There has been a recent flurry of proposals to have the U.S. military launch a full-scale war against Mexican drug cartels – primarily to stem the alleged fentanyl crisis. Former Attorney General William P. Barr initiated the latest campaign with an op-ed in the March 2, 2023, Wall Street Journal. “America can no longer tolerate narco-terrorist cartels,” Barr raged. “Operating from havens in Mexico, their production of deadly drugs on an industrial scale is flooding our country with this poison. The time is long past to deal with this outrage decisively.”
A Bad Idea Resurfaces: Using the US Military Against Mexico’s Drug Cartels
Tag: Authorization for the Use of Military Force
US bombs Somalia for the third time this summer
US bombs Somalia for the third time this summer
Bottom line, it’s been a long time since the United States was not bombing Somalia. This comes after a particularly bloody period during the GWOT in which the CIA was using the country to detain and torture terror suspects from across North Africa. Whether this has ultimately been a good thing for the country or for the broader security of the region, one need only to look at the continued instability and impoverishment of the people, and of course, the persistent presence of al-Shabab itself.
McCarthyism re-emerging stronger than ever in Ukraine policy debates
By Ted Galen Carpenter, Responsible Statecraft, 4/11/22
A troubling pattern has developed over the decades in which foreign policy hawks smear their opponents and thereby seek to foreclose discussion of questionable U.S. policy initiatives.
McCarthyism re-emerging stronger than ever in Ukraine policy debates
All-War-All-the-Time?
How empire is destroying the American republic
Many American hawks fail to grasp one of the most axiomatic rules of history: when a republic becomes an empire, it is no longer a republic.
For all their concern about spreading democracy abroad, many hawks show a decidedly noticeable failure to recognize that imperial adventures weaken republican government at home. The devolution from republic to empire has a number of causes, some practical and some cultural, with most on display in our current politics.
How empire is destroying the American republic
Related:
10/9/20 William Smith: How Empire is Destroying the American Republic
September 14, 2001: The Day America Became Israel
The rubble was still smoldering at Ground Zero when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to essentially transform itself into the Israeli Knesset, or parliament. It was 19 years ago, 11:17pm Washington D.C. time on September 14, 2001 when the People’s Chamber approved House Joint Resolution 64, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) “against those responsible for the recent attacks.” Naturally, that was before the precise identities, and full scope, of “those responsible” were yet known – so the resolution’s rubber-stamp was obscenely open-ended by necessity, but also by design.
September 14, 2001: The Day America Became Israel
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 