The Turks are not at all happy about President Trump’s plan to provide heavy weapons to the Kurds fighting as US proxies against ISIS in Syria. The Turks bombed some 20 Kurdish fighters in Syria just weeks ago but with US advanced weapons in Kurdish hands, future such missions may be risky. Would the Kurds use American weapons to attack the Turks? And why does President Trump believe that digging up President Obama’s already-failed strategy for eastern Syria will work this time? We take a look in today’s Liberty Report:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) published an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday taking Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to task for Tillerson’s recent comment that our national security goals overseas may on some occasions preclude the export of our human rights values. In McCain’s view, it is our duty always and everywhere to export American values and help “liberate” oppressed masses overseas. But what about McCain’s own record? How are the people doing in those countries “liberated” by the policies he has endorsed? Is the average Iraqi, or Libyan, or Syrian better off now, after US military intervention to “promote our values”? Most likely McCain’s article is meant to scuttle tomorrow’s meeting between Tillerson and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Will McCain succeed? We discuss in today’s Liberty Report:

President Trump is off to Saudi Arabia and Israel later this month, with stops at the Vatican and at a NATO summit. Since the election, a once-critical Trump has flip-flopped on Saudi Arabia, now he’s expected to provide further US assistance to the ongoing Saudi war on Yemen. But much of the Saudi visit will no-doubt focus on something Trump shares with the Saudi leadership: violent antipathy toward Iran. We preview the President’s trip in today’s Liberty Report:

“We have to fight them over there, so we won’t have to fight them here.” Was it George W. Bush? Nope. The statement goes all the way back to President Truman, who warned that if we didn’t fight the Korean war we’d have to fight commies in Wichita. The whole idea of pre-emptive war is nothing more than false propaganda. Today’s Liberty Report takes on the myths that lead us to war:

This morning an agreement was reached at the Syria talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, to set up four “de-escalation” or “safe” zones inside Syria, where moderate rebels would be tolerated but extremists like al-Qaeda and ISIS and their various offshoots would not be tolerated. The Syrian and Russian governments would not conduct military action in such zones. The aim is to reduce the fighting and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Will the “moderates” really be able to separate from the extremists and terrorists? That remains to be seen. What will be the US reaction, especially from the neocons? We’ll soon see. Our take on this breaking story in today’s Liberty Report:

Does sending more US troops into Afghanistan make any sense? Ron Paul doesn’t think so and he explains why in this new edition of #AskRonPaul in today’s Liberty Report:

Just when we thought the enemy of the week was going to be North Korea again. Or maybe Russia. Or Syria. It turns out that Washington’s enemy of this week is…Iran! The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is pushing through a bill slapping additional sanctions on Tehran. While just a couple of weeks ago Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reported to Congress that Iran is meeting its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, President Trump accused Tehran of not abiding by the “spirit” of the treaty. Whatever that is. More in today’s Liberty Report:

No, the government is not going to close down. It’s all a ruse. The budget “crisis” was solved by agreeing on a 1,600 page bill that spends more on the military and more on government programs at home. There’s something in it for politicians of almost every stripe. The Russian “threat”? Don’t worry! There’s $100 million for a fun to counter “Russian propaganda” in Europe. Terrorism? There’s a $15 billion appropriation to fight terrorism. Don’t worry that Washington’s interventionist foreign policy is the primary cause of terrorism. Just spend! More in today’s Liberty Report:

Are Wikileaks and other similar organizations “hostile foreign agencies,” as CIA Director Mike Pompeo asserted recently? He’s looking at a way to punish media organizations for telling their readers the truth while being able to avoid going after the mainstream media companies that publish materials provided by Wikileaks. It is all about stripping some organizations and individuals from First Amendment protection. Don’t miss this exclusive Ron Paul Liberty Report with Wikileaks Founder, Julian Assange:

Wikileaks is registered as a 501(c)3 organization in the US. Find out more about the organization and how you can help, here.

Dave Smith knows how to have fun and be funny…while making a good point! He is not only a libertarian stand-up comic, but he is host of the very popular Part of the Problem podcast. How did Dave come around to embrace the libertarian movement? The Giuliani Moment! Dave Smith dropped by the Ron Paul Liberty Report studio to talk about his conversion to libertarianism and what he’s doing with it on this very special episode of the program:

Here’s a perfect example of how convoluted our Middle East policy is: our Turkish NATO allies attacked our Kurdish anti-ISIS ground forces in Iraq and Syria this week, killing as many as 70 fighters. The Kurdish YPG fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” who are leading the US fight against ISIS in eastern Syria. How will the Kurds respond to the fact that their chief sponsor’s close ally keeps killing them? And how does the US expect the Kurds to take over Raqqa once it’s “liberated” when the Turks keep killing them? And how will the Turks respond to the US at least tacitly pushing the Kurds toward de facto statehood? And…what is our Syria policy? Tune in to today’s Liberty Report:

President Trump has yet to provide any credible evidence that the gas attack in Syria earlier this month was carried out by Assad, and in the meantime very serious questions about the veracity of White House claims are arising from very credible experts. Yet the Administration seems ever more determined now that it has done a 180 degree turn and demanded regime change for Syria. Late last week the White House announced sanctions on 271 Syrian scientists who Trump claims are working on chemical weapons. The proof? None. How to explain this sudden embrace of the neocon line on Syria and elsewhere? It might be telling that according to recent press reports the architect of the disastrous Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz, is lending advice on the Middle East to Defense Secretary Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. They have all apparently been friends for years. More in today’s Liberty Report: