Doug Bandow

Several Burmese police fled across the border into India. One of them told the Associated Press that they had been ordered to "shoot people and not just the people, we were told to shoot our own family if they are not on the side of the army," known as the Tatmadaw. The disparate group of … Continue reading “Burmese Junta Wages War on Its Own People”

War fires the imagination, especially of those who never suffered its horrors. Washington, D.C.’s faux heroes find nothing so courageous as sending other people off to fight and die in one grand cause or another. Of course, some professionals glory in death and gore, such as World War II’s Gen. George S. Patton. In his … Continue reading “Drafting People Into the Moral Equivalent of War”

Friday is the 18th anniversary of George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. That misadventure proved to be a humanitarian catastrophe. As well as Washington’s worst geopolitical blunder in four decades. Tragically, America’s involvement is the misbegotten gift that keeps on giving – and killing. President Joe Biden should bring America’s troops home from Iraq. Now. … Continue reading “Bring Americans Home from Iraq’s Endless War”

Running an empire isn’t easy. A large military is imperative. How else to wage multiple wars at once? To defeat powers large and small? To police an unruly world? And to garrison the globe? Unfortunately, creating expansive armed services isn’t cheap. There are missiles to build, air wings to deploy, carriers to sail forth, and … Continue reading “In the World’s Most Militarized Power, Conscription Is a Tool of War”

The Biden administration has been attempting to deal with an unruly world and found it no more receptive to his polite talk and gentle ministrations than to President Donald Trump’s vociferous demands and blustering threats. Implementing the president’s active internationalist vision will be harder to implement than planned. President Joe Biden and his advisers are … Continue reading “President Biden Plans a Foreign Policy for the Middle Class: He Should Promote Peace, Which Would Benefit Them and Everyone Else”

I was watching yet another webinar from yet another think tank discussing European discontents with the U.S. There was predictable elation at Joe Biden’s arrival in the Oval Office, but dissatisfaction with almost everything American – infrastructure, health care, political system, and, of course, inadequate subservience to exalted European opinions. Nevertheless, participants admitted that America’s … Continue reading “The Best Evidence That America Has a Foreign Policy Problem: The World Is Fixated on US Politics”

The United States is the world’s most militarized and belligerent nation. Stating this reality shocks and outrages Washington policymakers. Yet the facts are incontestable, like the sun’s rise. Last week the Biden administration ordered airstrikes in Syria against Iranian-backed forces. The attack was retaliation for a rocket assault on a U.S. base in Iraq. That … Continue reading “America Offers Warning to the World: War Is Health of the State and Death of Liberty”

President Joe Biden’s most important accomplishment so far has been to drain the fetid swamp that was Mike Pompeo’s State Department. Pompeo spent nearly three years swaggering about the globe, a faux diplomat who exuded arrogance and sanctimony while spewing dictates, demands, threats, ultimatums, orders, and insults. America’s image and credibility suffered accordingly. Indeed, his … Continue reading “Biden Administration Should Drop Military Commitment to Saudi Arabia”

"All great powers" want to rule the world, declared Robert Kagan, propagandist for America as imperial power, democratic hegemon, aggressive unipower, and perpetual war machine. However, they typically fail. Wrote Kagan in a new Foreign Affairs article: "Much of the drama of the past century resulted from great powers whose aspirations exceeded their capacity." The … Continue reading “Robert Kagan Diagnosed America’s Biggest Problem: Americans Who Don’t Want To Run the World”

The U.S. is approaching its 20-year mark in the Afghan civil war. Intervening after 9/11, Washington speedily crippled al-Qaeda and ousted the Taliban. Alas, three successive administrations found it much harder to bring strong central government and Westminster-style democracy to Central Asia. So American military personnel remain on station. Like in the Hotel California, it … Continue reading “President Joe Biden Has a Moral Obligation To Bring America’s Troops Home from Afghanistan”