Search Results for: end of american independence

On July 3, 2020, Julian Assange will turn 50 years old, spending his third birthday behind bars. The WikiLeaks publisher has been held without any formal charges alongside criminals and terrorists inside London’s high-security prison for exposing the US government’s war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. On January 4, 2021, the British Judge Vanessa Baraitster … Continue reading “Redeem American Ideals: US Government Must End the Political Prosecution of Julian Assange”

President Joe Biden has proposed his first budget and the Pentagon won’t go without. Biden followed his Republican predecessor in pushing higher military spending. Although the proposed increase, from $740 billion to $753 billion, isn’t a lot, he invited Congress to spend more by playing the Washington game of underestimating expenditures for politically popular programs. … Continue reading “Cut Military Spending, but Restrain Foreign Policy First”

Even the biggest, toughest, meanest movie characters go wobbly when facing the Great Panda. At least when Chinese nationalism demands they kowtow to its demands. The latest Hollywood wimp who plays a real man on screen is John Cena. The former wrestler, when promoting his role in Fast & Furious 9, stated that Taiwan was … Continue reading “Taiwan Is a Country in All But Name: Still, That Doesn’t Mean America Should Defend It”

In recent years, U.S. executive branch officials and members of Congress from both political parties have routinely portrayed Russia or China (and frequently both countries) as existential threats to the United States. It also is becoming increasingly common to find news articles or opinion pieces that adopt the same theme. Moreover, a significant number of … Continue reading “Paranoid Superpower: Threat Inflation Is the American Way”

Some alarming trends are developing in East Asia that could lead to a military collision between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan is the principal flashpoint, and Washington may find itself virtually alone in waging a war to defend the island. Beijing’s military pressure on Taiwan is mounting steadily, as … Continue reading “Washington’s Lonely Crusade To Defend Taiwan”

The tributes to the late President Idriss Deby just poured in last week – especially from Western leaders. And boy were the condolences nauseating – at least to anyone vaguely familiar with Chad and its longtime strongman, or those even faintly fond of decency. The worst of it came – unsurprisingly and unapologetically – from … Continue reading “Our ‘Dear Friend’ Deby Is Dead – Yea, About That…”

White faces in fatigues – I’m sure that’s just what most Mozambicans were hoping to see upon their shores. After all, it certainly isn’t the first time. Ever since the Portuguese started planting trading posts and forts on what was known as the Swahili Coast around the year 1500, an arrival of armed whites has never … Continue reading “It Began With Twelve, How Will It End? – Mozambique: AFRICOM’s Newest Adventure”

Most Americans likely do not realize the U.S. defense treaty with Japan does not just entail a commitment to help defend the heavily populated Japanese home islands. Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden all have affirmed that the treaty also covers a chain of remote, uninhabited rocks that are closer to China than … Continue reading “Washington’s Tiny Islands Fetish Could Endanger the American People”

In 2004, journalist Ron Susskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, "We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality." He dismissed Susskind’s assumption that public policy must be rooted in "the reality-based community." "We’re history’s actors," the advisor told him, "…and you, all of you, … Continue reading “The Decline and Fall of the American Empire”

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he included in it a list of the colonists’ grievances with the British government. Notably absent were any complaints that the British government infringed upon the freedom of speech. In those days, public speech was as acerbic as it is today. If words were aimed at Parliament, … Continue reading “Does the First Amendment Restrain Big Tech?”