Are we seeing an opening to better US/Russia relations? One of president-elect Donald Trump's first moves after victory was a telephone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin. But turning away from the past several years of deteriorating relations will not be an easy task even if the incoming president makes it a priority. The Trump/Putin call sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, with certain Senators warning the incoming president against further moves toward rapprochement. What's next? RPI's Daniel McAdams joins Crosstalk to give his views... read on...
One of the essential battles in the effort to move toward a more peaceful and prosperous United States is the effort to restore the proper balance among the three branches of our government. The rapid concentration of power in the Executive Branch has led to more wars with less Congressional oversight, trampling of our civil liberties with no resistance from our Representatives, and out of control military spending. Contrary to what many people believe, the Congressional ability to earmark spending to specific projects was an important function of the Legislative Branch. When earmarks were abolished, spending did not decrease. It was just hidden. We discuss the need for their return in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Trump wants to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal and/or “dismantle” it. Why? What good does this do Americans? Why not continue to follow the path of peaceful trade and cultural exchange? Why not continue to build mutual respect and understanding with this historic nation with its rich culture and peace-loving people?
It was wrong to have imposed crippling sanctions on Iran. It was wrong to have treated Iran as an enemy. That only creates an enemy. It was right to have removed those sanctions. It is wrong to commit America against Iran because of Iran’s frictions with Israel. America should not be the protector of Israel. America should not be protecting NATO countries either or Taiwan or South Korea or Japan. If government has any basic purpose, it is to protect the rights and persons under its charge. This doesn’t include protecting foreign nations or attempting to create a safe world everywhere on the faulty theory that this makes America safe.
Trump wants to pressure Iran further on its nuclear activities. That’s why he wants to renegotiate. He assumes that the US has a right to control Iran’s defense and military position; but the US has no such right. Trump cannot renegotiate without either threatening to reimpose sanctions or actually doing it again. read on...
We are often asked, when criticizing the foreign policy of the past several Administrations, "oh yeah, what would you do?" Well we decided to come up with five specific fixes to the prevailing foreign policy that we believe would make a huge difference and would move us much closer to a foreign policy of peace and prosperity. Our top five today on the Liberty Report... read on...
The Russian President Vladimir Putin made the long-expected phone call to the US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday.
It stands to reason that the presidential spokesman in the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, one of Putin’s closest aides, travelled to New York last week ostensibly to attend a world chess event, but principally to prepare the ground for the phone conversation on Monday.
The agenda of such Russian-American conversations is usually agreed upon beforehand. The Kremlin readout (and the brief statement by Trump’s transition team in New York) gave a positive account of the phone conversation.
From available details, it was a substantive conversation, which focused on reviving the Russian-American relationship, and, most important, also took up the Syrian conflict in some detail, including “issues related to solving the crisis”. read on...
Post-election comments on Middle East policy last week by President-elect Donald Trump and one his campaign advisers have provoked speculation about whether Trump will upend two main foreign policy lines of the Obama administration in the Middle East.
But the more decisive question about the future of US policy toward the region is whom Trump will pick for his national security team – and especially whether he will nominate John Bolton to become Secretary of State.
Bolton, one of the most notorious members of Dick Cheney’s team plotting wars in the George W. Bush administration, would certainly push for the effective nullification of the main political barrier to US confrontation with Iran: the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal. read on...
Both the Middle East and the South China Sea area are hot spots that can potentially lead to major wars. Will the US and Russia clash over Syria policy? What about the US and China at odds over China's reclaimed islands off their coast? As a new US Administration readies itself to tackle some of these issues, today's Liberty Report speaks with distinguished US diplomat, Ambassador Charles Freeman, to see what we might expect. Will the neocons keep the administration on a bellicose and militaristic approach to the rest of the world, or will real diplomacy be given a chance? read on...
Donald Trump’s startling and explosive victory has not only shaken America’s oligarchy to its core, it’s also sending shock waves across Europe and scaring the top hats off plutocrats and their tame politicians.
The great Mark Twain wrote early in the 20th century: ‘if you don’t read newspapers you are uninformed. But if you do read them, you are misinformed.’ Amen.
As with the 2003 war against Iraq, the US media totally dropped its mask of phony impartiality and became a cheerleader for the Clintons and their financial backers.
Media was clearly revealed as a propaganda organ for the ruling elite. No wonder its disgusted clients are decamping to online sources or just ignoring the biased media.
Amazingly, working class men and women rose up and overthrew the oligarchy, led by the corporate media and the self-enriching, war-promoting Clinton dynasty and its Davos friends. There was plenty of anguish among leftist groups and weepy young women, but America breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. read on...
According to the Washington Post, President Obama did a 180 degree turn in Syria and will begin attacking al-Qaeda's affiliate in the country. The five year "Assad must go" strategy lies in tatters, as Assad will likely still be in power when it's time for Obama to go. What are the implications of this shift? We discuss on today's Liberty Report read on...
November 13th was as unlucky for stalwart backers of the foreign policy-line embodied by Hillary Clinton just as 8th November was for her domestic supporters. In both Bulgaria and Moldova, the voters rejected candidates for president who had been openly endorsed by Washington and Brussels. Having witnessed how small states with tiny electorates but vital Electoral College votes dealt body-blows to Hillary Clinton's hopes of winning the US Presidency, it would be short-sighted and arrogant - as the Euro-Atlantic establishment has so often been - to dismiss voters in small East European states as irrelevant.
Having presumed that Bulgaria was irretrievably anchored in the Euro-Atlantic power-structure by its accession to both NATO and the EU, the choice of an openly pro-Russian candidate for president of the country is a wake-up call to Brussels and Washington. Similarly, the Moldovan elite had seemed locked into an "irreversible" course as its premier put it to integration - better said subordination - to the Euro-Atlantic model. In both cases, the majority of citizens thought different.
Until the implosion of the neo-con regime-change foreign policy embodied by Hillary Clinton and her attack-dog for Eastern Europe, Victoria Neuland, we could have been confident that the heavy-hands of Washington and Brussels would have pressured both Bulgaria and Moldova to reverse such results. Yet even cash inducements like the IMF's sudden dole of US$36 million to the Moldovan regime just six days before the poll could not buy enough support . Even more striking was the Bulgarian public's rejection of the pro-EU candidate who had boasted about how much EU aid to the poverty- stricken Balkan EU member was at stake. read on...
