Shane Smith

For all the fearmongering about Iran’s alleged danger to civilization, they are guilty merely of what should be called “Contempt of Empire.”  I say “merely” with a slight caveat: the penalty for “contempt of Empire” mirrors the punishment dealt by many cops who deem their victim insufficiently deferential to their authority: humiliation, pain, and possible … Continue reading “Iran Is Guilty of ‘Contempt of Empire,’ Nothing More”

The title of an article posted yesterday at Foreign Policy blares that “The Saudi-Iran War is America’s Fault”.  Hmm, yes, probably so, given the endless flow of money and weapons the US has gifted to Saudi Arabia over the decades, as well as the endless provocations directed at Iran.  Washington is looking for any reason … Continue reading “US Foreign Policy Discussions Need a Colossal Dose of Humility”

There’s been quite a bit of chatter in the media recently about the concept of a “soft target” in the wake of the November 13th attack in Paris where 130 innocents were murdered.   What is a soft target?  According to Wikipedia, “typical "soft targets" are civilian sites where people congregate in large numbers; examples include … Continue reading “We Are the Human Shields of the Political Class”

Most of us in the United States have a vague awareness of a Second Iraq War.  There was invasion, devastation, death, “victory”, and the catharsis that seemed to flood over the nation after the lynching of a Third World dictator.  Satiated revenge, finally, for 9/11, was the implicit mood of many.  Even after enough people … Continue reading “The United States Is in the Refugee-Creation Business”

Wasn’t there some grandiose purpose to having U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan?  What was that, again?  I’m having a hard time understanding just what was the point of the initial invasion and subsequent occupation of that country, and why it is continuing.  Events such as the October 3rd bombing of a hospital in the … Continue reading “Glossing the Hospital Massacre”

The death toll from the Saudi strike on a wedding in Yemen has now risen to 130.  The wedding took place near Mocha, a port city on the Red Sea.  The groom was tied to the Houthi rebels somehow, which apparently assuaged whatever moral qualms remained within the Saudis, who then decided to massacre the … Continue reading “The US Is Neck-Deep in Yemeni Blood”

Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Muslim boy who brought a homemade clock to school and was subsequently arrested because the clock looked similar to a bomb that resembled a movie prop, has been rightly recognized worldwide as a victim of anti-Islam paranoia that has spread in the US like a cancer.  Obama, being the postwar on … Continue reading “Ahmed Could Have Been Obama’s Drone Victim”

Which sounds better, to “die for your government”, or “give your life for your country”?  The first could be interpreted, after a mountain of bodies pile up, as a mistake.  As something that would seem to require scrutiny, admissions of having been wrong, of blame to be placed.  Dying for a government, or more precisely, … Continue reading “The Dangerously Vague Romance of War”

For all the macho posturing of the late Chris Kyle, gunned down at a shooting range by a PTSD-afflicted veteran, his prolific killing has nothing on the death and destruction rained from above by those who carry out US drone strikes in the Middle East.  For all intents and purposes, former drone operator Brandon Bryant … Continue reading “Drone Operators, Not American Snipers, Rack Up the Biggest Body Count”

In his biography of Thomas Jefferson, Old Right bohemian Albert Jay Nock had this to say about Jefferson’s seemingly unyielding faith in the benefits of education as a check against authoritarianism: “Throughout his life, Mr. Jefferson consistently maintained that “the most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate so … Continue reading “The Spell of Interventionism”