News Commentary

Jacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?

"It’s not just the Syrian troops and 'collateral-damage civilians' who will bear the cost of Obama’s punishment of Assad. Also paying the price will be us — the American people — who will continue to suffer the consequences of military empire, a national-security state apparatus, and an interventionist foreign policy. Our punishment will come in the form of continued destruction of our freedom, inner peace, harmony, and economic well-being at the hands of our own government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?

Do Humanitarian Concerns Give the U.S. A Right to Bomb Syria?

"Nancy Pelosi suggests that the U.S. should bomb Syria to save children. Does the U.S. have a right to defend children in Syria by bombing government installations? Even if some international lawyers devised some new sort of argument in support of U.S. bombing by basing it on some humanitarian rationale, the U.S. would still have a very difficult case to make. The U.S. has basically forfeited even such an imagined or hypothetical right by its earlier actions of supporting the rebel side. If it bombs Syria now, it is part of a pattern of having chosen the rebel side." Continue reading →

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How “Your” Government Works

"The Obama administration has announced the formation of a panel of “outside experts” to review the NSA’s surveillance practices. And a wide-ranging, diverse collection of experts they are; when it comes to institutional backgrounds and viewpoints, they span the entire spectrum from A to B. They remind me a bit of the space shuttle crew in an episode of The Simpsons: 'They’re a colorful bunch … There’s a mathematician, a different kind of mathematician, and a statistician.' If you think all this insider involvement in policy represents 'regulatory capture,' or the corruption of an originally pristine system by campaign money and lobbyists, you’re missing the point." Continue reading →

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Marc Faber: “Western Imperial Arrogance Will Ignite Middle-East ‘Powder-Keg’”

"When asked what is the catalyst for the crash he expects in US equity markets (following crashes in various markets around the world), he shocks a stunned anchor looking at equity markets near all-time highs with some ugly truths - 'interest rates are no longer a tail-wind, earnings growth is not there, and emerging economies are collapsing (so no global growth).' However, with asset allocators 'swimming in the pool of liquidity' it is hard to say 'when' it will occur especially as money floods out of EM markets. Critically though, it is Syria (and the spillover) that has Faber most concerned; as he concludes that Western governments 'meddling' is 'going to be a disaster.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Faber: “Western Imperial Arrogance Will Ignite Middle-East ‘Powder-Keg’”

Ex-CIA Agent Philip Giraldi on Syria War

"Philip Giraldi, executive director of The Council for the National Interest, discusses Gareth Porter’s debunking of US 'intelligence' supporting an attack on Syria; reports that the Syrian rebels accidentally set off deadly chemical weapons from the Saudis; why Secretary of State John Kerry can’t possibly know the casualty figures in Syria – no matter how confidently he states them; and AIPAC’s full-court press on Congress to get another war started in the Middle East." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-CIA Agent Philip Giraldi on Syria War

Does the U.S. Government Have A Right to Bomb Syria?

"An argument is being made that the credibility of the U.S. government is at stake, and that it needs to follow through on the red line threats issued by the government. But if the U.S. has been so foolish as to make threats that might diminish its credibility and harm its capacity for self-defense, it does not follow that it has now gained the privilege or right of making good on its threats. One’s mistakes or threats do not generate rights and privileges. Obama began by making the preceding credibility argument about the U.S. and his own red line threats. He has since extended that invalid argument to the 'international community'." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: It’s about geo-politics!

"Syria's sovereign government is a sworn enemy to America's supposed enemy - terrorists. Yet, in solemn chutzpah, the US Security Council met to discuss ways to attack not the terrorists...but the government. Yes, the US now plans an act of war against yet another country in the Middle East...and another intervention of unknown cost and uncertain duration. Some would ask: 'haven't they learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan?' But the questioners would be people who haven't learned anything themselves. America's military adventures have nothing to do with national security. They are now the exploits of a Pharisee industry, intended to protect the zombies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: It’s about geo-politics!

Rep. Cantor Steals Condi Rice’s Iraq Lines for Syria

"Today House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) directly channeled then-President Bush’s National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, spouting the same lying propaganda to get us into Syria that Rice spouted to get us into Iraq. Leader Cantor today: 'No one wants to be asking why we failed to act if the next time Sarin is used it is in the Paris or New York subway.' Condoleeza Rice, Sept 8, 2002: 'The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRep. Cantor Steals Condi Rice’s Iraq Lines for Syria

The Syria AUMF: Be Careful What You Vote For

"The draft authorization for the use of military force the administration circulated Saturday is strikingly broad. And if we know anything from the history of past AUMFs, it’s that presidents will push the authority they’re given as far as language will allow—and possibly further. In his Rose Garden press conference Saturday, Obama said 'we would not put boots on the ground.' The action he’s contemplating would be 'limited in duration and scope.' Just a 'shot across the bow”—a light dusting of cruise missiles. The draft AUMF says no such thing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Syria AUMF: Be Careful What You Vote For