Month: November 2014

President Obama has ordered 1500 more troops to Iraq, doubling down on the U.S. presence already there. And while the question of the constitutionality of this move in the absence of a war declaration is an important one, Ron Paul reminds us that the question of the morality of the war should be confronted even before that.

This week on the Podcast Ron Paul and Charles Goyette question whether the American people would support endless wars of empire if they had any idea just how far reaching the U.S. global military presence is or if they understood the confusion and contradictions implicit in U.S. foreign policy.

Listen HERE.

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Charles Goyette is New York Times Bestselling Author of The Dollar Meltdown and Red and Blue and Broke All Over: Restoring America’s Free Economy. Goyette also edits The Freedom and Prosperity Letter.

It was a great video.

It shows the young boy, about 8 years old, weave his way down a dusty street, dodging bullets to reach a terrified girl cowering behind a car. The boy even plays dead at one point to deceive the sharpshooters, who miss hitting both children as they appear to safely run off.

The video went viral and was the lead story on Fox News. Everyone was talking about it. I had some doubts about it, but I really wanted it to be real. It was so exciting and heartwarming.

But, no, it wasn’t real. But it wasn’t a cheap fake either. The video was produced in Malta by Norwegian director Lars Klevberg. In fact the film received funding from the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) and the Audio and Visual Fund from Arts Council Norway in October 2013.

Were they comfortable making a film that potentially deceived millions of people? “I was not uncomfortable,” Klevberg said. “By publishing a clip that could appear to be authentic we hoped to take advantage of a tool that’s often used in war; make a video that claims to be real. We wanted to see if the film would get attention and spur debate, first and foremost about children and war. We also wanted to see how the media would respond to such a video.”

Since being uploaded to YouTube on Monday the video has been watched more than five million times and inspired thousands of comments. There has been a big debate about whether it is genuine. How those viewers will react to learning that it’s a work of fiction remains to be seen. “We are really happy with the reaction,” Klevberg said. “It created a debate.”

Maggie Thatcher may have been a staunch Cold Warrior, but she wasn’t too  thrilled about Ronald Reagan’s invasion of the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada, where ultra-leftists  had assassinated  the pro-Cuban leader, Maurice Bishop. After all, Grenada, in spite of its leftist government, was still a member of the British Commonwealth,  and Maggie hadn’t been let in the loop. Check out  Ishaan Tharoor’s piece in the Washington Post on the subject: go here for a transcript of  the Reagan-Thatcher phone conversation (wherein the Gipper apologizes).

 

Antiwar.com editorial director Justin Raimondo spoke with Rare’s Kurt Wallace about Rand Paul and the prospects for war and peace in electoral politics.

The 11-minute audio interview and transcript are available here.

In a modern era of global military empire, mass indiscriminate NSA data-grabbing, and unaccountable killer cops, an age-old issue vital to liberty is often overlooked or forgotten: that of conscription. On this Veterans’ Day, while most solemnly reflect on the valiant service of their fathers, uncles, and grandfathers in one of the many blood-soaked American military conflicts of the last century, let us not forget those given no choice in the matter.

In the United States, it’s only been about four short decades since the "draft" – i.e. total and outright government-mandated slavery – has been out of favor with the policy-crafting class. But for many decades in the US, and for thousands of years all around the world, politicians and war-makers have freely employed such slave labor, attained from any poor soul that was called upon to provide it.

Today, then, instead of spewing forth blind reverence and adoration for soldiers and veterans, let’s examine the institution of conscription, briefly review its history, and show its particular relevance to human liberty. The amount of suffering and loss that is attributable to conscription is likely incalculable, and, more importantly, its wane in popularity in the US may only be temporary in the face of the ongoing "perpetual war for perpetual peace".

Continue reading “Conscription, History, and Why It Matters”

UPDATE: It was too good to be true. A Norwegian director has come forward and the story of how the video was promoted have come out: it was staged and shot in Malta.

The original post follows:

The video shows the youngster, about 8 years old, weave his way down a dusty street, dodging bullets to reach a terrified girl cowering behind a car. The boy even plays dead at one point to deceive the sharpshooters, who miss hitting both children as they appear to safely run off.

The video has not been authenticated, and it is puzzling as to who took it, but it does appear authentic. Activists say it’s real, some critics say it is faked. It doesn’t seem fake to me. Either way, it is worth watching.