- The renewed relevance of neoconservatism Rachel Lu, the Week
- The idea of a Muslim world is both modern and misleading Cemil Aydin, Aeon
- Democratic socialism threatens minorities Conor Friedersdorf, the Atlantic
- The world economy’s urban future Parag Khanna, Project Syndicate
neoconservative
Around the Web: Rand Paul’s Foreign Policy Speech Edition
- The text is here (he gave it at the Center for the National Interest, an old Nixon project)
- Maggie Haberman gives a us a glimpse of how the Beltway views it
- Zach Beauchamp gives us a taste of how the wonky Left views it
- The libertarian view is served up by Conor Friedersdorf
- Daniel Larison, PhD historian, reps the conservative view
I already know what the neoconservatives are going to say. Same goes with those on the socialist Left. I think everybody knows what they are going to say and that, in a nutshell, explains why the neoconservatives are becoming as marginal in contemporary debates as the socialists.
Edward Snowden is a Commie
So says Max Boot at Commentary, a neoconservative publication that specializes in lies and slander to further the imperialist cause (there is, if you think about it, no other way to further a cause such as theirs). No, really, read it yourself.
Boot tries to pretend that the NSA was only spying on citizens of foreign states, rather than on Americans, but this is laughable on its face, especially given the recent IRS scandal (where an august body of bureaucrats charged with collecting taxes suddenly finds itself targeting conservative political groups during a close presidential election season).
I’ve read elsewhere that Snowden was inspired by Ron Paul. If this is true, then Ron Paul is even more of a bad ass than I thought. The only people on my campus who do not like Ron Paul are hardline Democrats and hardline Republicans. But just think: very few young people identify with a specific political party. The reasons for this vary, but for the most part young people are much more independent thinkers and have yet to enter the workforce. Once they enter the workforce, of course, they will begin to vote for a party line, but kids in college who already identify with a political party tend to constitute tomorrow’s fascists: they are condescending, gullible and believe that the political system is the best way to change society for the better.
American imperialism is dead. Once the Obama administration begins arming al-Qaeda, and the media begins to really throw Obama under the bus, the idea that US government can magically make the world a better place by bombing, arming and invading other countries will find its rightful place in the dunce’s corner of American politics once again. In the mean time, we need more heroes like Snowden to expose the horrific abuses of liberty that Washington has been pursuing under the guise of wars on terror, drugs and poverty over the last half century.
Wow
Check out this piece by John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations, on Iran. An excerpt:
“It has long been clear that, absent regime change in Tehran, peaceful means will never persuade or prevent Iran from reaching its nuclear objective, to which it is perilously close.”
Is this guy actually advocating a war with the Iranian state? Hasn’t the neoconservative movement, an offshoot of Trotskyism, learned its lesson from the failure in Iraq?
Also, why would we expect Iran to do anything less than pursue nuclear weapons? Quite a few of its neighbors have “the bomb”, and nuclear deterrent obviously works (just ask the Libyans and the North Koreans). Isn’t this obvious?
We are at peace with China, Russia, and a whole host of other states with nuclear weapons. It is absurd to argue that we can’t have peace with a nuclear Iran as well.
Notes On Liberty 