Foreign Policy & War

No Bailouts for Ailing Asian Economies

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1997

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, along with the United States and other countries, propose once again to rescue troubled countries with a wheelbarrow full of cash, compliments of American taxpayers. The planned $94 billion bailout of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia is a lousy idea all around. The plan should be trashed. "We have ...

Are Foreign Lobbyists Really a Threat?

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1997

Throughout the campaign finance investigation, there has been a presumption that lobbyists representing foreign interests are automatically inimical to the interests of the American people. Domestic lobbyists are bad enough, according to most people. But foreign lobbyists must be even worse. Right? Not necessarily. If we look in one particular area of policy, world trade, foreign ...

Topsy Turvy Foreign Policy

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1997

U.S. foreign policy can be confusing. Jiang Zemin heads the brutal communist government in the most populous nation in the world. He gets a state dinner at the White House and trade deals. Fidel Castro heads the communist government on the small island of Cuba. He can't get within a hundred miles of the White ...

Time to Bid the UN Farewell

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1997

President Clinton has announced a renewed U.S. commitment to the United Nations. In his attempt to show American enthusiasm for the world organization, Clinton has promised that the United States will pay the $819 million it is said to owe and he supports expansion of the Security Council. It will be no surprise if Clinton ...

The FTC Strikes Again

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 1997

The Federal Trade Commission has once again dealt a blow to our allegedly free enterprise economy. The FTC plans to move against a proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot, two office supply chains. The commission claims the merger would violate the antitrust laws. Displaying its standard confusion over ...

Vietnam as Federal Program

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1997

We're told in school that government leaders have unique insight and dedication regarding the "public interest." While people in theprivate sector can be motivated by profit, prestige, and even vanity andfoolishness, public servants are just that: leaders intent on achieving thegeneral welfare. They are not subject to the same temptations as meremortals. That civics-book ...

Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism, and American Foreign Policy, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 Shortly after the July 17, 1996, crash of TWA Flight 800, President Clinton called for the passage of a new anti-terrorism bill. He argued that unless federal law-enforcement agencies were given the tools needed to combat terrorism, the lives of Americans would be put into increasing danger. At the same time, he called for ...

Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism, and American Foreign Policy, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1996

Part 1 | Part 2 On July 17, 1996, TWA Fight 800 exploded into a fireball off the southern coast of Long Island and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, just minutes after it took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport. Two hundred and thirty human beings lost their lives. The anger and sorrow expressed by many Americans were understandable, ...

Stop Playing Games

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1996

It's time for President Clinton to stop playing Saddam Hussein's tiresome game. How many times will the president prime the American people for military strikes on Iraq, only to go on television and call them off after Saddam has agreed to readmit the UN weapons inspectors? It's like a summer re-run! There ...

The Evils of Economic Sanctions

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1996

Americans are undoubtedly sleeping soundly in the knowledge that U.S. Customs agents in the last year tripled the number of Cuban cigars seized before they could be brought into the country. The Customs Service says that it grabbed nearly 90,000 cigars, thwarting 1,285 acts of smuggling. The cigars were valued at more than $1 million, according to USA Today. Why ...

Freedom Is the Best Insurance against Terrorism

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1996

In the wake of the possible bombing of TWA flight 800 and the bombing at the Olympics, President Clinton is doing what politicians always do at times like these: he's grabbing for power. If that has a feeling of deja vu to it, it should. Shortly after the blast at the federal ...

War Psychology: A Tool for Shaping Public Policy

by Catherine M. Farmer August 1, 1996

"War has shaped our constitutional order, the course of our national development, and the very mentality of our people," argued Professor Ralph Raico in the February 1995 issue of Freedom Daily . He may be right. However, laying aside the issues of global, national, and regional clashes, it's important to understand the psychology of war, as well, and recognize its ...