Month: October 1999

As Cato Institute foreign policy analyst Ted Carpenter told me, "It is pleasantly surprising to see evidence of some stirring of conscience, some desire to have something resembling the truth finally come out, on the part of people both in the State Department and at the New York Times.” Even if the Times story, in … Continue reading “Sudan Second Thoughts”

POST NO BELLUMS The Confederate States of America did not last long enough as a going concern to produce a tradition in foreign affairs. The main issue facing the Confederates was self-defense against Mr. Lincoln’s armies. This left little time for debates about intervening or not intervening in other country’s affairs or supporting other secessionist … Continue reading “Southern Critics of Intervention: Part II”

OLD TIMES THERE ARE NOT FORGOTTEN With due care, it is possible to rent a film set in the American South which is not given over to bewailing endless Evil and Corruption of the sort that logically requires permanent occupation by the Army of the Potomac. These days, it’s not just high-minded leftists or former … Continue reading “Southern Critics of Intervention: Part I”

A news story that broke late yesterday makes it clearer than ever that the U.S. government plans to use the drug war as the pretext to intervene in the Colombian civil war on a massive scale. Exultant press conferences were held in Washington and Bogota to announce the arrest in Colombia of 30 drug trafficking … Continue reading “Colombian Sting”

AN UNCIVIL WAR The controversy over Patrick J. Buchanan’s A Republic, Not an Empire is most remarkable. One could expect a presidential candidate’s critics to use his words against him – “Oh, that mine enemy had written a book.” What is odd is the way Buchanan’s critics handle his disagreements with conventional history. Good manners … Continue reading “Buchanan, The Good War, and Ironclad Orthodoxies”

A tattoo of war drums over Colombia has begun and can be expected to increase in volume and frequency. National Public Radio’s "Morning Edition” has been doing a five-part series on "the crisis in Colombia.” The first few reports have had some decent reporting and managed to convey at least some sense that the issues … Continue reading “War Drums Over Colombia”

I have promised to survey theories of empire. My warrant is simply that empire, where it exists, is burdensome and destructive to the lives and property of real human beings in both the imperial center and its protectorates, allies, and possessions. Keeping empire intact and expanding its sway calls for unending military intervention. Some of … Continue reading “Cui Bono? Imperialism and Theory”