A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Saturday. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud.
Listen to the new episode here:
Read a transcript of the new episode, including links to further information regarding the topics discussed, here:
The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity welcomes you to Five Minutes Five Issues.
Starting in five four three two one.
Hello, I am Adam Dick, a Ron Paul Institute senior fellow.
Let’s start.
Issue one.
Some recent Twitter actions are like shots fired at the Ron Paul Institute.
Four weeks after several other major technology companies imposed similar bans, Twitter this week permanently banned Alex Jones and his Infowars media company from the Twitter website. Jones has a long history of both praising and interviewing RPI Chairman Ron Paul.
Last month, Twitter purged Peter Van Buren, many of whose articles and blog posts have been featured at the RPI website.
In addition to Twitter preventing Jones and Van Buren from making new posts, Twitter removed all their existing posts.
Twitter last month temporarily barred RPI Executive Director Daniel McAdams, Scott Horton Show host Scott Horton (several of whose interviews I have written about for RPI), and writer and August RPI conference speaker Caitlin Johnstone from posting at the website.
Kurt Nimmo, another writer of articles and blog posts featured at the RPI website, shut down his Twitter account in July, noting in explanation that he had lost hundreds of followers and experienced plunging interaction at Twitter over the previous few months. Nimmo, who earlier this year closed his Facebook account, writes “activism will be allowed to function unimpeded on social media only if it falls within narrow parameters set by the state, its institutions, and corporate media partners.”
Issue two.
The Afghanistan War, begun in 2001, is the United States government’s longest war. This week, the ninth successive US general began his turn as commander in the war.
The idea that the US will transform Afghanistan into a model democracy with features including women’s liberation was often promoted early in the war. Few people are buying that line now. Afghanistan is commonly understood as a costly quagmire for America and a dangerous, unpredictable environment for Afghanis.
So why has the US not pulled the US troops out? Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF) President Jacob Hornberger provides one answer to that question in a Tuesday FFF editorial. Hornberger writes:
U.S. national-security officials know that once the last U.S. soldier is pulled out, Americans will go full-force into second-guessing mode, especially if the Taliban end up winning Afghanistan’s civil war. By keeping a relatively small contingent of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to preserve the puppet regime that U.S. officials have installed, U.S. officials can forestall the inevitable second-guessing for a few more years.
Issue three.
At the Ron Paul Institute website last month, I wrote about Nick Turse’s reporting on growing US military presence and activity in Africa.
In an article last week at The Intercept, Turse addressed the military of Cameroon, a nation he calls “a key U.S. ally and staging ground for America’s drone operations in Africa.” In particular, Turse explores massacres and “extrajudicial executions,” some documented in video, carried out by the Cameroon military in the country over the last few years.
Where in the world will the US military engage in its next big war? Africa is a likely locale. And do not be surprised if the US goes to war in alliance with a local military or militaries that regularly engage in extremely horrific conduct.
Issue four.
Keri Blakinger reports at the Houston Chronicle that the leadership of the Texas prison system voted in August to reduce by over 75 percent the phone call charge Texas prisoners pay. This is a welcome move away from prison profiteering in America. The change, writes Blakinger, means “instead of paying an average of 26 cents per minute, prisoners will pay 6 cents per minute – no matter the destination of the call.”
Issue five.
A Saturday, November 3 event in Lake Jackson, Texas will feature speakers including Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams from RPI and Lew Rockwell and Jeff Deist from the Ludwig von Mises Institute. You can obtain tickets to the event at the Mises Institute website at mises.org/events.
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That’s a wrap.
Transcripts of Five Minutes Five Issues episodes, including links to related information, are at the Ron Paul Institute blog.
Five four three two one.
