Connor Freeman | The Libertarian Institute

Kissinger Meets With Chinese Defense Minister, Amid Soaring Tensions

by Connor Freeman | Jul 18, 2023 | News

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Beijing and met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu on Tuesday. This comes as tensions between the world’s two largest economies have been heightened substantially as a result of the White House’s bellicose military strategy aimed at China. Li said in a statement that the US-China relationship has reached its “lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations.” He added, this is because “some people in the United States did not meet China halfway.” Li warned against the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, stressing...

Biden Invites Netanyahu to ‘Meet Soon’ in the US, as Israel Has Killed Nearly 200 Palestinians in 2023

by Connor Freeman | Jul 17, 2023 | News

President Joe Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “meet soon” in the United States during a phone call on Monday. This comes as Tel Aviv is escalating its military attacks and bombings against neighboring countries, the blockaded Gaza Strip, as well as Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. Relations between the White House and the Israelis appeared strained as a result of controversies related to the Netanyahu coalition’s planned judicial overhaul which caused political chaos. Biden and Netanyahu had not spoken for seven months, since his coalition took power...

US, South Korea, and Japan Hold Joint Military Exercises After North Korea’s ICBM Launch

by Connor Freeman | Jul 16, 2023 | News

Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo held joint naval drills testing missile defense in international waters between Japan and South Korea on Sunday. Following Pyongyang’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, an envoy from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) spoke before the UN Security Council days earlier. He defended his government’s actions as a response to various military provocations by Washington and its allies. South Korea’s Navy portrayed Sunday’s drills as an opportunity to “improve security cooperation” with Japan as well as the United States in the face...

North Korea Warns It May Shoot Down US Spy Planes

by Connor Freeman | Jul 10, 2023 | News

Pyongyang accused the US military of conducting provocative surveillance flights which infringe on its airspace and trespass in its exclusive economic zone on Monday. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) admonished Washington that if such provocations persist, American reconnaissance planes may be shot down. This comes amid soaring tensions on the Korean peninsula largely as a result of massive joint US-South Korean war games which have seen the White House deploy aircraft carriers, nuclear capable bombers, and Reaper drones. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of DPRK leader Kim Jong Un as...

Biden Says Assad Must Go

by Connor Freeman | Jul 6, 2023 | News

While on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden spoke with some "Syrian American activists" who favor increased sanctions on the country as well as regime change in Damascus, during a private fundraiser in Maryland last month. According to neoconservative columnist Josh Rogin – one of Bill Kristol’s protégés - Biden told these regime change advocates that, among other things, Assad must go. Rogin says these activists “took advantage of their audience with Biden… to implore him to do more to oppose” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Alla Tello, a Syrian American from Massachusetts, said she...

GOP Pushes Back on White House Effort to Renew Intel Agencies’ Spying Tool

by Connor Freeman | Jul 5, 2023 | News

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, particularly in the GOP, are pushing back against the renewal of a law authorizing a tool used by US spy agencies, in the post 9/11 era, to conduct warrantless surveillance on foreign targets and Americans with whom they may be interacting.

Mike Pence, Other Prominent Hawks Back Regime Change in Iran at MEK Rally

by Connor Freeman | Jul 3, 2023 | News

Former Vice President Mike Pence participated in a rally outside Paris led by the exiled Iranian terrorist cult, the Marxist-Islamist Mujahideen-e-Khalq headed by Maryam Rajavi, and their political front the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), over the weekend.

Kiev in Talks with Warsaw to Purchase Naval Strike Missile Systems

by Connor Freeman | Jun 29, 2023 | News

Ukraine is negotiating with Warsaw to obtain the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) system which would give Kiev the ability to hit targets on land or at sea from distances of more than 124 miles. This possible deal comes as the US and its allies are working to boost the longer-range capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces. Earlier in the war, Washington provided Kiev with the somewhat similar Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers, but the NSM systems typically have a much greater range. Although depending on the variants used, the Harpoons can have a range of 80-150 nautical miles....