Author: Justin Raimondo

Shortly after delivering my latest column, I was asked to include a fundraising pitch.

I immediately rebelled against the idea: I had barely been able to write my column, given my physical condition, let alone anything extra.

Am I to be spared nothing?

I thought, as I struggled to catch my breath. I lay in bed trying to find a position where I wouldn’t cough incessantly, I thinking to myself: what if the fundraiser goes badly? What if … ?

And then, mercifully, sleep overtook me. I feel better this morning, and so here I am, at the same old stand, making the case for Antiwar.com.

We’ve been manning the barricades for the Peace Party online for over twenty years, fact-checking the War Party so you don’t have to, and holding up the propaganda that comes out of the "mainstream" media to the most rigorous scrutiny.

I don’t have to make the case for donating because it’s so glaringly obvious that to do so insults my readers’ intelligence.

No one else does the job we do. Nowhere else can you find the comprehensive coverage and fine-tuned fact-filled analysis of what’s happening in the world of foreign policy. And if you think that world has no effect on your life, think again – and remember the aftermath of 9/11, and the decades of war that followed.

Could it have all been avoided? Could things have turned out differently? Is there an alternative to our foreign policy of global intervention?

We ask – and answer – these questions every single day. But we can’t continue to do it without your financial support.

Please make your tax-deductible donation today.

Last night before I put down The Star Beast and fell into dreamland I wondered to myself: "What will I write about tomorrow?" There didn’t seem to be anything especially pressing or interesting.

And, lo and behold, I was right! It was 4:30 in the morning, with most of the country asleep, but there was Trump:

"The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!"

Oh my goodness, how the Fake News crowd hated that one! From left to right, from Chuck Todd to Chris Wallace, how they howled and screamed in pain! Because the truth hurts. Where was Chuck Todd during the run up to the Kosovo war – in a Trappist monastery? He can’t be unaware of the catalytic role played by CNN in ginning up that conflict.

Continue reading “Justin Raimondo on The Media, Trump, and Antiwar.com”

Most of my regular readers – indeed, all of them – know one thing by now: if you’ve come here for the usual bullshit, rah-rah for Our Team conventional wisdom, you’re bound to be disappointed. There are plenty of other places to go for that: I won’t name them, but you get the idea. Here I try to challenge my readers – and myself – and examine the underlying assumptions we’re all supposed to accept. Of course, it would be easy for me to go along with the conventional wisdom and not make any waves: but actually, it would bore me to death. And I guess it would do the same to my readers (at least, I hope it would).

It’s a privilege to be able to do this, and believe you me I don’t take it for granted. It’s made possible by the incredible dedication of the Antiwar.com staff, especially our managing editor and all-around problem-solver Eric Garris, and I don’t lose sight of that for a minute. It’s a privilege and a great responsibility to be able to write this column the way I do, i.e., without regard for what Everyone Else is saying, and often in direct contradiction and opposition to what most of my readers think and believe.

It’s a risky strategy, but I’ve managed – I think! – to pull it off. I’ve been right more than I’ve been wrong: I’ll stand my record up against any of the "mainstream" pundits.

I haven’t been afraid to challenge my readers and myself – but now I’m facing my greatest challenge. Most of my readers are aware of my recent cancer diagnosis: it’s been a real life-changer, to say the least. Thanks to the miracle of modern science, I’m still alive – and thriving – and able to write these words. The latest discoveries in anti-cancer research, which I’m lucky enough to have access to, have allowed me to defy Death – so far.

My diagnosis and condition have given me a whole new perspective on my work, on world affairs, and the affairs of humankind in general. Or, perhaps, they’ve sharpened views I held already but hadn’t really thought all that much about.

What I’ve come to realize is that my job, and Antiwar.com’s mission, has always been to defy Death, to fight Death to the bitter end. For the War Party is truly the Party of Death, and this has been brought home to me rather vividly in my reading of Dan Ellsberg’s The Doomsday Machine, his insider’s account of the nuclear "priesthood" and its rationalizations for mass murder on a scale we can hardly imagine. For what those "priests" were – and are – planning for is the virtual eradication of the human race in a nuclear holocaust initiated by the United States (we are always the initiators in their war scenarios).

We are fighting against Death itself, and its allies here on earth. And we need your help.

Yes, this is a fundraising pitch, although it doesn’t really read like one. But let me tell you: the legions of Death are not lacking in financial resources. Oh no. They have but to ask their sponsors and collaborators, and their coffers are filled to the brim.

We, on the other hand, have no such assurances. We only have you, our readers and loyal supporters, many of whom have stuck with us down through the years – as far back as the Kosovo war! And we – I – am turning to you once again for the support we need to keep going.

And we have matching funds: a group of donors has gotten together and pledged $30,000. So every dollar you give will be doubled.

So now it’s up to you. The American people are sick and tired of foreign wars: our message of peace and nonintervention has never been more popular. Yet the political class resists the popular will – and the War Party is more determined than ever to lead us down the road to perpetual conflict. We really need your support at this crucial juncture: we can win the battle for peace, the opportunity is there – but we can’t do it without you. That means we need your tax-deductible donations now – because they’ll have double the impact with our matching funds program.

If we all get together and make that final push we can make our goal. Every donation counts, no matter the amount.

Make your tax-deductible donation today.

The battle for the soul of the Trump administration is already going full swing – and he isn’t even President yet.

The battle lines are being drawn over the office of Secretary of State, and anti-internationalist and non-interventionists in the Trump coalition are angry that former UN Ambassador John Bolton is even being considered. Bolton was an early supporter of the Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative outfit that brought us the Iraq war, and he’s been endorsed by National Review – a neocon mouthpiece that actively campaigned against Trump. His hostility to Russia, which he believes must be subjected to “pain,” flies in the face of Trump’s stated intention to “get along” with Russia.

Here’s how you can stop the Bolton nomination from getting off the ground. The Trump transition team is asking for input from the public. If you have a Twitter account, you can tweet your opposition to Bolton by directing your tweet at @transition2017.

Keep your message short, sweet, and to the point: “No to Bolton” will do, but get creative if you like.

From the desk of Justin Raimondo:

Dear friend of Antiwar.com,

I’ve got just enough time to bang out this note to you before I start writing my Friday column – but I wanted to get this out a.s.a.p. because you need to be apprised of what’s happening.

The news is breaking today (8/10) that a team of Ukrainian saborteurs infiltrated Crimea and tried to do significant damage to Crimean infrastructure: their goal was to create an international incident on the eve of US elections that would put the US at loggerheads with Russia – sudden “crisis” that would call for a US military response.

Ukrainian assassins had earlier tried to murder the President of the rebel Luhansk Republic by placing a bomb under his car: he was seriously injured, but survived. Now their terrorist campaign has escalated to a new level – with frontal attacks on Russia itself.

Their goal: provoking Putin into a military response.

The scenario: right before the US election, the US and Russia face off over Ukraine.

With Hillary Clinton and her journalistic hit squad going after Trump with accusations of him being a “Russian agent,” the stage is set for a ginned up politically-motivated international “crisis” – an “October surprise” that may come well before October.

Whatever one may think of Trump, he asks a good question: “Wouldn’t it be good if we could get along with Russia?” The War Party doesn’t want to get along with Russia, and if they have to start World War III in order to prevent that – well, then, so be it!

We here at Antiwar.com are on an emergency alert, working overtime to inform the American people of this dangerously escalating situation – but we need your help!

The forces that want to drag us back to the bad old days of the cold war are well-funded – and relentless. They don’t have to worry about where their funding is coming from – but we do.

We’re right in the middle of a fundraising campaign as this news of a Ukrainian provocation is breaking. That’s why I’m dropping everything to write to you, personally, to ask for your help.

Would Hillary Clinton start World War III to get elected? Do you even have to ask?

Yes, we can stop World War III before it starts – but we need your help to do it.

The danger has never been greater – and our need for your support has never been greater. Please – make your tax-deductible donation today.

In peace and liberty,

Justin Raimondo
Editorial Director
Antiwar.com

I’m not telling Eric Garris I’m doing this, because I’m sure he’d object. He doesn’t take center stage on this web site very often, although without him it wouldn’t exist. He’s our webmaster, you see, and the founder of this site – and it’s his birthday tomorrow (Dec. 24).

For twenty years, Eric has essentially subordinated his life to the demands of running Antiwar.com. He’s not only the webmaster, he’s the manager-par-excellence. Aside from dealing with the purely technical aspects of maintaining this web site, he raises the money, he manages an often-contentious staff, he reins me in when I go more than a bit overboard. (This last task, you might imagine, is close to being a full-time job).

When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he told me: “Oh, nothing. But I wish we’d raised a bit more during the fund drive.”

That’s so typical of Eric – it’s always about the web site, never about himself.

So what I decided to do was to make an appeal to please make a contribution to Antiwar.com in his name.

I can’t think of any better way to honor an activist whose dedication is the fuel that keeps this web site going. We just couldn’t continue without him.

So please, join with me in celebrating the birthday of the largely unsung hero of the antiwar movement by making your tax-deductible donation to Antiwar.com.

P.S. That photo I’ve posted is Eric at the age of three, exhibiting his enthusiasm for the written word at a very early age.

Yours in Peace and Liberty,

Justin Raimondo