Eleven months of Saudi bombs on Yemen has produced thousands of dead civilians, devastated infrastructure, a threatened famine, and...ISIS! The US-backed Saudi intervention to push back a Houthi-led insurgency in Yemen was presumably driven by the Saudi obsession with reducing any perceived Iranian advantage in the Middle East. The fruits of the intervention are increasingly bitter, however. A Libya, part II -- or perhaps a preview of post-Assad Syria if the Saudis, Americans, and Turks have their way. As a new round of peace talks begins today in Switzerland, the Ron Paul Liberty Report takes a look at who's winning big in Yemen... read on...
Cheap oil has not driven an economic recovery in the US as it was supposed to do. Consumers have benefitted in the short-term from lower prices, but there are still record numbers of Americans out of the work force and the economy looks as shaky as ever. Much of the shale boom was driven by the Federal Reserve Bank's money-printing policies, which created boatloads of money looking for places to mal-invest. But the soft underbelly of the current cheap oil "crisis" is geopolitical uncertainty primarily in the Middle East. The world is one Turkish missile, or Russian bomb, or US airstrike, or Saudi invasion away from what could a global earthquake in the oil markets. Today's Liberty Report takes a look at the economics and politics of cheap oil... read on...
While the US government continues to face -- and vigorously deny -- charges that it secretly helps ISIS and other extremists in Syria to keep alive Obama's regime-change policy for Assad, Washington's closest ally in the region makes little pretense that it is at war with al-Qaeda and other extremists.
In fact, Israel is openly coming to the rescue of al-Qaeda's Jabhat al-Nusra just beyond the border of Israel-occupied Golan Heights.
Not only is Israel making no secret of its assistance to the same group responsible for the 9/11 attacks against the United States, Tel Aviv is inviting western media to "embed" with Israeli troops as they embark upon dangerous rescue missions into Syria. Yesterday's Daily Mail ran an article complete with photos and "IDF Footage" of the Israeli army crossing into Syria to rescue members of al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria after they were wounded by Syrian government forces fighting back the al-Qaeda/ISIS-led insurgency.
This is not just a one-off emergency aid mission. According to the article, Israel has been running a three-year medical assistance program for al-Qaeda fighters in southern Syria. The article estimates that Israel has patched up at least 1,600 Islamist extremists and sent many back to battle the secular Syrian government. The missions have been undertaken at great danger to the Israeli soldiers involved and at significant expense for a small country: more than $13 million dollars spend thus far.
As for why Israel would undertake what would on the surface look like a suicide mission -- propping up Islamist extremists who we are told are Israel's mortal enemies -- the Daily Mail reports that while Israel claims it is operating strictly out of humanitarian concerns, many believe Israel "has in fact struck a deadly 'deal with the devil' – offering support to the Sunni militants who fight the Syrian ruler Assad..." read on...
The US-led war on Afghanistan has lasted some 15 years and cost well over a trillion dollars. Yet Afghanistan is in arguably worse shape than when the US set out to "liberate" it from the Taliban. In fact, the Taliban are conducting ever bolder strikes against targets of psychological significance such as the airport in Kandahar this week. The US war in Afghanistan is lost, but no one in Washington will admit it because it is too profitable to the military-industrial complex, and the admission would reveal the bankruptcy of the "regime change" and "nation-build" that is at the center of US foreign policy. Instead they will press on, taking with them the lives of many more war victims and untold resources. Today's Liberty Report takes a look at the US slow-motion defeat in Afghanistan... read on...
It seems like only yesterday that incoming Speaker of the House Paul Ryan promised that from here on the House would proceed only under regular order and that there would be no midnight bills pushed through without due consideration from the committees of jurisdiction. As Congress ponders its holiday break, the pressure it mounting to pass the Cybersecurity Information Sharing (CISA) Act, which encourages companies to spy on their customers and give the information to the US government. They've tried to pass this legislation for years, but finally it looks like it will make it. Once again Congress sells out our liberties with the false promises of providing us more security. Today's Liberty Report is joined by Campaign for Liberty president Norm Singleton to take a look at what Congress is giving us for Christmas... read on...
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced recently that all military jobs, including the most dangerous combat roles, would be open to women starting next April. The announcement added new life to a lawsuit seeking to expand mandatory Selective Service registration to women as well as men who reach the age of 18. The military draft is a form of slavery. Seeking to extend it to women because one feels it is discriminatory if it applies only to men is a case of faulty logic. In a real threat to the United States, likely every able body would defend their homeland. A draft only seeks to add cannon fodder to the imperial foreign policy of the warmongering neocons. The problem is the foreign policy, not a lack of fighters to carry it out. More on women in combat and the draft in today's Liberty Report... read on...
President Obama's address to the nation last night urged Americans to not give in to fear, all the while he stoked fear of terrorist threats all around. He outlined four components to his strategy to fight terrorism that looked like what he had been doing all along, seemingly to no avail. He praised American exceptionalism. Then he said he wanted to take the guns from Americans on the government "no-fly" list -- even though we know that due to government incompetence thousands are on the list with no ties to terrorism whatsoever. More on Obama's sly propagandism on today's Liberty Report... read on...
It is the extremists on both sides -- the radical Islamists and the neocons at home -- who are pushing a clash of civilizations to suit their own agendas, says Ron Paul in this brand new address. The idea that the western, "Christian" world is at a war to the death with Islam is a fantasy in the minds of both sides. The great danger is that this tiny minority on both sides can make headway, each earning its own recruits to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. They must be resisted. We must cling to the ideas of liberty, peace, and prosperity... read on...
US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is fast becoming one of the the most interesting Members of Congress. A Captain in the US Army National Guard, she deployed twice overseas to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2004.
In her first term as a Member of Congress, Rep. Gabbard sits on the influential Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. House Democratic leadership may have thought seating a female combat veteran on these committees would add a politically-useful militaristic voice to their stable. If that is the case, they miscalculated in a major way. read on...
The police had no motive and no suspects in custody after yesterday's shooting in California, yet those pressure groups with agendas were already demanding that Muslims be spied on and guns be confiscated. The media, as per usual, amplified every unsubstantiated rumor and outright falsehood about the San Bernardino shooting to keep people glued to their television and glued to their seats. There is little concern about accuracy or journalistic responsibility. The president jumps out ahead of the news and criticizes guns. These tragic events are tools in the hands of those who want to destroy our civil liberties. More on this real threat to our way of life in today's Liberty Report... read on...
