Foreign Policy & War

The IMF Doesn’t Deserve a Capital Boost

by Doug Bandow July 1, 1992

For more than four decades, the U.S. has been the largest contributor to not only the IMF but also to all of the other multilateral-aid institutions, such as the World Bank. Indeed, Washington even provides the largest check to the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and ...

Nationalism and Classical Liberalism

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1992

For forty-five years, Europe enjoyed peace. But it was in the form of an "armed truce" called the Cold War. On the one side of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union maintained its through the threat — and occasional use — of force, as in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. On the other side of the lron ...

The Causes and Consequences of World War II, Part 3

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1992

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In 1945, Nazi totalitarianism was destroyed by the military might of the wartime allies. But within a few months of victory, our comrade-in-arms, "Uncle Joe" Stalin (as he was affectionately referred to by President Franklin Roosevelt), was making it clear that the postwar period would not be an era of ...

December 7, 1941: The Infamy of FDR

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 1991

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — December 7, 1941 — killed or injured over 4,500 Americans. It destroyed most of America's Pacific fleet. Almost 200 American aircraft were lost. Although America's defenders at Pearl Harbor fought bravely and courageously, the attack resulted in a massacre. There is no better example of the political indoctrination which the American people ...

The Causes and Consequences of World War II, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1991

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 World War II was not a war between freedom and tyranny. Rather it was a conflict between alternative systems of collectivism. By the 1930s, there was not one major country devoted to and practicing the principles of classical liberalism — the political philosophy of individual liberty, free-market capitalism and free ...

Pearl Harbor: The Controversy Continues

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1991

At 7:53 am. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a Japanese force of 183 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes struck the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Some 4,500 Americans were killed or wounded. As news of the surprise attack spread, William F. Friedman, an Army cryptanalyst who had helped to break the Japanese ...

The Much-Coveted World War II

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1991

From the first grade in their government-approved schools, Americans are taught never to question the consequences of America's participation in World War II. "We defeated Hitler. Freedom prevailed over tyranny," we are taught "and there is nothing further to consider or discuss." The political indoctrination is so complete that the minds of many Americans will forever remain closed to ...

The Causes and Consequences of World War II, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1991

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 When World War II ended in 1945, most of Europe lay in ruins. German cities like Dresden and Hamburg had practically been cremated from day-and-night Allied fire-bombings. Warsaw had been almost leveled to the ground by the Germans. The scorched-earth policies of both the Nazis and the Soviets had left ...

The Consequences of World War II

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1991

World War II is often viewed as the last good war. In contrast to the wars that followed it — Korea and Vietnam, primarily World War II is said to have had a clear purpose: the smashing of Nazism and fascism and all the horrible things for which they stood. The description "last good war" also implies that the ...

A Liberal World Order

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1991

The 20th century opened with great hopes for the future. For almost a hundred years, a major war had not disturbed the peace of Europe. And when military conflicts had broken out among the European nations, they had been localized and limited in both their duration and destruction. Most of the governments of Europe were either democracies or constitutional monarchies. ...

Players and Pawns: The Persian Gulf War

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 1991

For the greater part of this century, the United States government has plundered, looted, and terrorized the American people through the Internal Revenue Service. It has surreptitiously stolen people's income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. It has brutally enforced — through fines and imprisonment — rules and regulations governing people's peaceful economic activities. In a very real ...

Some Other Costs of War

by Robert Higgs July 1, 1991

War always increases State power over the economy, and the Gulf war is no exception. Thus one of President Bush's first actions was, by executive fiat, to give himself total control over any corporation or industry, if he deems it necessary for the war effort. He can now requisition what he wants, without regard ...