Washington Times, October 29, 2014 Obama’s phony foreign-aid reform The president boosts aid spending rather than fixing its flaws By James Bovard Four years ago, President Obama promised in a United Nations speech to “change the way we do business” with foreign aid and “seek partners who want to build their own capacity to provide […]
Tag Archives | Afghanistan
Afghan Election Thief Promises to be Accountable
The Washington Post has a positive-thinking headline today: “Afghanistan’s new president: ‘Hold me accountable.’” A more honest headline would have been: “Afghan Election Thief says ‘Hold Me Accountable’ – the latest Obama democracy sham success story” Ashraf Ghani took the oath of office after the U.S. government helped finagle a power-sharing deal between Ghani and allegedly second […]
Obama Foreign Policy Maxim Actually Not Bad
According to Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration’s guiding maxim for foreign policy was “Don’t do stupid shit.” But if that was their lodestar, why did they ever hire Hillary as Secretary of State? Hillary would also have been disqualified for that job if the Obama team relied on Google’s (former) motto: “Don’t be evil.” If the […]
Counterpunch: Medals of Freedom vs. America’s Freedom
June 25, 2014 The Medals of Freedom vs. America’s Freedom by JAMES BOVARD For almost 50 years, politicians have used Medals of Freedom to reward their henchmen who started wars or subverted freedom. Prior to the 1960s, the U.S. government avoided the temptation to distribute nonmilitary awards by the bucket. However, in 1963, President […]
FFF: Freedom vs. Medals of Freedom
From the Future of Freedom Foundation’s monthly journal – Freedom vs. Medals of Freedom by James Bovard Though proximity to power is its own reward, rulers have long recognized the benefit of distributing trinkets to potential sycophants. From medieval times onwards, the English king was seen as the “fount of all honors.” The British government […]
My Wash. Times Op-Ed: Obama’s Democracy Flim-Flam
WASHINGTON TIMES June 20, 2014 How Obama whoops up democracy The president blunders by thinking voting alone will keep people safe by James Bovard As his foreign policy becomes more bollixed by the week, President Obama is taking refuge by whooping up democracy. In Warsaw, Poland, earlier this month, Mr. Obama proclaimed, “Wherever people are […]
Iraq War Flashback: 2003 Epigrams
As the Obama administration appears to be stumbling back towards warring in Iraq, many folks are recalling the follies of the Bush administration’s 2003 war. This excellent Tom Toles’ cartoon from the Washington Post captures W.’s legacy. As the Bush administration was rattling its sabers towards Iraq from mid-2002 onwards, I hustled numerous pieces to […]