Foreign Policy & War

TGIF: The American Disease

by Sheldon Richman March 21, 2014

If the purpose of U.S. intervention in the affairs of other countries is really to help suffering people, the program has a fatal flaw. (This should surprise no one familiar with other government programs.) The flaw is that the U.S. government does opposition movements no favors when it gives credibility to the charge that those movements are tools of ...

Did Team Obama Blunder or Conspire in Ukraine?

by Sheldon Richman March 20, 2014

While no one ever lost money overestimating the capacity of the U.S. government to blunder, we cannot rule out that American officials knew exactly what they were doing when they helped provoke the crisis in Ukraine. It is hard to believe that all these officials are so ignorant of Russian history that they could not anticipate how President Vladimir Putin ...

TGIF: Empire on Their Minds

by Sheldon Richman March 14, 2014

The conflict in Ukraine has prompted several level-headed commentators to point out that, of all governments, the U.S. government is in no position to lecture Russia about respecting other nations’ borders. When Secretary of State John Kerry said on Meet the Press, “This is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up in terms of its pretext.… You ...

How Americans Can Help Ukrainians

by Sheldon Richman March 13, 2014

It can’t be easy living in Russia’s shadow, and I envy no one in that position. Given its long history and, consequently, the temperament of its leaders (and a good part of its population), Russia for the foreseeable future will be a regional power with an attitude. Thus it will ever be concerned with what happens on its ...

The Libertarian Angle: NATO and Ukraine

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 10, 2014

The Libertarian Angle: NATO and Ukraine. FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the recent events in the Ukraine. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

American Hawks Risk Escalating the Ukrainian Crisis

by Sheldon Richman March 5, 2014

With Russia and the United States confronting each other over Ukraine, the world is at a dangerous juncture. While the chances of war between the two behemoths seem small — these are, after all, nuclear powers that have avoided war for over 60 years — nothing can be taken for granted. No one wanted the Great War that began ...

Libertarianism vs. the Empire

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 4, 2014

"Libertarianism vs. the Empire" by John Glaser and Scott Horton was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C. Scott Horton was delayed by weather and arrived 30 minutes into the presentation. When Jacob Hornberger stops John Glaser to introduce Scott, ...

The Dulles Brothers and America’s Century of Regime Change (video)

by Stephen Kinzer February 26, 2014

"The Dulles Brothers and America's Century of Regime Change" by Stephen Kinzer was a speech sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation February 15, 2014 at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington D.C.

Obama Should Steer Clear of Ukraine

by Sheldon Richman February 26, 2014

President Obama insists he does not regard the conflict in Ukraine “as some Cold War chessboard in which we are in competition with Russia.” He’d be more credible if he were not following his predecessors in acting as though the Cold War still exists. Although the Soviet empire, including its Warsaw Pact alliance, disbanded beginning in 1989, Republican and ...

The Lethal Legacy of U.S. Foreign Intervention

by Sheldon Richman February 12, 2014

Americans seem to believe that once the U.S. military exits a foreign country, its moral accountability ends. But the deadly consequences — and culpability — continue long after the last soldier leaves. Take Iraq, which the U.S. military left at the end of 2011 (though not before President Obama pleaded with the Iraqi government to let some American forces remain). ...

Deliver Us from Evil in Egypt

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 7, 2014

Every Sunday millions of American Christians go to church, where they recite the Lord’s Prayer, which includes the following plea to God: “Deliver us from evil.” I wonder how many of them think about their own government’s support of evil in Egypt when they say that prayer. Evil is really the only way to describe Egypt’s military dictatorship. It’s not ...

U.S. Foreign Policy Is a Shambles

by Sheldon Richman January 7, 2014

With al-Qaeda affiliates wreaking havoc in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham seem to lament that no U.S. troops are on the scene to get in on the action. “The Administration must recognize the failure of its policies in the Middle East and change course,” McCain and Graham said. Change course? Do they want to send troops back ...