Foreign Policy & War

Egypt’s Lessons for Americans, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2013

Part 1 | Part 2 The ambivalent reaction of the U.S. government to the Egyptian coup should not have surprised anyone. While U.S. law requires a termination of U.S. foreign aid to Egypt in the event of a coup, the Obama administration ignored the law by simply refusing to declare that the coup was actually a coup. Keep ...

Sheldon Richman on Voice of the Cape (audio)

by Sheldon Richman October 8, 2013

On September 25, 2013, Sheldon Richman was a guest on Voice of the Cape Radio from Cape Town, South Africa to discuss the Kenyan massacre and Somalia. Audio of the interview is provided below in two parts. Listen to Part 1, then listen to Part 2.

The War State

by Michael Swanson October 4, 2013

Of course the most famous warning about the power of the military came from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and went on to serve as president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. On his last day in office, he gave a televised farewell address to the nation in ...

Syria Remains a Target of the U.S. Empire

by Tim Kelly October 1, 2013

A Russian diplomatic initiative has forestalled U.S. military strikes against Syria. The U.S.-Russian-Syrian agreement would have Bashar al-Assad’s regime turn over its chemical-weapons to the UN Security Council so that they can be destroyed under international control. The deal was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made an apparently off-the-cuff remark suggesting that ...

Egypt’s Lessons for Americans, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2013

Part 1 | Part 2 The military coup in Egypt last summer holds some valuable lessons for Americans, especially with respect to such things as freedom, democracy, and the U.S. national-security state, which has been an important part of American life since the end of World War II. The coup provides an especially important lesson with respect ...

The Kenyan Massacre’s Roots in America’s Somalia Policy

by Sheldon Richman September 24, 2013

Last weekend’s hostage-taking — and the murder of at least 61 people — at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, has its roots in the U.S. government’s intervention in Somalia, which began in the 1990s. Although there is no justification for killing innocents, it is fair to point out that al-Shabaab, the Islamist group that committed the attack ...

Here’s How the U.S. Can Help Rid the World of Chemical Weapons

by Sheldon Richman September 11, 2013

If President Obama is serious about ridding the world, and not just Syria, of chemical weapons, he and America’s closest allies in the Middle East should lead the way. Although the United States has ratified the 20-year-old Chemical Weapons Convention, it has not destroyed its entire arsenal, as required under the CWC. In reference to the United States, the

The Libertarian Angle: Syria and Foreign Interventionism

by Future of Freedom Foundation September 9, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss Syria and U.S. foreign policy. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. You can find the podcast here.

TGIF: The Cynical U.S. Policy on Chemical Weapons

by Sheldon Richman September 6, 2013

“I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.” That was President Obama’s response this week to those who believe he wants to attack Syria in order to defend his own credibility. Secretary of State John Kerry said the same thing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They were referring to the 88-year-old

We Must Not Be the World’s Policeman

by Sheldon Richman September 4, 2013

Even if everything Secretary of State John Kerry says about chemical weapons in Syria were true, the evidence would prove only that Bashar al-Assad committed crimes against civilians. It would not prove that the U.S. government has either the moral or legal authority to commit acts of war. These issues must be kept separate. We have reason to be ...

The Libertarian Angle: Syria

by Future of Freedom Foundation September 4, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the Syria. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

U.S. Government to Blame for Somalia’s Misery

by Scott Horton September 1, 2013

At the beginning of May the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a U.S.- and U.K.-government-financed organization that monitors various food crises around the world, released a new report detailing the horrific consequences of the Somali famine of 2011. According to FEWS NET, “An estimated 4.6 percent of the total population and 10 percent of children under 5 died ...