From Consortium News:
A memorial service in celebration of the life and work of Consortium News Founder and Editor Robert Parry will be held on April 14, 2018 at 2:30pm in the Galaxy Ballroom of the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, VA located at 900 S. Orme St. 22204.
Continue reading “Memorial Service for Robert Parry April 14”
Just a week after President Trump told an Ohio audience that US troops would be removed from Syria “very soon” and brought back home “where they belong,” he has again changed his tune. After a neocon uprising in their various think tanks and journals and after a meeting with Defense Secretary Mattis, Trump did an about-face yesterday and grumbled that he’d keep them in for a while longer. Some say six months. Was Trump purposely misleading in Ohio, or is he really that pliable? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
US Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) will join Ron Paul, Jacob Hornberger, Richard Ebeling, and Daniel McAdams at the upcoming joint Ron Paul Institute/Future of Freedom Foundation conference on US foreign policy and the importance of returning to non-interventionism as the driving principle of our relations with the rest of the world. The conference will be held on April 29th at the Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel in historic Charleston, SC. Tickets are just $5.00 for general admission and free for students. For more information and to reserve your seat, click here.
Originally appeared on The American Conservative.
Max Boot rails against the possibility that our illegal, unnecessary war in Syria might come to an end:
If the United States leaves both Syria and Iraq, it will be an incalculable windfall for Iran, a rogue state that Trump claims to hate – but not as much as he seems to hate long-term commitments.
I doubt very much that Trump will follow through on the suggested withdrawal for a few reasons. First, his incoming Secretary of State and National Security Advisor are sure to be vehemently opposed to doing this, and Trump is more malleable than clay when the people around him know how to flatter him and speak to him in terms he understands. Second, Trump fetishizes looking “tough” and hates appearing “weak,” and the foreign policy “Blob” will work overtime to make sure that he thinks a decision to leave Syria (the correct and relatively courageous decision) would be the latter. Boot’s criticism of a decision Trump probably won’t make is presumably just one of the first of these attacks. Third, hostility to Iran is one of the few constants in Trump’s foreign policy, so we have to assume that when staying in Syria is presented to him that way he will acquiesce in staying. Trump thinks that Obama was too accommodating to Iran, and he is determined to do the opposite of whatever he thinks Obama did. Finally, Trump has proven that he is a pushover for the Saudis and Israelis, and both governments have saidthat they want the U.S. to stay for a long time. Disregarding these clients’ preferences is what Trump thinks Obama would do, and so he won’t blow them off as he should.
Continue reading “Trump Should Withdraw US Forces from Syria, But He Won’t”
Over the past week, President Trump has twice emphatically stated that he intends to remove US troops from Syria and bring them home “where they belong.” He also defied his advisors by congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election victory and suggested a summit meeting at the White House. The neocons have spent the last week furiously attacking these two moves, accusing him of undermining the policies of his advisors. Strangely, they don’t seem to remember that it is the elected president who makes foreign policy, not his/her advisors. Will Trump actually defy the neocons and follow through with these two policy shifts…or will he flip-flop? Join us for today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
On April 6, 2017, the United States bombed a Syrian airbase. The bombing was in response to a chemical attack immediately thought to be ordered by the behest of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad just two days before.
This bombing was illegal. Even the U.S. government has since repeatedly failed to legally justify it.
With the war in Syria now in a new phase, understanding why is more important than ever. ISIS is all but wiped out. The U.S. mission in Syria has become an open-ended commitment involving, among other things, regime change. The U.S. military is increasingly threatening Syria and targeting its allies. In this new phase, grasping why last year’s bombing was illegal will be useful if President Trump plans a repeat.
Continue reading “One Year Later, America’s Airstrike on Syria Is Still Illegal”
