When President Nixon closed the gold window on August 15, 1971, he sold it to Americans as a way to recover from the “war economy” of Vietnam and a way to combat inflation. As we know 45 years later, the proliferation of paper dollars has, if anything, made war all the more attractive, giving people the impression that it can be financed with dollars out of thin air. And inflation? While officially it sits at around zero, in fact you would need $594.28 to purchase today what you could purchase for $100 in 1971. The warfare state is driven by the fiat dollar. More on the fateful Nixon decision and its implications in today’s Liberty Report:

Russia claims that Ukraine sent a sabotage team into Crimea over the weekend, armed with bombs and military equipment. Russian president Putin has pulled out of the “Normandy” talks in response. Ukrainian president Poroshenko denied any involvement in an attack on Crimea and responded to the charges by placing his military on high alert and massing on Ukraine’s border with Crimea. Tensions are rising to levels not seen in a year. Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt is publishing incendiary Tweets designed to embolden Ukraine to make a move on Crimea. Is the US trying to stir things up, or is Pyatt a loose cannon? More on the dangerous situation in today’s Liberty Report:

According to a recent study by the Pentagon-linked RAND Corporation, a US military conflict with China is unlikely by calculated move but less unlikely by miscalculation or accident. Does this not mean US interventionism in the South China Sea conflict could lead to such a nightmare scenario? Just this year the US has pushed both Vietnam and the Philippines to a more confrontational position vis-a-vis China. What if this brinkmanship and ally-shopping leads to a Chinese miscalculation? Looking at the scenarios in today’s Liberty Report:

In an attention-getting piece in the New York Times, former CIA acting director Michael Morell endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president and warned that Republican candidate Donald Trump is likely a Russian agent. In today’s Liberty Report we visit with former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, who for 18 years was actually in the business of handling intelligence assets, to see how far Morell is off the mark and to discuss the pro-war group-think that dominates Washington. How does Morell go from acting head of the CIA to enormously lucrative consulting jobs to heavily party-political activism? It’s all about selling fear to the American people:

Hillary’s private server is in the news again. This time the question is whether extremely sensitive discussions about a US Iranian asset may exposed his cover and led to his recent execution by the Iranian government. Also, about that $400 US payment to the Iranians…it wasn’t a ransom or a bribe. The real story is even more troubling. Will the mainstream media begin asking some of the tougher questions…or will it be up to the alternative media like the Ron Paul Liberty Report:

When she fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that the policies he has supported directly led to the rise of ISIS, Senate hopeful Dr. Kelli Ward set off alarm bells in interventionist circles. Sen. McCain’s policy of backing every US war and incursion into the Middle East has helped spur the rise of ISIS and thereby made us all less safe, she explained. The interventionists want us to believe that they only support these foreign wars to keep us safe, but more and more Americans are coming to believe that they only make us weaker and more vulnerable. Dr. Ward joins us to talk foreign policy and civil liberties in today’s Liberty Report:

A recent report by the IMF’s internal Independent Evaluation Office concluded that the organization had disregarded its own rules and regulation to support the European elites and the political aims of the European project. The Greeks were waterboarded with austerity measures while the German and French banks were bailed out. The IMF Managing Director faces trial in France for mismanagement when she was finance minister there. Why should we tolerate such a corrupt body making foreign policy and economic policy with no oversight? More in today’s Liberty Report:

The Obama Administration announced yesterday that it would begin a sustained bombing campaign against ISIS in Libya. The Administration said it was acting in response to a request by the Libyan “Government of National Accord,” which was created by the UN rather than voted in by the Libyan people. Asked about the scope of this new US war on Libya, Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook said, “We don’t have an end point.” Thus far Congress has been silent on this new war. We are not silent, however. Tune in to today’s Liberty Report:

Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s team invited the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, killed in Iraq in 2004, to speak at the convention and criticize Republican nominee Donald Trump’s policy on Muslim immigration. It was a classic trap and Trump bumbled into it. The ensuing blow-up may have made great ratings for the media, but what is unsaid is that both sides agreed that Khan’s death was a great sacrifice for our liberties and freedoms back home in the US. The media went along with this view. But being killed in a war started by government and media lies does not make one a heroic sacrifice. In fact, it makes on a victim. Khan was a victim of both Republicans and Democrats who supported the war in 2002 and he is victim again today. Ron Paul’s view in today’s Liberty Report:

As many neocons shift over to support Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, there are appearing a few bumps in the road. Last night at the convention, for example, former CIA director and defense secretary Leon Panetta found himself drowned out by chants of “no more war!” as he touted Hillary’s hawkishness. There are insurgent antiwar factions in both major parties but the establishment is trying to minimize their power and influence. How long can the center hold? More today in the Liberty Report:

How many of us does it take to move the US in a direction toward a more peaceful foreign policy and the restoration of civil liberties at home? Not as many as people might think. But what is critical is that we educate ourselves and then do our best to help educate others. Some of the drug decriminalization we are seeing today would be unheard of just a few years ago. People’s opinion begins changing until a tipping point is reached, and then policy changes. RPI Senior Fellow Adam Dick joins the Liberty Report to discuss his new book, “A Tipping Point for Liberty,” which points us in the right direction:

The US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq has dropped its 50,000th bomb recently, yet the end of the two-year effort is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile civilians are being killed by the hundreds by US bombs on Syria. Is that not also a form of terrorism and is it not generating blowback against Europe and the US? Both major presidential candidates talk of escalating the bombing campaigns in Iraq and Syria, but if that approach is not producing the desired result how will doing more of it result in a different outcome? We need an entirely new approach to the war on ISIS. Tune in to today’s Liberty Report for our take: