This morning an agreement was reached at the Syria talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, to set up four "de-escalation" or "safe" zones inside Syria, where moderate rebels would be tolerated but extremists like al-Qaeda and ISIS and their various offshoots would not be tolerated. The Syrian and Russian governments would not conduct military action in such zones. The aim is to reduce the fighting and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Will the "moderates" really be able to separate from the extremists and terrorists? That remains to be seen. What will be the US reaction, especially from the neocons? We'll soon see. Our take on this breaking story in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Does sending more US troops into Afghanistan make any sense? Ron Paul doesn't think so and he explains why in this new edition of #AskRonPaul in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Just when we thought the enemy of the week was going to be North Korea again. Or maybe Russia. Or Syria. It turns out that Washington's enemy of this week is...Iran! The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is pushing through a bill slapping additional sanctions on Tehran. While just a couple of weeks ago Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reported to Congress that Iran is meeting its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, President Trump accused Tehran of not abiding by the "spirit" of the treaty. Whatever that is. More in today's Liberty Report... read on...
No, the government is not going to close down. It's all a ruse. The budget "crisis" was solved by agreeing on a 1,600 page bill that spends more on the military and more on government programs at home. There's something in it for politicians of almost every stripe. The Russian "threat"? Don't worry! There's $100 million for a fun to counter "Russian propaganda" in Europe. Terrorism? There's a $15 billion appropriation to fight terrorism. Don't worry that Washington's interventionist foreign policy is the primary cause of terrorism. Just spend! More in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Are Wikileaks and other similar organizations "hostile foreign agencies," as CIA Director Mike Pompeo asserted recently? He's looking at a way to punish media organizations for telling their readers the truth while being able to avoid going after the mainstream media companies that publish materials provided by Wikileaks. It is all about stripping some organizations and individuals from First Amendment protection. Don't miss this exclusive Ron Paul Liberty Report with Wikileaks Founder, Julian Assange... read on...
Dave Smith knows how to have fun and be funny...while making a good point! He is not only a libertarian stand-up comic, but he is host of the very popular Part of the Problem podcast. How did Dave come around to embrace the libertarian movement? The Giuliani Moment! Dave Smith dropped by the Ron Paul Liberty Report studio to talk about his conversion to libertarianism and what he's doing with it on this very special episode of the program... read on...
Here's a perfect example of how convoluted our Middle East policy is: our Turkish NATO allies attacked our Kurdish anti-ISIS ground forces in Iraq and Syria this week, killing as many as 70 fighters. The Kurdish YPG fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed "Syrian Democratic Forces" who are leading the US fight against ISIS in eastern Syria. How will the Kurds respond to the fact that their chief sponsor's close ally keeps killing them? And how does the US expect the Kurds to take over Raqqa once it's "liberated" when the Turks keep killing them? And how will the Turks respond to the US at least tacitly pushing the Kurds toward de facto statehood? And...what is our Syria policy? Tune in to today's Liberty Report... read on...
President Trump has yet to provide any credible evidence that the gas attack in Syria earlier this month was carried out by Assad, and in the meantime very serious questions about the veracity of White House claims are arising from very credible experts. Yet the Administration seems ever more determined now that it has done a 180 degree turn and demanded regime change for Syria. Late last week the White House announced sanctions on 271 Syrian scientists who Trump claims are working on chemical weapons. The proof? None. How to explain this sudden embrace of the neocon line on Syria and elsewhere? It might be telling that according to recent press reports the architect of the disastrous Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz, is lending advice on the Middle East to Defense Secretary Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. They have all apparently been friends for years. More in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday accused Iran of sending troops to fight in Syria and of destabilizing the region. He did not mention that Iranian troops were invited into the country while US troops are in Syria illegally. Tillerson condemned Iran as a leading human rights abuser while praising Saudi Arabia -- the kings of head-chopping -- as a great US ally. The Secretary of State vowed that the US would solve the Iran problem once and for all instead of leaving it to the next US Administration. Is Trump gunning for yet another major war in the Middle East? Will US allies follow Washington in new sanctions on Iran even as Trump has reluctantly admitted that Iran is living up to its end of the nuclear deal? This and more in today's Liberty Report... read on...
In late 2009, President Obama brought US troop levels in Afghanistan up to 100,000. This "surge" was modeled after the "successful" US surge in Iraq. Ultimately both failed, but the surge planners like General Petraeus are still being listened to as "serious" figures. Now, 16 years into the war in Afghanistan, we are witnessing a slow-motion surge. Some 300 US Marines are on their way to the "graveyard of empires" and the Commander of US troops in Afghanistan is on record requesting a "few thousand" more. Will another surge achieve what the previous surges have failed to achieve? We take a look at why the war on Afghanistan was lost long ago in today's Liberty Report... read on...
