Scott interviews Danny Sjursen and gets his reaction to the Taliban victory in Afghanistan. Sjursen thinks the Taliban’s campaign to take control of the country may soon be studied in war colleges. He also thinks that Scott’s book Fool’s Errand should be studied at war colleges, or at least books just as critical of the wars. Sjursen then talks about how this is a tough time for veterans, but that that isn’t a reason to hold back criticism of the war. That the idea that being antiwar implies a hatred of the troops is ridiculous and convenient for those in power. Lastly, Sjursen reflects...
imperialism
Faux Populists Shill for the Permanent War State
American imperial policy has sharply trained its sights on Russia and China. Under President Joe Biden, sanctions have been levied against both countries and, along with its allies, the U.S. military, has maintained a near constant, hostile, military presence in both states’ near abroad. This is occurring most frequently in the Black Sea and the South China Sea. Washington decidedly blew its coveted post-Cold War shot at so called “unipolarity” by getting itself bogged down in the disastrous War on Terror. The American government, instead of taking its lessons and abandoning the “fool’s...
7/9/21 Danny Sjursen on the Danger of an Afghanistan ‘Threequel’ from the Biden Administration
Scott talks to Danny Sjursen about U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which at the moment the Biden administration appears poised to follow through with. Sjursen is concerned about the response from the mainstream media and both party establishments—Republicans claim pulling out of Afghanistan makes America look weak; Democrats fear that pulling out will make Biden look weak politically. With this kind of bipartisan consensus, it's extremely difficult to get things done that the establishment doesn't like. (But it's also a sure sign that the right thing to do is the exact opposite of...
How the American War on Drugs Demolished Guatemala
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala earlier this week to bestow millions of dollars in new foreign aid on that government. The Biden administration is pretending that giving more US tax dollars to Central American governments will miraculously reduce the surge of illegal immigrants that Biden’s appointees are welcoming in Arizona, Texas, and elsewhere. The purpose of Harris’s trip and the new handouts is not to solve that problem but simply to make the Biden administration appear to give a damn about the issue. In her official statements during the visit, Harris included no...
Neither the Wars Nor the Leaders Were Great
The king of Prussia, Frederick II ("the Great"), confessed that he had seized the province of Silesia from the Empress Maria Theresa in 1740 because, as a newcomer to the throne, he had to make a name for himself. This initiated a war with Austria that developed into a worldwide war (in North America, the French and Indian War), and went on to 1763. Of course, many tens of thousands died in that series of wars. Frederick's admission is probably unique in the annals of leaders of states. In general, rulers have been much more circumspect about revealing the true reasons for their wars, as...
World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals
I. Introduction In contrast to older historians who regarded World War I as the destruction of progressive reform, I am convinced that the war came to the United States as the "fulfillment," the culmination, the veritable apotheosis of progressivism in American life.[1] I regard progressivism as basically a movement on behalf of Big Government in all walks of the economy and society, in a fusion or coalition between various groups of big businessmen, led by the House of Morgan, and rising groups of technocratic and statist intellectuals. In this fusion, the values and interests of both...
How Will Australia Remember Julian Assange?
“Never believe anything until it’s officially denied."- Claud Cockburn This year's ANZAC day has passed in Australia. It is a national religious holiday where many give thanks for the sacrifice of Australian combatants that served, died, and were injured in the nation's many wars during its young history. It is a time for reflection, when Australians remember their national war heroes, those who fought for empire in far away lands, from arid deserts to terrifying jungles, against foes from all over the world. It is the popular belief that those who fought did so with freedom in mind....
Correcting the Record: Ludwig von Mises’ Anti-Imperialism
The historian Quinn Slobodian presents us in his article “Perfect Capitalism, Imperfect Humans: Race, Migration, and the Limits of Ludwig von Mises’s Globalism,” Contemporary European History (2018), with a surprising interpretation of Ludwig von Mises. According to Slobodian, Mises was a racist who favored colonial wars of subjugation to open the world to trade. In this week’s article, I’d like to look at how Slobodian reaches this conclusion. The article begins with a quotation from Omnipotent Government: “How can we expect that the Hindus, the worshippers of the cow, should grasp the...
How State Legislators Can Bring Our Troops Home
In summer blockbusters and other entertainment, the United States Armed Forces are almost always portrayed through the lens of their most elite units, such as the Navy SEALS or the Army Rangers. But while the special forces are heroes in their own right, they’re not the most irreplaceable piece on the board. That designation falls to the humble National Guard, the real backbone of America’s military. I’ve served in the Marine Corps, the U.S. Army, and the Idaho National Guard. In my deployments to Afghanistan, I found the Guard to be the best trained of them all. Numbering nearly 350,000...
War Resisters, Take Back the First Amendment!
The American antiwar movement has an illustrious history of peacefully highlighting and denouncing the criminality of our country’s military apparatus. From Henry David Thoreau’s tax resistance to the Mexican-American War, to SDS’s protests against the Vietnam War, to the progressive-libertarian marches against the Iraq War, the antiwar movement has long been on the frontlines of efforts to restore (or bring) rectitude to our republic by ending the state-sanctioned practice of mass murder. However, through its First Amendment jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has habitually stymied our...
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