Brad Pearce | The Libertarian Institute

The CIA Admits Its Long-Time Presence in Ukraine

by Brad Pearce | Mar 13, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

On February 25, The New York Times published an article titled “The Spy War: How the CIA Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin.” This report was not the result of any leak, but was clearly authorized from the highest level: the CIA brought reporters in to tell the story. Though many spoke on the condition of anonymity to “discuss intelligence matters and sensitive diplomacy,” they do not even create the pretense that this is a story that the CIA doesn’t want the public to know. The clear purpose, stated almost explicitly near the end of the article, is to guilt the Republicans in Congress into...

No Man Controls Everything in a State

by Brad Pearce | Feb 28, 2024 | Featured Articles

The constant screeching about various “strongmen” from America’s media and think tank classes seem to have created a widespread misunderstanding about how governments, or really any large organization, work. We perhaps see this the most with Russia, where we hear the constant refrain that “Putin personally approved” what are routine matters for states. We also saw it with Donald Trump in both his business and political life, where people found it impossible to understand that a large team of lawyers and accountants handle his taxes and other such matters. The reality is that a man only has...

Ukraine’s Corruption has Poisoned America

by Brad Pearce | Feb 21, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics

The U.S. Congress is working towards a bill which would fund Ukraine into 2025. This, of course, is into the next presidential term. As Senator JD Vance recently explained to Tucker Carlson, the idea behind this is that if Donald Trump is again elected it will obligate him to continue supporting Ukraine and bring about an opportunity to impeach him if he does not. Many have wondered why the U.S. political class is so obsessed with Ukraine, but I believe the answer is simple: money. I used to have a relatively elegant theory of NATO’s grand strategy, developed over a long period of...

Beware of Expats Bearing False Loyalty

by Brad Pearce | Feb 8, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar recently found herself at the center of a controversy after her remarks to a Somali group were mistranslated and widely shared. The reality of the situation is that the main thing she said reflects a U.S. policy pre-dating her entry into the country, and most of it shouldn’t have been controversial. However, as Juan Villasmil, who wrote an article about the situation for The Spectator, said on Twitter, the American right go “psyopped” by activists from the breakaway African state of Somaliland, who cynically released and spread an inauthentic translation...

Western Media’s Blackout of Israel’s “Hannibal Directive”

by Brad Pearce | Jan 30, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Editor's note: The Libertarian Institute's Executive Director Scott Horton recently spoke with Brad Pearce about the subject of this article and Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel. Their interview can be found here. In the time since the October 7 invasion of Israel there have been suggestions both from within Israel and from alternative media elsewhere that Israel used a version of a military protocol known as "The Hannibal Directive” that day, and perhaps has continued to operate upon that protocol since. The “Hannibal Directive” is a military order which was created in 1986 in response to...

We’re Only Now Seeing the Full Extent of U.S. Failure in Iraq

by Brad Pearce | Jan 18, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Since the beginning of the current war on Gaza, American troops have been under attack across the Middle East, nowhere moreso than in Iraq. The United States has responded with a variety of airstrikes against militants in Iraq, which have repeatedly been condemned as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani. These initial strikes were a sign that the United States has failed to pacify Iraq and win over “the hearts and minds” of the country, but they were still in line with past U.S. actions. However, things changed on January 4 when the United States killed...

Six Books on Government that Libertarians Should Read

by Brad Pearce | Jan 9, 2024 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles

Libertarians may be masters at telling stories of government incompetence and malfeasance, but they have a tendency of knowing less about making government work (relatively) well. This is understandable, because libertarians don’t like government and thus often aren’t interested in the art of statecraft. Also, many libertarians are anarchists, which has the advantage of being straightforward in that you simply don’t believe in the state, but it also doesn’t require learning very much about political theory. All this puts libertarians at a disadvantage when they try to get involved in...

American Soldiers Are Being Put in Danger for Israel

by Brad Pearce | Jan 3, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Since the October 7 attacks restarted conflict between Israel and Hamas, U.S. troops have been under fire all over the Middle East. Thus far, most attacks have been deflected with minimal damage, but it is only a matter of time before one gets through and causes a serious loss of life. Twenty-two years after the beginning of the Global War on Terror, the government rarely bothers to say what we are doing in the Middle East. There is an implication that by “fighting terrorism” we protect Israel, which is somehow crucial to our national security. In reality, our alliance with Israel harms U.S....

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