Foreign Policy & War

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 ...

Manufacturing Terrorists

by Matthew Harwood September 1, 2013

The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson (Ig Publishing, 2013), 272 pages. Predators stalk Muslim-American communities across the nation today. They talk of brotherhood and of sacrifice. They talk of jihad and the duty of fellow Muslims to come to the defense of the faithful. Often they prey on the most vulnerable within ...

U.S. Has No Moral Standing to Condemn Assad

by Sheldon Richman August 28, 2013

Whether or not Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, President Obama has no legitimate grounds to intervene. U.S. airstrikes, intended to punish and deter Assad and degrade his military but not overthrow his regime, would deepen the U.S. investment in the Syrian civil war and increase the chances of further intervention. Obama’s previous intervention is what has brought us to this ...

TGIF: Truman, A-Bombs, and the Killing of Innocents

by Sheldon Richman August 9, 2013

Sixty-eight years ago today a president of the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a city full of innocent Japanese. It was the second time in three days that Harry Truman had done such a thing: He had bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The fatalities in the two cities totaled 150,000–246,000. The victims – mostly children, ...

The U.S. Empire Provokes Terrorism

by Sheldon Richman August 8, 2013

Perhaps we’ll never know if intercepted chatter between al-Qaeda leaders — which prompted the U.S. government to close dozens of diplomatic missions in the Muslim world and to issue a worldwide travel alert — was serious or not. But mischief shouldn’t be ruled out. Without cost or risk, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, head of ...

Book Review: Opponent of Empire

by Martin Morse Wooster August 1, 2013

Rome’s Last Citizen:  The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar by Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press, 2012),  311 pages. A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty / is worth a whole eternity in bondage. — Joseph Addison, Cato Some of us know that the Cato Institute is named for Cato’s Letters, a series of essays ...

El Mal del Estado de la Seguridad Nacional

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 31, 2013

Las dos palabras más importantes en la vida de los americanos durante los últimos 60 años han sido “seguridad nacional”. El término ha transformado la sociedad americana a peor. Ha pervertido sus principios y valores. Ha atrofiado las conciencias. Ha alterado el orden constitucional. Y ha producido un gobierno, democráticamente elegido, que ejerce poderes totalitarios. Ahora vivimos en un país ...