Category: Opinion

Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia

“Citizens of liberal democratic societies have grown rich and prosperous off the ideology of rational control, but have unfortunately become complacent in its defense.” (07/17/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-empire-of-reason/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Mark Episkopos

“Mykhailo Fedorov advanced a successful drone program in part by bucking the patronage system, which, protected by the president, likely led to his sacking.” (07/17/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/mykhailo-fedorov-ukraine-zelensky/

Source: CounterPunch
by Mitchell Zimmerman

“In less than one week, ICE agents killed twice. Neither victim was the man they were looking for. And each time their excuses made no sense. But the killings served a purpose: terrorizing immigrant communities, in pursuit of Trump’s white nationalist agenda.” (07/17/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/17/ice-killings-are-acts-of-terrorism/

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“In his magazine debate over socialism, the late-Victorian individualist Auberon Herbert saw in the presentation of his opponent, J. A. Hobson, ‘an attempt to reduce the individual to nothingness, and on the ruins of the individual to exalt and glorify ‘the social organism.’ … Herbert asked: ‘[Is] there any solid reality in this view of the social entity, or must we treat it as a mere literary creation?’ He opted for the latter because, in fact, it is individuals all the way down.'” (07/17/26)

https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-auberon-herbert-and-the-social

Source: Informed Comment
by Tom Engelhardt

“People deal with [Donald Trump] as if he were a unique figure in American history and in some ways, of course, he couldn’t be more so. But not, it turns out, when it comes to American-style war. There, he seems almost boringly part of a story (now more than three-quarters of a century old) of how the seemingly greatest power on Planet Earth in the endless decades after World War II simply couldn’t — no, not ever! — win a war.” (07/17/26)

https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/americas-imperial-korea.html

Source: Antiwar.com
by Norman Solomon

“Creation of a Palestinian state next to Israel seemed feasible when President Bill Clinton hosted the signing of the Oslo accords at the White House in September 1993. The goal was reaffirmed in 2011 when 90 percent of the Senate co-sponsored a resolution supporting ‘a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.’ But today, the two-state scenario is far-fetched to the point of delusion if not evasion. For politicians, it has become a box to check. According to data from the American Jewish Congress, every Democrat and most Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee currently say they support ‘the two-state solution.’ Whatever the rhetoric, ending Israeli control over Palestinians in the territories occupied since 1967 is not on the table.” (07/17/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/solomon/2026/07/16/politicians-should-stop-hiding-behind-the-two-state-solution-fantasy/

Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

“‘I want to stop American aid,’ Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 30. ‘It’s like welfare; I don’t want it.’ Usually, Netanyahu gets anything he demands from Uncle Sugar. But on July 15, the US House of Representatives voted, 314-104 against even partially granting his wish. Every Republican except Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and more than half of Democrats, voted down an amendment that would have removed $3.3 billion in ‘Foreign Military Financing’ aid from the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. What’s up with that? … This may be the first time I’ve ever found myself in agreement with Benjamin Netanyahu on anything. Well, partial agreement, anyway. US aid to Israel isn’t ‘like welfare.’ It IS welfare.” (07/16/26)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20763

Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder

“The news is awash with reports that younger Americans are learning less than their parents did a generation ago. One in eight freshmen at the highly selective University of California, San Diego campus place below high school levels in math, leading professors to complain that declining student proficiency is imperiling their ability to provide at least a modicum of math competency. Grade inflation is also leading university students to study far less than their parents or grandparents did in college—for much higher grades. Are we becoming a nation of lazy dumbbells?” (07/16/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/16/ignorance-is-not-bliss-the-dumbing-down-of-america/

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“Allies and clients have frequently entangled their great power patrons in needless geopolitical crises and sometimes even bloody wars. The tragic events leading to World War I in 1914 are a classic example. Serbia helped drag Czarist Russia into that bloody maelstrom and Austria-Hungary did the same to Wilhelmine Germany. Similar dangers exist today in the international system. Two of Washington’s current most odious and dangerous ‘loose cannon’ allies are Israel and Turkey. U.S. administrations have funded and armed both countries for decades and routinely excused outrageous acts that their clients have committed. Even worse from the standpoint of America’s best interests and purported values, the respective governments have increasingly competitive political and strategic objectives.” (07/16/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/washingtons-two-rogue-allies-in-the-middle-east-face-off

Source: Persuasion
by Luke Hallam

“One of the greatest worries for the Founding Fathers was the specter of ‘standing armies’—a permanent, professional military under the direct control of the president. … Two and a half centuries later, with permanent armies and police forces very much the norm, we view such statements as a relic of the 18th century no longer applicable to the modern world. Yet the Founding Fathers were right to draw a connection between standing armies and liberty—and in this case, Madison’s comment about an ‘overgrown Executive’ is prophetic.” (07/16/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/ice-is-trumps-standing-army-now