Introduction In the mainstream view, al-Qaeda did not play a role in the Syria conflict until Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched his deputy, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, to Syria in August 2011 to establish a wing of the group there, called...
Foreign Policy
Lunatic With a Plan: Erdogan and Turkey’s Economic Woes
by Tom Luongo | Dec 28, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Since the first assault on Turkey’s finances in 2018, which I wrote about multiple times (here, here, and here), I’ve been the lone voice telling everyone that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a lunatic but he’s a lunatic with a plan. That plan is to de-dollarize the...
For One Day, Protestors Stopped the War Machine
by Jim Bovard | Dec 27, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
I’ve attended most of the major antiwar protests in Washington since 9/11. At a 2005 protest, a cop tried to whack me on the head with a wooden pole. At a 2007 protest, I snapped a picture showing George W. Bush hanging next to the U.S. Capitol. But my favorite...
TGIF: Double-Rigging of the Auto Market
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 17, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
U.S. government interference with our lives often resembles a Russian matryoshka doll: regulation is nested in more regulation. Take the provision of Biden's pending Build Back Better bill that would create a big tax credit for people who buy U.S.-built electric...
The Costs of War on Your Wallet
by Michael Maharrey | Dec 16, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
James Madison warned us about the costs of war. War comes with an extremely high price tag. According to the Cost of War Project by the Watson Institute at Brown University, the U.S. spent $2.26 trillion on the war in Afghanistan alone. That comes to over $300 million...
The Blowback of 75 Years of Dollar Hegemony
by Phil Gibson | Dec 13, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
There is no question. The United States dollar dominates world commerce. In 2019, it made up 88% of global trade, and no other currencies came close. This dominance gave the United States power over any other country that exports anything from anywhere. For example,...
TGIF: Joe Biden, Let’s Not Go to War
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 10, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Here's a good idea: let's not go to war against Russia. Let's not even rattle a saber at Russia (or China, for that matter) because even wars that no one really wants can be blundered into. Many losers would be left in the aftermath, even if nuclear weapons were kept...
We Ended the War in Iraq (Yes Again, But Also Not Really)
by Dave DeCamp | Dec 10, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced the formal end to the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, but all 2,500 troops that are currently in the country will stay in an advisory role. The Biden administration agreed with Iraq back in July to end the U.S. combat mission by the...