Justin Raimondo

Whatever else one might say about Cass Sunstein, he surely knows who his enemies are. The former head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and member of the President’s panel on NSA "reforms" – infamous for his suggestion that government agents should "cognitively infiltrate" alleged "conspiracy-minded" groups – is out with … Continue reading “How to Spot a Paranoid Government Bureaucrat”

Individuals make history, but sometimes the process reverses itself and history makes individuals. President Barack Obama may have wanted to bomb Syria, and he certainly did want to meddle in Libya – where the results of his disastrous "humanitarian" intervention backfired badly – and yet his presidency will go down in history as a moment … Continue reading “Obama, the Reluctant Realist”

They call it the "Good War," one supposes, in order to differentiate it from all the really bad wars we’ve been fighting – and losing – lately: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the future wars our political class has up its collective sleeve. I call it the Worst War, because it fathered all the ones … Continue reading “It’s Always World War II”

The response of self-identified progressives to the Edward Snowden revelations has been ambiguous from the beginning. On the one hand, there are the ACLU-type liberals, epitomized by Glenn Greenwald – the reporter most responsible (along with Laura Poitras) for shining a light on the National Security Agency’s all-pervasive surveillance – who are horrified by the … Continue reading “The Progressive Crack-up”

We haven’t seen anything like this since the Vietnam war era: an administration caught red-handed illegally and systematically spying on Americans in the midst of an increasingly unpopular war. At that time, too, the political class was badly divided, with the hard-liners circling their wagons against the rising tide of popular outrage and the dissenters … Continue reading “The Snowden Effect and the Liberal Implosion”

So you thought progressives would rally ‘round Edward Snowden’s and Glenn Greenwald’s crusade to rid us of the NSA incubus that’s attached itself to our computers and our daily lives. Well, you were wrong: dead wrong. With a few notable exceptions, the "progressive" media matrix – the lefty pundits, thinktanks, academics, and activists who make … Continue reading “Sean Wilentz – Court Historian, NSA Shill, and Lickspittle ‘Liberal’”

As the US continues and expands its worldwide "war on terror," extending its militarized tentacles into Africa as well as the Middle East, a festering threat looms closer to home: the ungluing of Mexico and its rapid descent into the status of a failed state. How Washington responds may determine not only the fate of … Continue reading “Down Mexico Way”

There’s no column today: looks like the flu has claimed yet another victim! But don’t worry: I’ll be back on Monday. Meanwhile, you can read this old column on Mexico’s “vigilante” movement, which the rest of the world is beginning to notice this week. Just remember: you read it here first! NOTES IN THE MARGIN … Continue reading “A Note to My Readers”

Ron Fournier wants to get politics out of foreign policy decision-making: "This paragraph from a New York Times story on proposed new sanctions for Iran sent a chill down my spine: "’Behind these positions is a potent mix of political calculations in a midterm election year. Pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, … Continue reading “It’s All About Politics”

The announcement by the White House that a preliminary agreement with Iran has been reached on limiting their nuclear program – stopping enrichment of uranium beyond 3 percent, dismantling enrichment facilities, and increasing the pace and intrusiveness of IAEA inspections – sets the stage for a six-month-long drama, the end of which is impossible to … Continue reading “Defeat the Israel Lobby”