Foreign Policy & War

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 ...

Obama’s War Is Peace

by Sheldon Richman June 17, 2011

President Obama demonstrates his utter contempt for the American people — and the law — when he says the War Powers Resolution does not apply to his intervention in Libya because, as the White House put it, “U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.” Apparently ...

The Roots of Infamy at Pearl Harbor

by George Leef June 15, 2011

Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy by Percy L. Greaves Jr., edited by Bettina Bien Greaves (Auburn, Ala., Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010). December 7, 1941 — a day that will live in infamy. Franklin D. Roosevelt was right about that. The attack by the Japanese Navy on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor certainly was infamous. ...

The Media Distract the Public from War

by Sheldon Richman June 10, 2011

If one is to judge by the tone of the television commentators, America must be deep in a crisis. Long stretches of cable time are devoted  to the breaking news. Each detail is presented as more grave and consequential for the republic than the last. The fate of the country surely hangs in the balance. What is it? War? Fiscal ...