Month: May 2008

For those who continue to believe that John McCain’s realist advisers exercise real influence on his foreign-policy positions, the latest piece of contrary evidence was provided by the candidate today in Miami where he served red meat, hot and steaming, to the hard-liners who have made so much progress in promoting democratic change on the island over the last 48 years. His speech came less than a week after the Council on Foreign Relations, the Mecca of foreign-policy realism, released a major report on U.S.-Latin American relations that called for unilaterally relaxing sanctions imposed by Bush on travel and remittances “with the aim of lifting the embargo against Cuba.”

In any event, the speech offered no hint of difference between McCain’s policy proposals and those pursued by Bush. He belittled the transition from Fidel to Raul Castro as meaningless and declared that the embargo should remain intact until Havana releases “all political prisoners unconditionally”, [legalizes] political parties, labor unions, and free media, and [schedules] internationally monitored elections.”

He attacked Obama for, like the CFR, proposing to ease the embargo and for “want[ing] to sit down unconditionally for a presidential meeting with Raul Castro,” a step which McCain said “would send the worst possible signal to Cuba’s dictators — there is no need to undertake fundamental reforms, they can simply wait for a unilateral change in U.S. policy.”

He also insisted that maintaining the embargo would be “just one element of a broader approach” on Cuba that would include providing “more material assistance and moral support…, and increase Radio and TV Marti and other means to communicate directly with the Cuban people.”

“My Justice Department would vigorously prosecute Cuban officials implicated in the murder of Americans, drug trafficking and other crimes. While our Cuba policy will not always be in accord with that of our hemispheric and European partners, my administration will begin an active dialogue with them to develop a plan for post Castro Cuba, a plan that will spark rapid change and a new awakening in that country.”

Of course, you expect this kind of thing from a Republican in south Florida, but it’s interesting to note that, when McCain was still a maverick eight years ago, he was the only Republican candidate who said he would be willing to engage Fidel Castro in a ‘’step-by-step reciprocal” process of easing sanctions in exchange for political and economic reforms. He repeatedly cited the process that led to the normalization of relations with Vietnam as a model.

Now, however, consistent with the Bush approach of posing sweeping preconditions to any negotiation process, McCain appears more than eager to pander to the most hard-line sectors of the Cuban-American community.

Hillary and Obama are addressing Cuban-American audiences in Florida later this week.

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

The website of the Bill Kristol’s Project for the New American Century (www.newamericancentury.org) has vanished. If you go to the site, you are diverted to another one that says, “This Account Has Been Suspended. Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.” A metaphor, perhaps, for the bankruptcy of the ideas that inspired the project and the strategic disaster that they produced for U.S. interests in Iraq, the greater Middle East, and the wider world?

You can still find most of PNAC’s documents — including its letters and their signatories — through www.archive.org, but it seems that the original site is gone for lack of payment. While the site became effectively dormant in 2005, its sudden disappearance is somewhat alarming. What does it say about the new American Century itself, particularly in light of the slew of recent books on the decline of American power and the end of unipolarity? A coincidence or an augury?

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

Chris Nelson, the venerable editor/author of the highly regarded daily Washington/Asia insider newsletter, “The Nelson Report,” reports tonight that the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council has appointed Paul Wolfowitz as its next chairman. Apparently, the Council’s board believes that, despite his disastrous performance as Deputy Defense Secretary and World Bank president, Wolfowitz, who retreated to the cozy precincts of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) after his ignominious departure from the World Bank and was named by Condi Rice as chairman of the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board last year, has retained the presumed expertise on East Asia that he gained from his tenure as ambassador to Indonesia and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under Ronald Reagan more than 20 years ago. Unlike his former boss, Donald Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz has not been a China hawk and has generally supported the status quo vis-a-vis China and Taiwan.

I can’t really understand the logic of choosing someone whose strategic and ethical judgments have been as discredited as Wolfowitz’s in recent years, particularly if the Democrats win the White House in November. But I suppose he and some his AEI colleagues could be useful in pitching U.S.-made hi-tech weapons systems to Taiwan. Wolfowitz used to consult with Northrop Grumman, which is eager to sell such equipment. (His nominal subordinate at the Pentagon, Douglas Feith, also has a history with the company.) And John Bolton, who is also based at AEI, was a paid lobbyist for the island during the 1990’s, although his views on China are considerably to the right of Wolfowitz’s.

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

I understand that the J Street Project, which was launched officially only one month ago, is gathering supporters at a pretty good clip, and now its efforts to redefine what can be considered “pro-Israel” appear to be making some headway, at least in the two of this country’s most influential daily newspapers. Last week, Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s founder and director, published a strong essay in the “Outlook” section of the Washington Post entitled “Myths on Who’s Really Pro-Israel.” And Sunday’s “Week in Review” section in the New York Times provided two offerings that raised precisely the same question, the first by Tom Friedman, entitled “Obama and the Jews”, and a much more powerful piece by Atlantic correspondent and New Yorker contributor Jeffrey Goldberg whose partiality toward Israel was made clear, among other things, by his service in its army. Goldberg’s piece is a passionate indictment of the major national Jewish organizations, particularly the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and AIPAC, essentially for confusing being pro-Israel with being pro-settlement, or, in his words:

“So why won’t American leaders push Israel [toward dismantling the settlements] publicly? Or, more to the point, why do presidential candidates dance so delicately around this question? The answer is obvious: the leadership of the organized American Jewish community has allowed the partisans of settlement to conflate support for the colonization of the West Bank with support for Israel itself. …

“The people of AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents are well meaning, and their work in strengthening the overall relationship between America and Israel has ensured them a place in the world to come. But what’s needed now is a radical rethinking of what it means to be pro-Israel.”

While, unfortunately, neither Goldberg, whose recent interview of Barack Obama no doubt helped inspire his Times op-ed, nor Friedman mentioned J Street in their articles, their arguments are entirely consistent with the new group’s mission, and are indicative, I believe, of a growing ferment within the Jewish community over whether its Likud-leaning organized leadership is really promoting Israel’s best interests and the chances of its long-term survival. (I think the growing media attention to key backers, such as Sheldon Adelson, of the Republican Jewish Coalition and Freedom’s Watch, is contributing to this ferment.)

Now that both the Post and the Times have seen fit to publish essays that argue persuasively that the phrase “pro-Israel” that have reflexively attached to groups like AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents and even the far-right Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), perhaps they will employ the phrase more judiciously in their news reporting. Or is that too much to hope for?

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service’s Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

I am honored to be returning as a speaker to the second annual Future of Freedom Foundation conference on foreign policy and civil liberties, which takes place June 6 through June 8 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, and, as last year, features a fantastic array of speakers.

Last year’s conference was tied for my favorite libertarian event of all time. This year’s gathering promises to be just as good, if not better. Libertarians, conservatives, and liberals alike will address empire, surveillance, torture, constitutional civil liberties, and all the other preeminent issues relating to U.S. war policy. The content will be timely but also timeless, as these issues cut right to the heart of what type of society we live in. I can hardly wait to hear another three days’ worth of stimulating talks on the history, economics, law, philosophy, and politics of American foreign policy and its implications for freedom, prosperity, and international peace.

At a time like this, when the very basis of civilization is at stake, it is crucial that we get together, listen to each other, and help to build a big-tent movement dedicated to restoring the fundamental precepts of our constitutional structure and reversing America’s century-old and accelerating course toward despotism and global hegemony. The stakes are unspeakably high.

When so much of American political life is caught up in meaningless distractions and petty diversions — just witness the presidential campaign for an infinite barrage of examples — and a disastrous imperial consensus continues to dominate both parties and much of the mainstream media, we need nothing more than patriotic and moral leadership focused on the true issues of the day and the current policies’ dire consequences for Americans and foreigners alike. Just as much, we need authoritative and mindful voices to show there is another way.

It is beyond encouraging, then, that FFF has once again managed to put together such a prestigious lineup of journalists, economists, historians, and attorneys on the front lines of the struggle for liberty and against the depredations of the war on terror and imperial executive.

Returning this year will be James Bovard, Karen Kwiatkowski, Joseph Margulies, Justin Raimondo, Sheldon Richman, Lew Rockwell, Robert Higgs, Joanne Mariner, Bart Frazier, Jacob Hornberger, Ron Paul, and Laurence Vance. Marguiles and Mariner are two of the greatest voices and legal minds on civil liberties, and their experience in attempting to restore humanity and the rule of law to the federal government’s anti-terrorist detention policies will surely make for excellent and emotionally stirring talks, as was the case last year. As for the rest, I’m sure most readers recognize their names from their important writings, and perhaps from their outstanding talks last year. They continue to be among my great heroes of the libertarian movement, but I will not go into the very long process here of explaining the details. Suffice it to say if you were to look at my bookcase of favorites, you would see titles by Bovard, Richman, Raimondo, Rockwell, Higgs, Vance, and Paul, and I always make sure to read their articles, along with Kwiatkowski’s, Hornberger’s, and Frazier’s, whenever I see them.

Joining us this year for the first time, from the left, will be the brilliant civil liberties expert Glenn Greenwald, the wonderful anti-imperialist writer Stephen Kinzer, and the indispensable and iconoclastic journalist Alexander Cockburn. The venerable professors Andrew Bacevich and Jonathan Turley, and constitutional expert Bruce Fein, will surely bring the crucial conservative perspective of prudence and moral clarity to the questions of America’s decadent and neo-Wilsonian empire. To round out the panel, the sagacious economist and libertarian writer David Henderson will provide some much-needed economic sense to the questions of war and peace, at this time when so many Americans still don’t see the connection between militarism and wealth destruction. I have found the work of all of these people’s invaluable in my research and efforts to keep up with the news.

I expect my talk will be decent, too, and yet it’s difficult to pitch my credentials when put beside such an overwhelming list of heroes and intellects.

This is not a conference you want to miss. The intellectual sophistication (including that of the attendees!), the friendly atmosphere, the whiff of revolution in the air — this will be an amazing opportunity to share ideas, reflect honestly and thoughtfully on the great national crisis before us, and contemplate the future restoration of liberty and peace to the United States. It will be an incredible time of serious discourse, ecumenical solidarity, and great food. The Hyatt was a beautiful location last year, and I am delighted we will be returning there this year.

If you want to know what’s ailing our fading republic and also want an unforgettable experience of hopefulness and elucidation, you should certainly plan to be there.

Antiwar.com’s Justin Raimondo spoke to the Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations in Maine April 21.

Yesterday, Maine Public Radio broadcast the one-hour talk in its entirety.

Listen here.