With the second round of Syria peace talks scheduled for this weekend, the United States is still strongly objecting to any proposal to bring the Assad government together with moderate rebel factions to discuss political solutions to the ongoing slaughter. According to the US State Department it is “premature” for any talks between the Syrian government and rebels. In an interview, RPI Director Daniel McAdams says, “let’s be frank: the US is still completely dedicated to regime change in Syria, and that is where the road block is to further progress.” Watch the whole interview below:

While France and the rest of Europe — not to mention Asia — are busy signing trade deals with Iran for when UN sanctions are lifted early next year, US companies are hampered by myriad legal restrictions on doing business with Iran. Will these restrictions continue even after UN sanctions are lifted, keeping US companies out in the cold? That is what the real isolationists hope for. Who are they? Tune in to today’s Liberty Report:

After 14 years, more than a trillion dollars, tens of thousands of lives lost on all sides, the US/NATO mission in Afghanistan is more adrift than ever. Next month NATO member state ministers will meet to determine the next steps in Afghanistan. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claims there will be no future combat mission for NATO, but NATO generals admit that if NATO leaves there will be an even swifter collapse. In today’s Liberty Report, Ron Paul offers some advice to NATO leaders:

As the US State Department goes around the world lecturing other countries about how they must adhere to the rule of law, the White House again proves it is one of the most lawless entities on earth. The Constitution is clear; the War Powers Resolution is clear: the president is not allowed to commit the US military to combat without a Congressional declaration or at least authorization. Yet the president has been bombing Syria for a year and now is sending in US ground troops with no legal authority to do so. Congress is the president’s partner in crime and we are the victims – today on the Liberty Report:

Hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Africa, even western Asia are pouring into western Europe through central Europe as Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has laid down a welcome mat. Meanwhile political pressure within Germany builds, as villages of just 100 or more residents are told they must house thousands of refugees who know neither the language nor the customs of the area. Parties like the Alternative for Germany are enjoying increased popularity and electoral success. Is Germany — and the EU — headed for a crack-up? More today in the Liberty Report:

With creation of the Central Intelligence Agency came a secret government that was unaccountable to the American people. It assassinated foreign leaders, journalists, and others who it determined were enemies. It overthrew governments it felt were not toeing the US line to the required degree. There were minor smack-downs like the Church Committee in the 1970s, but in all the “secret government” has continued to amass power and defy the American people. What role did this secret government have in major events like the assassination of President Kennedy? Today’s Liberty Report is joined by David Talbot, author of the explosive new book, “The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government.” Watch below:

The apparent downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula over the weekend has, as could be predicted, produced no shortage of theories as to who or what is behind it. Was it ISIS-affiliated Islamist terrorists who control much of the area? They took “credit” for the attack but do not seem to have the technical means to carry it out. A bomb on board? Blowback for Russian bombs on Syria? Today’s Liberty Report takes a look at the various theories and at the bigger picture:

It’s bad enough that the US government feels the need to back any state in the Middle East, but of all states to back why Saudi Arabia? This head-chopping champion state tells the US it must back head-choppers in Syria against a secular leader — in the name of democracy which doesn’t exist in Saudi Arabia — and the US dutifully signs on. Iran is certainly no angel, but is its civil liberties record any worse than the Saudis? Our “allies” in the Middle East today in the Liberty Report:

Economic and foreign interventionism have led us to the edge of the abyss. The Federal Reserve bails out the connected elite and the neocon interventions enrich the military-industrial complex. In both cases the middle class suffers. The interventionists are intellectually bankrupt. Thankfully there are more resources available than ever to help educate us on the ideas of liberty, which offer the only real alternative to the failed policies of the past. Today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report is joined by RonPaulLibertyReport.com editor Chris Rossini to discuss our next moves:

Today the House is expected to vote on the budget “compromise” bill — outgoing Speaker John Boehner’s swan song before retirement. The budget agreement tears up the “sequester” of 2011, which was supposed to limit spending but of course never operated as advertised, and opens the floodgates for billions more to the warfare state and the welfare state. The warfare state doesn’t keep us safe and the welfare state doesn’t help those in need. Both help Washington above all. Campaign for Liberty’s Norman Singleton joins the Ron Paul Liberty Report for a behind-the-scenes look at today’s Hill action:

The US guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen ventured into the 12 mile exclusion set up by the Chinese around two islands it is constructing in the South China Sea. The stated purpose of the US “violation” of Chinese territory was to establish a precedent so as to keep shipping lanes open in the area. Considering that 80 percent of Chinese exports pass through the area, however, it seems unlikely that China would take the economically suicidal move of restricting shipping. So is this just more US saber-rattling thousands of miles from home? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair over the weekend offered an apology of sorts over the disaster produced by the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq. He’s “sorry” that the intelligence was wrong, he said, but he’s not at all sorry that Saddam Hussein was overthrown. This “apology” comes on the heels of the White House leaked document showing that while Blair was claiming to the British public that he was dedicated to diplomacy with Iraq, he was making deals with President George W. Bush to push the war option. Today’s Liberty Report takes a look at Tony “Phony” Blair: