Mad Statists

Mark Steyn Correctly Worries about Obama’s Looming Syrian Adventure

"The problem with the American way of war is that, technologically, it can’t lose, but, in every other sense, it can’t win. No one in his right mind wants to get into a tank battle or a naval bombardment with the guys responsible for over 40 percent of the planet’s military expenditures. Which is why these days there aren’t a lot of tank battles. The consummate interventionist Robert Kagan wrote in his recent book that the American military 'remains unmatched.' It’s unmatched in the sense that the only guy in town with a tennis racket isn’t going to be playing a lot of tennis matches." Continue reading →

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Syria’s Chemical Weapons Sites Can’t Be Safely Bombed, Experts Say

"'If you drop a conventional munition on a storage facility containing unknown chemical agents – and we don't know exactly what is where in the Syrian arsenal – some of those agents will be neutralized and some will be spread,' said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit that focuses on all types of weaponry. 'You are not going to destroy all of them.' 'It's a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease,' Kimball said. He said some of the suspected storage sites are in or near major Syrian cities like Damascus, Homs and Hama. Those cities have a combined population of well over 2 million people." Continue reading →

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11 Reasons Why We Should Not Attack Syria

"As U.S. political and media leaders prepare for military strikes against Syria, the parallels to the lead-up to the war with Iraq should give us pause. Weapons of mass destruction, we are told, are being used by a cruel Middle Eastern despot against his own people. A military strike is inevitable, media voices say; we must respond with missiles and bombs. The arguments sound all too familiar. There are a great many differences between circumstances in Syria and Iraq, of course. Nonetheless, critics warn that, much as it did in Iraq, a military incursion here could have disastrous consequences. Here are 11 reasons the United States should stay clear of military action." Continue reading →

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Syria and the Albright Syndrome

"Much like the person with a hammer, to whom everything looks like a nail—we continue to believe that every problem can be solved by the military. Sadly—regardless of the administration’s overall political views—we continue to suffer from Madeleine Albright syndrome. As Secretary of State, Albright challenged then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell’s view that the United States should restrict its military interventions to situations in which vital U.S. interests were threatened, quipping: 'What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?'" Continue reading →

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Can Obama Control Syrian Outcomes?

"Obama is speaking of a 'limited, narrow act'. The fact is, however, that he has no control over the short-term and long-term responses of the Syrians, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Russians, Israel, and the Iranians. He has no control over current and future terrorists. He may imagine that he is executing a tit for tat or a surgical strike, but the other players need not accept that way of looking at a cruise missile attack. In all probability, their memories and histories suggest that they are not going to consider this attack an isolated event. They will surely connect it to the entire history of U.S. actions in the past, especially those of the past 10 years. I have to wonder who is advising the President at this juncture." Continue reading →

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Chaos and War

"Iraq and Afghanistan were the only hot spots and Iran was the only major country where long-term stability could be seriously questioned. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict was raging, as always. But in contrast to the new wars elsewhere, that six-decades-old conflict was such a known quantity one would be hard pressed to argue that it was a significant destabilizing factor for the region. Bottom line: Two, maybe three, conflicts to seriously worry about. Moderate impact on the major world powers. No broad threat to the global economy. High hopes for future long-term stability. Now, fast-forward to the last day of August, 2013, and look how dramatically the picture has changed." Continue reading →

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Gary Johnson Issues Statement on Syria

"No one disagrees that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is despicable, and the results tragic. However, those facts alone do not make going to war either justified or even a good idea. And while the Administration can parse words all day long, launching missiles or dropping bombs constitutes going to war. There is no clear U.S. interest in what is, in reality, a civil war on the other side of the globe. Likewise, there is nothing to indicate at this time that intervening in that civil war will benefit anyone -- either here in America or in Syria. The consequences of our military actions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan should be a lesson to President Obama and others who appear determined to act." Continue reading →

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Will Boehner Stop Our Rogue President?

"Why this rush to war? Why the hysteria? Why the panic? Syria and Assad will still be there two weeks from now or a month from now, and we will know far more then about what happened last week. Understandably, Obama wants to get the egg off his face from having foolishly drawn his 'red line' against chemical weapons, and then watching Syria, allegedly, defy His Majesty. But saving Obama’s face does not justify plunging his country into another Mideast war. Does Obama realize what a fool history will make of him if he is stampeded into a new war by propaganda that turns out to be yet another stew of ideological zealotry and mendacity?" Continue reading →

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An Important History Lesson: Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic

"Why did the German government not act to halt the inflation? It was a shaky, fragile government…More than inflation, the Germans feared unemployment. In 1919 the Communists had tried to take over, and severe unemployment might give the Communists another chance. The great German industrial combines — Krupp, Thysen, Farben, Stinnes — condoned the inflation and survived it well. A cheaper mark, they reasoned, would make German goods cheap and easy to export, and they needed the export earnings to buy raw materials abroad. Inflation kept everyone working. So the printing presses ran, and once they began to run, they were hard to stop." Continue reading →

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