capital. I have said a little about this year’s Forum already. I will have considerably more to say later. In the meantime, might you like an Oslo journal, in a couple of installments or more? At Oslo Airport, the plane from New York has come to a halt. Getting up, the lady behind me tells her seatmate, “You know, I was born a few kilometers from here. I live in New York now.
Conservatism RIP?

1 month ago | thebulwark.com | Mona Charen |Jay Nordlinger

returns to discuss whether conservatism remains valid in the MAGA era. Watch, listen or leave a comment. Ad-free editions are exclusively available for Bulwark+ members. Don’t care for video? Use the controls on the left side of the player to toggle to the audio edition. The Mona Charen Show is a weekly, one-on-one discussion that goes in depth on political and cultural topics. New shows drop Mondays. Find this show wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
‘I’m Alive’

1 month ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

Oslo, NorwayOne of the first people I see, here at the Oslo Freedom Forum, is Masih Alinejad. Her opening words to me, as we embrace, are, “I’m alive.” Yes, she is. She has dodged death for a long time: forced to run from safehouse to safehouse, in the United States. She is a journalist and human-rights activist from Iran. I have written about her, and podcasted with her, several times. We first met in 2021. My ensuing article was called “A Free Spirit.” That, she is.
Eternal Vigilance, &c.

1 month ago | jaynordlinger.com | Jay Nordlinger

About the murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a great deal has been said. (They were the two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington, about to be engaged.) There is nothing I can add to the conversation. Nothing. Except maybe this: Eternal vigilance is wearying. It is unfair. One ought to be able to relax. To ease one’s vigil. But the world—and I’m speaking about its antisemites in particular—won’t allow it. So, eternal vigilance it is. The alternative—submission—is no good.

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Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger

10 Jun 25

N.B. Ukrainian forces take out Russian bombers, before those bombers can launch strikes to kill innocent people. Russian forces, meanwhile, bomb maternity hospitals and the like. Where is the equivalence?

Meduza in English @meduza_en

At least two people were killed and nine injured in an overnight Russian strike on Odesa that damaged buildings across the city, including a maternity hospital. https://t.co/6QQWVIbo54

Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger

10 Jun 25

Something to take account of.

Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko

Russia is heroically combating Ukrainian residential complexes, nurseries, zoos, and parking lots in the middle of the night in "retaliation" for Ukraine destroying Russian missile-carrying bombers, military production enterprises, and oil refineries.

Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger

10 Jun 25

RT @jaynordlinger: Obviously, President Trump is itching to use force. But rioting is impermissible. We are at a dangerous pass, as I discu…