According to studies done by government-affiliated doctors, multiple combat deployments have nothing to do with the sharp rise in military suicides over the past several years. The problems are elsewhere, they claim, not the stresses on the military produced by the policy of perpetual war. If we are only allowed to monitor the emails and other communications of vets and active-duty military more closely, they say, we can identify problems before they fully manifest and then prescribe more drugs to fix the problems. And they need more resources. Always more resources. But strangely enough, military personnel disagree (NB strong language). More today in the Liberty Report:

Congress loves war, but it just doesn’t like to have to vote for it. When you vote for a war you are on record having supported it. So what happens if instead of turning Libya into Switzerland into Libya, the bombing turned Libya into Bangladesh? Better to not have supported it on record. But there is a very dangerous downside to Congress habitually ignoring its Constitutional obligations. It leads to a general policy recklessness and inability to look at cause and effect. Dangerous for us at home and for those abroad. We try to tackle this issue in today’s Liberty Report:

The scandal around the fixing of intelligence around the Pentagon training program for Syrian rebels has been on slow burn for some time. The mainstream media has largely avoided it, but when Pentagon superiors quash reports of intelligence analysts because they don’t match the desired outcome of the policy there is a big problem. Having spent $500 million to train rebels last year and only produced five fighters, there should be more scrutiny of this program, not less. More today in the Liberty Report:

It is going to cost the US $3.4 billion, but Commander of NATO’s European Command Gen. Philip Breedlove announced that the US will be sending thousands of additional troops to deploy on Russia’s border in the Baltics, as well as in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. This “European Reassurance Initiative” is said to protect NATO’s eastern borders from “Russian aggression.” But isn’t putting you troops on the border of another country thousands of miles away itself an aggressive act? And what about helping overthrow the elected leaders of another country, as the US did in Ukraine? Is that not aggressive? Who is the real aggressor here — today in the Liberty Report:

Last September the Japanese Diet (parliament) passed legislation “reinterpreting” the nearly 70 year old strictly antiwar constitution to allow for the Japanese military to take part in overseas military operations not directly tied to the defense of Japan. Tens of thousands of Japanese took to the streets this week to protest the enactment of this new law. Will Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s desire to be part of Washington’s “pivot to Asia” lead to a fundamental change in Japan’s position in the region? Watch today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

The media focuses like a laser on terror attacks like we saw in Brussels last week. The endless news cycle pores over every detail, every angle. But what happens when US-backed Saudi jets bomb a market in Yemen, killing five times as many as died in Brussels? Silence. What about the million people who died directly or indirectly because of the US-led attack on Iraq, which was illegal and based on lies? One million people. Is this the greatest terrorist attack in modern times — and why is it not looked at in this manner? Shouldn’t those responsible for the carnage be brought to justice? More on the media’s selective coverage of terrorism in today’s Liberty Report:

We know for certain that the CIA and other elements of the “deep state” are deeply involved in rigging and influencing elections overseas. Decades of history have shown us this much. But how much might they be involved in our elections at home? And with the US telling the rest of the world how to hold elections, what rules to adopt, how to count the votes, etc., how does our system of Democrat “super-delegates” and secret GOP back-room “rules committee” changes stack up? And the media? They can be counted on to focus on the most banal aspects of elections. More on this — and some Ron Paul stories of the 2012 rules committee rip-off — in today’s Liberty Report:

No sooner had the smoke cleared in Brussels than the security “experts” began telling the Europeans they must sacrifice more of their liberty for the promise that their governments would keep them safe. Never mind that the big lesson from Brussels is that their governments have not kept them safe, the answer is always to do more of what clearly is not working. Those are the “experts” and the Europeans will probably listen to them. But what if there is another way? What if something could be done differently that would not promise a perfect world, but might deliver a better one? We discuss that possibility in today’s Liberty Report:

President Obama’s trip to Cuba is making history: it has been nearly a century since an American president set foot on Cuban soil. But if the trip is to lead to a real normalization in relations, both governments need to back off and let people-to-people diplomacy take over. Today’s Liberty Report on the good news and bad news of Obama’s Cuban visit:

Yesterday’s surprising announcement by Syrian Kurds that they consider themselves in an autonomous region is either a bold move to solidify their self-determination before the fog of war clears, or perhaps it is John Kerry’s “Plan B” to break up Syria if the US cannot overthrow Assad. Or perhaps it is a reaction to US insistence that the Kurds do not deserve a place at the Geneva table where a political solution to the war in Syria is being discussed. Whatever the case, it adds a hugely significant variable to the already complicated situation. For example, how long before Turkish president Erdogan pounces on “autonomous” Kurdish Syria? We try to connect the dots in today’s Liberty Report:

Beltway “conservatives” are a fraud. They pretend to be in favor of smaller government but are unwilling to cut a dime from the trillion dollar budget for the US empire. The current budget battle among Republicans ignores that big elephant in the room. More today in the Liberty Report:

Yesterday’s surprise announcement that Russia was beginning a military withdrawal from Syria caught Washington off guard, as usual. With a political process beginning in Geneva and ISIS and Nusra severely degraded, Russian president Putin announced that Russian military goals have been for the most part achieved. Meanwhile, the US House passed a resolution yesterday accusing Syrian president Assad and Russia of deliberately targeting civilians and infrastructure. The quagmire that Obama promised was awaiting Russia in Syria did not transpire. Why did Washington get it so wrong? And can the US finally leave Syria alone already? Watch today’s Liberty Report: