Government is more than a territorial monopoly on aggressive force. It’s also the heir to a centuries-old manufactured mystique, reinforced through its schools and other institutions, regarding its sanctity and sacrosanctity. The mystique is generated by and tends to manifest itself in the dogma that one’s State is uniquely virtuous and deserves to be judged…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Grant A. Mincy‘s “Aylan’s Shoes” read by John Moore and edited by Tony Dreher. The current global conflict is responsible for the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. The war-torn Middle East is experiencing human destruction on a heart-breaking scale. One image of this war in particular has struck the…

L’esagerazione demagogica della “minaccia terroristica”, al centro dell’ultimo dibattito dei repubblicani, si sgonfia immediatamente alla prima riflessione. Che probabilità c’è che un residente in America si trovi esattamente dove si trova qualcuno che vuole uccidere nel nome dello Stato Islamico, al Qaeda o qualche altra causa? Scarsissima. In America è molto più probabile morire per…

In questo periodo la gente canta canzoni che parlano di pace e bene. Negli Stati Uniti, purtroppo, alle canzoni corrispondono scarse riflessioni. Altrimenti gli americani sarebbero in piazza a chiedere al presidente Obama di spegnere la macchina da guerra. E ripudierebbero quegli aspiranti presidenti, ovvero i principali candidati dei maggiori partiti, che difendono i fondamenti…

It’s the time of year when people sing about peace and goodwill. Unfortunately in the United States, too little thought accompanies the nice words. Otherwise Americans would be in the streets demanding that President Obama shut down the war machine. They would also be repudiating every presidential candidate who endorses the fundamentals of America’s criminal…

The demagogic exaggeration of the “terrorist threat,” which was the centerpiece of the last Republican debates, is easily deflated with just a moment’s thought. What is the chance that any particular resident of the United States will happen to be in the same place as someone who intends to murder in the name of the…

Forse Franklin Roosevelt non disse mai del dittatore nicaraguense Anastasio Somoza “sarà un figlio di puttana, ma è il nostro figlio di puttana”, ma probabilmente lo pensò; e anche tanti altri presidenti devono aver pensato qualcosa di simile di miriadi di dittatori brutali. Ma se il governo americano ha costretto gli americani ad appoggiare dittature…

While Franklin Roosevelt may not have said that Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza “may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch,” he probably thought it — just as other presidents have had similar thoughts about myriad brutal rulers. So if the U.S. government has forced the American people to support useful dictators, why is…

From the start, opponents of the American empire warned that the government could not violate the rights of foreigners without eventually violating the rights of Americans. An excellent example is William Graham Sumner’s post-Spanish-American War classic The Conquest of the United States by Spain. The anti-imperialists were spot-on, and the evidence for their case keeps…

L’atteggiamento isterico riguardo lo Stato Islamico ora incentra l’attenzione sui rifugiati che cercano di sfuggire alla violenza in Siria e Iraq. Prevedibilmente la camera dei deputati, a maggioranza repubblicana, ha deciso ieri di incrementare i controlli sulla vita dei potenziali rifugiati: una pretesa di onniscienza che si traduce in esclusione. Ma il progetto di legge…

Guardate, neanche i regimi autoritari e totalitari possono evitare il terrorismo interno. Allora, che speranze può avere una società relativamente aperta? Una società aperta abbonda di “facili bersagli”, ovvero di persone inermi che ogni giorno vanno e vengono liberamente. Sono un bersaglio facile per chi vuole il male, specie se gli assalitori cercano la morte….

Hysteria over the Islamic State is now focused on the refugees seeking to escape the violence in Syria and Iraq. Predictably, the Republican-controlled House yesterday voted to increase background checks on potential refugees, a demand for omniscience that would amount to exclusion. The bill faces trouble in the Senate, however, and President Obama, who wants…

Look, even authoritarian and totalitarian states can’t prevent domestic terrorism. What hope do relatively open societies have? Open societies abound with “soft targets”; that is, noncombatants going about their everyday lives. They are easy hits for those determined to inflict harm, especially if the assailants seek to die in the process. We also know, as…

Joseph R. Stromberg discusses realism vs non-intervention. David Swanson discusses the Vietnam War 50 years later. Andrew Levine discusses Israel and the alleged threats to it. Shamus Cooke discusses the idea of a no-fly zone in Syria. Lew Rockwell discusses Ron Paul’s new anti-war book. John Feffer discusses the Kurds and the current conflicts in…