The Alleged Gap Between Free Trade & Economic Embargoes

A common libertarian attack on conservative foreign policy in North America consists of opposition to our government’s authority to impose economic sanctions on foreign states. Any restrictions on the potential trade partners of free citizens, advocates of this position contend, contradicts our freedom to trade value for value with other individuals while being guided by our own rational self-interest. Although I find the term to be dangerously imprecise, I will proceed by calling this perspective “libertarian isolationism” in the absence of – or in my ignorance of – a more appropriate label.

The core of libertarian isolationism is the relativistic insistence that countries against which we are not currently fighting a (“legitimate”) war are beyond the scope of our rational judgment or of our government’s mandate to interfere with. Besides implicitly equivocating between moral social structures and tyrannical ones, this perspective is tantamount to denying the existence of threats, and therefore enemies, abroad.

Those international actors whose policies are defined by the use of physical force against individuals – any individuals – of the Canadian state must be considered our enemies. This principle applies equally to threats of physical force (e.g. a state that is allied with an enemy, a state whose policy is war with our ally, or a state whose malevolent intentions regarding our country and its citizens can otherwise be established by valid evidence) as it does to actual instances of the initiation of coercion.

The principal fallacy of the isolationist view is that it drops the context of the purpose of government: the protection of individual rights from criminal infringements thereupon by both internal and external sources. A truly consistent policy of free trade forbids permitting violators or would-be violators of the basic condition required for free trade – individual liberty – to grow stronger and better equipped through trade with domestic entities.

We consider it proper to oppose the establishment of trade relationships between domestic business entities and the mafia. Why ought we to exempt foreign gangs who pose any threat whatsoever to our safety from that same standard?

Trading with enemy states represents a blatant violation of the individual rights of our people. It is of paramount importance that we do not allow isolationists to invoke freedom to criticize embargoes when the protection of liberty is the very reason that economic sanctions are justified.

"It's Pure F*cking Cowardice"

It has long been understood that one of the stickiest problems for any invasionary effort or regime change is the transition from control by the occupying power to control by domestic forces.

Accordingly, some reasonable concerns have been raised about whether the Iraqi police are prepared for this transition. Reports indicate that many members of their police force are lazy and corrupt. Lazy because they are unwilling to do their jobs by protecting Iraqi citizens and engaging in actual altercations with insurgents and corrupt because, allegedly, many of them have ties to the militia which pits them against American soldiers and raises serious questions about conflicting loyalties.

The following is a video of an American soldier yelling at the members of an Iraqi police battalion, calling them out on their cowardice and duplicity. Cussing, cussing, cussing. Definitely not safe for work. But it's completely satisfying and highly recommended.



Choice moments:

"You want everything from me. You want weapons and ammunition. You want fuel, you want trucks. But you're too f*cking pussy to go three kilometers down the road and go get the people who are tearing this f*cking town apart. It's pure f*cking cowardice."

"You want to fix your image? This group right here - f*ck your stupid checkpoints, they're worthless. Get together, get all your weapons, and start marching south towards the river. I guarantee you'll get into a gun fight and I guarantee you'll f*ck some people up. Get down there and kick some ass."

He does get quite liberal with his use of female rhetoric with the intention of being insulting but it's not too much worse than you'd hear in the average hockey arena. Unfortunately, misogynistic expressions seem to be part and parcel of military-speak (and hockey-speak). I'm sure that the American soldier in this video loves women. And respects them. For their brains.

H/t Jonah Goldberg

Out: Axis of Evil, In: Axis of Who-Are-We-To-Judge

Hypothetic scenario:

You're the leader of the freest and most powerful country on Earth. On the other side of the globe, an ideologically medieval terrorist state gradually leaks its evil into the surrounding geographic region, corroding liberty and morality in every country that it infiltrates. Before long, this state of affairs culminates in a horrifying attack on your own soil.

Here are your options:


(a) Invade two of the terrorist state's neighbours (also run by evil people but not the root of the problem)

(b) Shrug your shoulders and acknowledge that your country had it coming

(c) Extend your hand in friendship to your completely unrepentant enemies (after all, we're hardly perfect ourselves so who are we to judge?)


If you chose option (c), you might just be a perennially confused Democratic president with no common sense and a wholly relativistic moral compass.

And the Iranian government's response to President Obama's kind offer to begins talks with Iran?

"This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed," Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency."(*)

Shocking.

Goodbye 'axis of evil'.

Hello 'axis of who-are-we-to-judge'.

H/t Mark Steyn

Fun Times With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Israel Is A "Filthy Bacteria"

I, for one, am deeply comforted that he doesn't hate Jews because a casual observer may be inclined to note his consistent anti-Jew rhetoric and conclude that he is, in fact, decidedly anti-Semitic in the majority of his actions and words. Especially considering his position at the head of the government of an Islamic dictatorship making strides towards nuclear technology, a casual observer couldn't be blamed for thinking Iran poses a very legitimate threat to the Jewish state and by extension its allies. Of course, we know better because he says he's not anti-Semitic

Story from The Jerusalem Post:

In yet another verbal attack against Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Jewish state a "filthy bacteria" whose sole purpose was to oppress the other nations of the region.

"The world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast," the Iranian president told supporters at a rally in southern Iran.

"[Israel] won support [from the other nations] which created it as a scarecrow, so as to keep the people of this area under control," Ahmadinejad said.

Referring to the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, the Iranian leader said that Israel "uses terror as a threat every day, and afterwards is happy and joyful."

Emphasis mine.

You know, I bet "filthy bacteria" is a term of endearment, kind of like how the rappers call each other "dogs." On the face of it, it sounds pretty insulting but when considered in its cultural context it isn't so bad.

You see? Rationalizing ourselves out of danger is our best foreign policy option in today's turbulent international community. Self-delusion is much safer than actually confronting our potential problems.

Iran: In A Balanced Criminal Justice System, The Appropriate Punishment For Rape Is ...

... Getting thrown off a cliff.

Tehran, 10 Jan. (AKI) - Iran's supreme court has confirmed that two youths, found guilty of rape will receive 100 lashes each before being cast off a cliff - an ancient Islamic punishment - local media reported. The reports named the youths as Tayeb and Yazdan.

"This is a chilling sentence," said Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.

"Iranian jurisprudence allows alternative punishments to those prescribed by Islamic law, but many judges ignore them, " Dadhkhah said.

Iranian magistrates in recent weeks sentenced several people to punishments that had been in abeyance, he said. As recently as last week in Iranian Balochistan, five minority Sunnis had their hands and feet amputated, he noted.

All five Sunnis were found guilty of the crime of 'moharebeh' or enmity towards Allah. The highly vague definition of 'enemy of God' ranges from homosexuals and drug traffickers to supporters or members of armed groups opposed to the regime.

Iran in the past two days hanged seven people for drug trafficking. In 2007, it executed at least 297 people, according to campaign group Amnesty International.

Emphasis mine.

Mr. Ahmadinejad claims that there are no homosexuals in Iran. There wouldn't be any in North America either if we threw them off cliffs for offending God. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ahmadinejad.

Fred Thompson: "That's Not The Model Of The Reagan Coalition, That's The Model Of The Democratic Party"

Stuck in a lazy narrative, they said. Doesn't have the fire in his belly, they said. This is the Fred Thompson we've all been waiting for. Is it too late to get him the nomination? Probably. But the race is still in chaos right now with no single candidate running away with it. Conservatives all over the United States have been waiting for The Fred to come alive. He's told us over and over that he's the only "true blue" conservative on the ballot and, finally, last night he decided we should see what that looks like in action. He absolutely tore into Huckabee - and we'll have to wait and see if that won him any converts - and he outlined once and for all exactly why he deserves to be the Republican party candidate.

And so, as a gift to all the Fred Heads out there, I've compiled some of his best moments from the debate last night below. I'll begin with the best clip of the night.


Teh Fred vs. Huckabee:



Mmm. That's good fire in the belly.


Teh Fred On Illegal Immigration:



I was a little disappointed he passed on his opportunity to go on the offensive against McCain, probably as a result of their close friendship. If he's going to win this race - and that's a big if - he's going to need support from all quarters, and that certainly includes McCain supporters who are uncomfortable with the Maverick's pro-amnesty stance and his opposition to the Bush tax cuts.


And, of course, Thompson's "virgins" line in response to the Iranian naval standoff in the Straits of Hormuz this week:



Last night was far and away Fred Thompson's best performance of the campaign thus far. Right now Fred needs to build some momentum if he wants a chance at winning South Carolina on January 19. If he can do that, he may still have a shot - albeit a long one - at winning this nomination.


H/t to Hot Air


UPDATE: And the focus group agrees:




UPDATE II: Just a little zinger Romney lands on that nutter Ron Paul: