Download Episode. Scott interviews Bonnie Kristian about her new book and an article she wrote recently on America’s war in Somalia. After the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last summer, Somalia is now America’s longest war. Though Trump temporarily shifted it to an air war while in office, Biden has ordered the troops back in. Scott and Kristian discuss the state of the conflict and examine the war’s place in the Global War on Terror. Discussed on the show: Untrustworthy by Bonnie Kristian “I Didn’t Want It to Be True, but the Medium Really Is the Message” (New York Times)...
Somalia
News Roundup 8/10/2022
US News The Biden administration yesterday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the ban on gun possession by medical marijuana users, saying that law is consistent with a long tradition of firearm regulation in the United States. Reason The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of Javelin missiles and related equipment to Brazil for an estimated cost of up to $74 million, the Pentagon said. Reuters Russia The war in Ukraine began with Crimea and must end with its liberation, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. BBC Moscow accused the US of "unreasonable...
House Passes $850 Billion NDAA, Adding $37 Billion More Than Biden Requested
The House on Thursday passed its version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorizes $850.3 billion for military spending, increasing President Biden’s requested budget by $37 billion.
News Roundup 6/18/2022
Assange British Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday signed an extradition order to send Julian Assange to stand trial in America. [Link] Julian’s wife Stella vowed to fight the order. "We're going to fight this. We're going to use every appeal avenue," Stella Assange told reporters, calling the decision a "travesty". "I'm going to spend every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served." [Link] Assange's brother said the Assange legal team's appeal to London's High Court of the decision to extradite him to the United States would include new information...
News Roundup 6/12/2022
US News Former Kent Washington Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell will receive more than $1.5 million from the city after being fired for displaying Nazi symbols. [Link] The White House is lifting its requirement that international travelers test negative for COVID-19 within a day before boarding a flight to the US. [Link] The Navy temporarily suspends flight operations. In the last two weeks, there have been five mishaps. [Link] Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says the global nuclear arsenal is expected to grow in the coming years for the first time since the Cold...
News Roundup 6/5/2022
Venezuela The US will allow two European companies to ship Venezuelan oil to Europe. [Link] Russia NATO head Jens Stoltenburg says the alliance needs to prepare for a long war in Ukraine. [Link] He added that Ukraine shouldn’t stop trying to push Russia from Crimea. [Link] Finland’s head of intelligence says he is surprised by the lack of Russian reprisals after Helsinki submitted an application to join NATO. [Link] The US claims Russia isn’t serious about allowing the grain to be shipped through the Black Sea. [Link] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he had to cancel his trip...
30 Years With No Strategy Brought Us the War in Ukraine
Washington DC has not excelled in grand strategy; the art and science of cost-effectively employing the diplomatic, economic, and informational powers of the United States in combination with its armed forces to secure its national goals and interests. Most of the strategic decisions to use American military power that were made over the last 30 years resulted in one of two strategic outcomes: abject failure (Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq) or a new regional status quo that is untenable without a permanent U.S. military presence far from America’s borders (the Balkans). The reasons...
News Roundup 5/17/2022
Cuba Biden will expand the number of flights to Cuba and restate a family reunification program ended by Trump. [Link] Russia The Senate passes the $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. [Link] NATO pledges open-ended military support to Ukraine. [Link] France, Germany, and Italy favor a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. [Link] Russia says there are no ongoing talks with Ukraine. [Link] Treasury Secretary Yellen called for tariffs on Russian fuel imports. [Link] China Yellen called on the West to band together to combat Chinese business practices. [Link] The US and Japan plan to release...
‘America First’ Means Anti-Bush, Not Antiwar
Donald Trump, despite not being perfect (far from it), was useful in making the idea of chronic interventionism and foreign entanglements unpopular, but as much credit as the New Right is given, they are hardly antiwar. The New Right is largely a rejection of the moderates—the neoconservatives and neoliberals—and their exemplars, the Clintons, Cheneys, Bushes, and Romneys. There is certainly an aversion towards our involvement in the Middle East, with Trump telling Jeb Bush in 2016 that, “Your brother lied,” about WMDs in Iraq. But while they may not be Middle East hawks like the...
Neoconservatives are the Flat-Earthers of Foreign Policy
Douglas Murray, the author of Neoconservatism: Why We Need It, claims: Neoconservatism is not a cabal or a party, but rather a sense, an instinct, a way of looking at the world. That way of looking at the world is, in my definition, a blend of idealism and realism. We look at the world as it is, but act in the world to make it as we would like it to be. This makes our instincts different from traditional conservatives who often distrust social engineering projects or any form of alteration of a status quo they perpetually see as being an irreversible if often quietly enjoyable decline....
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