Interviewed Wednesday at Fox Business by host Kennedy, libertarian communicator and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul praised former President Barack Obama for placing some restraints on the United States government transferring military weapons to local police and criticized the potential action by President Donald Trump to resume the full flow of military weapons. Says Paul, “this combination of the federal government and the military providing the weapons for local police, that’s a long way from what the Founders intended or the Constitution says; they’re not supposed to be involved in this.” read on...
The Senate vote to admitting Montenegro to NATO was not at all about US security or the US national interest, according to the Senators who voted for it. It was all about Russia. It was all about the "Russian threat." It's all about creating momentum for new NATO members even close to Russia, like Ukraine or Georgia. RPI's Daniel McAdams is interviewed by RT America about the recent vote on Montenegro... read on...
Interviewed Tuesday at C-SPAN, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) challenged the continuing refusal of US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to allow the House to debate and vote on the Afghanistan War, the costs of which Jones presents as so far including the spending of over 800 billion dollars, the death of over 2,000 Americans, and the wounding of over 20,000 more.
Jones was a guest on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal program to discuss HR 1666, legislation he introduced in the House of Representatives last week and says in the interview he hopes can lead to a debate on the House floor regarding “whether we should stay in Afghanistan or not stay in Afghanistan.” Jones was joined on the show by Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), a cosponsor of the legislation. read on...
A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues is out. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud. read on...
One of the planned cornerstones of the 15+ year Afghan Reconstruction Effort was to be an extensive, nationwide network of roads.
The United States’ concept was roads would allow the Afghan economy to flourish as trade could reach throughout the country, security would be enhanced by the ability to move security forces quickly to where they were needed, and that the presence of the roads would serve as a literal symbol of the central government’s ability to extend its presence into the countryside.
The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its audit of the Department of Defense’s and USAID’s $2.8 billion investment in Afghanistan’s road infrastructure. read on...
Gordon Tullock used to taunt anarchists by asserting that if the USA abolished its government, people would not have to worry about the Russians taking over the country because “the Mexicans would get here first.”
This little story actually incorporates a common objection to anarchy—namely, the idea that because, if a country abolished its government, other countries would not necessarily follow suit, the governments of those other countries would be free to, and would, simply take over the country that, lacking a government, also lacked an effective means of defending itself against takeover by a foreign power. read on...
As the US airstrikes in the Iraqi city of Mosul are increasingly concentrated around densely populated neighborhoods in the city’s west, the death toll from those airstrikes in spiraling rapidly out of control, with the most recent figures out of the area suggesting around 230 civilians were killed overnight in US and coalition strikes in just a single neighborhood.
That’s an enormous toll, of course, but is reported from several sources telling largely the same story, including that a single US airstrike against a large building full of civilians in Mosul killed over 130 people, while the other 100 or so were killed in the surrounding area. read on...
US military forces will remain in Iraq after the military defeat of the Islamic State in order to avert another resurgence of the terrorist organization, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced Wednesday. read on...
Early information arising from a US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee investigation into possible United States government spying on Donald Trump and people associated with him appears to show that information about individuals associated with Trump and his presidential transition was collected through surveillance by, and was widely distributed in, the US intelligence community.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters Wednesday that “on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition” and that “details about US persons associated with the incoming administration — details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value — were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting.” read on...
Join the Mises and Ron Paul Institutes for a symposium on war and peace in the age of Trump. We’ll meet in Ron’s hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas, on Saturday, April 8, 2017, 9am-1pm.
Speakers include Dr. Paul, David Stockman, Phil Giraldi, Jeff Deist, Dan McAdams, and me. The price, which includes luncheon, is just $40 per person. Register here.
