Ivan Eland

The founders of the United States envisioned a federal government that was constrained by a written Constitution, which further diluted power within that government into four competing branches. Those branches were the two houses of Congress, which were clearly supposed to be dominant in the federal sphere, and the executive and the judiciary. Unfortunately, over … Continue reading “NSA Spying Scandal – US Checks and Balances System Is Broken”

The horrible carnage inflicted by the Somali Al-Shabab Islamist group on a Kenyan shopping mall should cause the U.S. government to reassess its foreign policy of profligate worldwide intervention. Like most other reporting on terrorist attacks, the American and, to a lesser extent, foreign media seemed to treat this incident a senseless attack by Islamist … Continue reading “Terrorist Attack on Kenyan Shopping Mall Should Cause Americans To Pause”

What did Vladimir Putin get from the United States for saving President Obama from himself during the Syrian chemical weapons "crisis"? Only criticism and ridicule from a reflexive anti-Russian American news media. For example, Fox News Channel, often a proponent of high-testosterone American responses to almost any international crisis, kept poking fun at Putin’s personal … Continue reading “Russia Bashing Is a Dead End”

No matter how the dust up over Syria ends, President Barack Obama should be commended for seeking congressional approval for any attack. Although such a strike would have bad repercussions for the United States in the Middle East region and violate international law (since it wasn’t for self defense and no United Nations Security Council … Continue reading “Syria War Wariness Should Remain”

Vexing the U.S. government again, basketball star Dennis Rodman has made a repeat visit to North Korea to visit its leader Kim Jong-un. After his last trip, which brought howls of protest from Washington’s foreign policy establishment and self-righteous screaming by media pundits about his coddling of a despot, I wrote one of the few … Continue reading “We Should Praise, Instead of Condemn, Dennis Rodman’s Return Visit to North Korea”

When pundits debate military options for any of the many U.S. foreign interventions, most of them buy into, whether knowingly or not, some version of the "America-as-World-Policeman" approach to foreign policy. They usually either skate over the question of why the particular target nation is strategic to U.S. vital interests or simply say that issue … Continue reading “The U.S. Will Regret Intervention in Syria”

Although the world is focused on the military coup in Egypt, the accompanying repression of the supporters of the duly elected democratic government, and the real possibility of massive societal strife, another authoritarian government is busily taking its country down a similar road to civil war. Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite who was originally … Continue reading “Decentralization of Governance May Help Some Middle Eastern Countries in Turmoil”

A true cynic would question the timing of Middle East-wide U.S. embassy closings and a barrage of drone attacks in Yemen when the Obama administration is defending its intrusive spying on Americans after exposure by an intelligence agency contractor. Although in May, President Obama told us that he would wind down the war against Al … Continue reading “Obama Seems Unable To Limit the Counterproductive U.S. War on Terror”

For air travelers tired of the ever-worsening burden of airport security, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is widening to all U.S. citizens the eligibility of its prescreening process, called PreCheck. Americans, who recently have had their phone records vacuumed up by the National Security Agency spies, can now give the TSA their fingerprints, undergo government … Continue reading “Burdensome Airport Security: Pay the Government for Relief?”

The United States, which has dominated East Asia since World War II, is now "pivoting" towards that region to stem the rise of a new regional power – China. The instinct of most status quo powers is to foil the ascent of a rival for domination. This approach rarely works, because the emerging power is … Continue reading “Dangerous US Policy in East Asia”