Ivan Eland

Although U.S. drones firing missiles at suspected bad guys in faraway places – such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia – have gotten much publicity in recent years, it was recently revealed that the CIA assassinated top Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mugniyah with a good old fashioned car bomb in Damascus, Syria with President George W. Bush’s … Continue reading “Unauthorized Government Attacks Are Murder”

In a symbol of the broader sidelining of his "pivot to Asia" to attend once again to the recurrent quagmire that is the Middle East, President Barack Obama decided to cut out his visit to the Taj Mahal and leave India early to fly to Saudi Arabia – to pay his respects to the family … Continue reading “Obama Should Have Visited the Taj Mahal Instead of Saudi Arabia”

In the rush to sensationalize the Paris terrorist attacks and minimize all other news (for example, even more horrendous terrorist attacks in Nigeria), the American media has conveniently overlooked one major ill effect of the public hysteria it is helping to foment. In a mini-redux of what happened subsequent to the 9/11 attacks, the American … Continue reading “NSA Was Not the Only Government Agency to Spy on You”

Compare the worldwide saturation press coverage of the terrorist killings in Paris of 17 people, including 12 journalists at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, with the minimalist coverage of the even more heinous mass slaughter of innocents or by innocents in Nigeria. At roughly the same time as the Paris attacks, as many as … Continue reading “Saturation Media Coverage of the Paris Terrorist Attacks Is Unhelpful”

If you have any spare cash laying around and need of a vacation, Chevy Chase would probably recommend that you go to Europe. The euro currency has dipped to a nine-year low against the dollar. That is good for tourists going to Europe, but is not good for European economic prospects in the long term. … Continue reading “Is Another Eurozone Crisis at Hand?”

According to the New York Times, Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, the commander of American Special Operations forces in the Middle East, is trying to figure out why the brutal Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is such a dynamic force in Iraq and Syria, but has been flummoxed. The general’s band of graybeards … Continue reading “What Makes ISIS Tick?”

In the latest exaggerated media frenzy over a news story, the alleged North Korean hacking of Sony Pictures’ computers has been called "cyberterrorism" against "who we are" as a country." First, "terrorism" is word that should probably be retired from public usage, because no one, including academics, can agree on what it means. The term … Continue reading “Hysteria Over Sony Hacking Is Unwarranted”

On the news talk shows, everyone is talking about torture – mostly defending the Bush’s administration’s hysterical actions after the 9/11 attacks. Granted, 9/11 was a searing experience for the general public, which wanted action in retaliation. However, it is the duty of wise political leaders to reason with the public to dampen the desire … Continue reading “Defending Torture Is Indefensible”

Being a superpower has its drawbacks. One of them is being manipulated by smaller countries that know that American wants to be "Big Man on Campus" in the world, usually giving its taxpayers only vague "influence" around the globe for all the money they pour into military power and foreign aid. However, sophisticated countries usually … Continue reading “Turkey Is a Bad Ally”

The current power sharing government among factions in Afghanistan will likely be as successful as the one in Iraq during the Nouri al-Maliki period: not very. A viable democracy is only possible if fair elections produce an acknowledged winner and a losing loyal opposition exists – at least one loyal enough not to fatally undermine … Continue reading “The Failure of Counterinsurgency: Afghanistan”