Foreign Policy & War

The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 5

by Gregory Bresiger September 17, 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 I deplore the hysterical sort of anti-Communism which, it seems to me, is gaining ...

Libya Is Nothing for Obama to Be Proud Of

by Sheldon Richman September 2, 2011

A fascinating example of the mindset of American mainstream journalists is provided by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote a glowing piece this week praising the U.S. government’s humanitarian intervention in Libya. It’s entitled “Thank You, America!” Kristof’s article comes across as a glorious paean to the U.S. government — how good and wonderful the government ...

Memorial Day Reflections and Revisionism

by James Bovard August 26, 2011

On Memorial Day, the media do their usual sacralizing of war. Instead, it should be a day for the ritualized scourging of politicians. During the last 60 years, their lies have resulted in the unnecessary deaths of almost 100,000 thousand American soldiers and millions of foreigners. And yet, people still get teary-eyed when politicians take the stage to talk ...

The Next Quagmire: Sanctions and Syria

by Fergus Hodgson August 24, 2011

If trade promotes peace, and it does, then trade sanctions stifle it. That may be simple logic, but it continues to go unnoticed with Washington officials. The latest nation on the receiving end of economic provocation is Syria. On August 18, Barack Obama froze all Syrian government assets within U.S. jurisdiction and banned American investment in, ...

The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 4

by Gregory Bresiger August 24, 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 That, in my mind was the turning point of U.S. policy, the Greek Turkish ...

The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 3

by Gregory Bresiger July 20, 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 Why did the United States, in 1947, suddenly decide that it could no longer ...

Don’t Support the Troops – Bring Them Home

by Sheldon Richman July 8, 2011

Reversing long-standing policy, President Obama will now send condolence letters to the families of U.S. military personnel who commit suicide in combat zones. That’s nice. But he could prevent future suicides by bringing all the troops home and ending America’s interventionist foreign policy. “They didn’t die because they were weak,” Obama said. “And the fact that they didn’t get the help ...

The Isolationist Red Herring

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2011

The media have picked up a new buzzword: “isolationist.” They jumped on it after Sen. John McCain, who seems to want the United States to be at war everywhere, said after the last Republican presidential debate, “I do want to send a message, and that is that we cannot move into an isolationist party.” He was soon joined by ...

Lessons from the Middle East, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 30, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Among the many ways that our American ancestors viewed the role of government in a free society that were so different from modern-day Americans was how they regarded militarism and a standing army. Our ancestors disdained the concept of professional armies because they viewed them as antithetical to freedom. Keep in ...

Two Wrongs on Libya Won’t Make a Right

by Laurence M. Vance June 28, 2011

Since the day President Obama began his military escapade against Libya on March 19, members of Congress have expressed indignation because they were not consulted. Not, mind you, because they necessarily oppose any of the wars the United States has been or is currently involved in, but because they were not asked to sign off on the military action. Now, ...

The Unchanging Imperial Paradigm

by Sheldon Richman June 24, 2011

Despite President Obama’s trumpeted force drawdown in Afghanistan, by the end of next summer more than twice as many U.S. troops will be fighting in that country’s civil war as there were when he became president in 2009. His soothing words notwithstanding, a force of about 70,000 will remain there at least until the end of 2014. We can ...

The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 2

by Gregory Bresiger June 20, 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 Kennan’s policy was based on the idea that we must “regard the Soviet ...