Skip to main content

The US and our militarized foreign policy

The US has now added Jordan as the latest place that we have deployed troops, which--although White House officials talk about it--is still a secret according to the Pentagon, which won't talk about it.

Meanwhile, while rabid military interventionist are using the dog whistle of Al Qaeda creating a new base in northern Mali to encourage continued American military interventions in Africa . . . .

. . . France is organizing an internal diplomatic and military effort from the ECOWAS allies in Africa to intervene.

Let's point out a couple details here for the uninformed:

1.  France, with the world's 8th most powerful military, has far fewer logistical difficulties operating in this area, far more diplomatic and economic ties to the area, and much more influence with most African nations.

2.  The government of Mali accepted the offer to deploy ECOWAS forces in the northern provinces in September, just three days before the US attempted to stall the deployment until that government (the people fighting AGAINST the fundamentalist revolutionaries in the north) agreed to new elections.

So here is a prime example of where a Libertarian foreign policy would come in handy and make far more sense than our current muddling through:

1.  We should not be contemplating an expansion of our military operations in Africa when one of our allies, France, which has fully adequate military and diplomatic capabilities in the region, is both willing and capable of doing so.  If France needs financial or diplomatic support, fine.  But there is no reason for American lives to be placed on the line in the remote hellhole.

2.  Likewise, we should not be telling the government of Mali that the cost of keeping fundamentalist terrorists from a reign of terror in the northern part of the country that the cost of an intervention which the French are arranging and the African states are conducting is new elections.

Comments

delacrat said…
Al Qaeda, Shmal Qaeda...

Obomba's deploying US troops in Mali and Jordan because there aren't any US troops deployed there now.

Popular posts from this blog

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba