Foreign Policy & War

The American Press and War

by Tim Kelly January 17, 2012

There is a myth of an independent American press existing as a counterforce to government power. Unfortunately, the truth is less inspiring, especially with respect to the U.S. government’s wars, invasions, and foreign interventions. Rather than keeping the public well-informed, journalists and reporters have all too often served as conduits for government propaganda in the march to war. Sensationalistic “yellow ...

Is Ron Paul an Isolationist?

by Laurence M. Vance January 17, 2012

The word isolationist is a pejorative term used to ridicule advocates of U.S. nonintervention in foreign affairs, intimidate their supporters, and stifle debate over U.S. foreign policy. Throughout the twentieth century, opponents of U.S. intervention in foreign wars were smeared as isolationists. Conservative and Republican opponents of Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, although they may argue and fight among themselves, ...

Opposing Imperialism Is Not Isolationism

by Sheldon Richman January 12, 2012

When pundits and rival politicians call Ron Paul an “isolationist,” they mislead the American people — and they know it. They know it? How could they not: Ron Paul is for unilateral, unconditional free trade. He believes any American should be perfectly free to buy from or sell to any person in the world. In that sense — the laissez-faire ...

The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 8

by Gregory Bresiger December 27, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 |Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 |Part 12 |Part 13 George Kennan, the author of the containment doctrine, the doctrine that had set the ...

Secret Wars and the Rule of Law

by Tim Kelly December 21, 2011

The president of the United States now wages secret wars virtually independent of Congress and in direct violation of the United States Constitution. Earlier this month, the White House issued several findings authorizing U.S. intelligence services to carry out covert actions against Iran and Syria. A presidential finding is a directive similar to an executive order; it instructs a government ...

Noninterventionism: Cornerstone of a Free Society

by Anthony Gregory December 21, 2011

A free society is impossible under an empire. Even the most just war you can imagine is a disaster for liberty and prosperity, as Ludwig von Mises pointed out. An unjust war amounts to murder, mayhem, and mass destruction. And a perpetual state of war guarantees that liberty will never be achieved. James Madison said it very well: Of all ...

FDRs Noble Lie

by Tim Kelly December 15, 2011

Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, rumors began to circulate challenging the official narrative that it was an unprovoked surprise attack. The cumulative evidence gathered over the last seventy years by scholars, journalists, and investigators vindicates those suspicious of treachery from the top; for it comprises a solid circumstantial case that Franklin D. ...

Imperialism and Oil

by Tim Kelly December 2, 2011

In March 2003, after months of propaganda about phony threats posed by Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, as well as absurd suggestions by the White House that his regime was in league with al-Qaeda, U.S. forces invaded Iraq in an act of aggression that was every bit as brazen and illegal as Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg of Poland ...

Obama’s War Record Should Appall Progressives

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2011

Why are liberals so desperately unhappy with the Obama presidency? asks New York Magazines Jonathan Chait, a self-proclaimed Obama apologist. He answers his own question: Liberals are dissatisfied with Obama because liberals, on the whole, are incapable of feeling satisfied with a Democratic president. See? It isn't Obama's fault. Its something in the so-called liberal, or progressive, psyche. (Liberalism originally ...

Darwinian Stupidity

by Rich Schwartzman November 28, 2011

One has to question the mindset of the current administration in Washington. The country is $15 trillion in debt due to the ever-increasing welfare-warfare state. The warfare side of the equation is imperialistic to the point of crippling stupidity. Not only do we already have as many as 900 military bases, and military personnel in an estimated 130 different countries, ...

War with Iran Would Be Madness

by Sheldon Richman November 23, 2011

President Obama's refusal to rule out military action against Iran and GOP contender Mitt Romney's recent threat of war against Iran should appall anyone who believes, with the free-market liberal Ludwig von Mises, that not war, but peace, is the father of all things. If the U.S. government or its client state Israel were to attack Iran, all hell ...

GOP Debate Reveals Depraved and Deluded Political Class

by Tim Kelly November 21, 2011

The most recent GOP foreign policy debate revealed the depraved and deluded state of Americas political class. There was a time when U.S. presidents sought plausible deniability for things like torture and assassination; now such sordid practices are openly supported by candidates seeking the country's highest elected office. Several candidates were asked their opinion regarding waterboarding. Herman Cain said that ...