U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon has handed down a blockbuster decision this afternoon finding that the massive National Security Agency surveillance program is unconstitutional – a view shared by many constitutional scholars including myself. The decision is not only a courageous defense of privacy but a reaffirmation of the integrity and independence of the courts. While President Obama often insists that his authority for such surveillance is clear, the Justice Department has fought...

Washington has had the US at war for 12 years: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, and almost Syria, which could still happen, with Iran waiting in the wings. These wars have been expensive in terms of money, prestige, and deaths and injuries of both US soldiers and the attacked civilian populations. None of these wars appears to have any compelling reason or justifiable explanation. The wars have been important to the profits of the military/security complex. The wars have...

Former CIA Director, Gen. Michael Hayden, told a Jamestown Foundation conference this week that among the three outcomes he sees possible for the ongoing Syrian war he now believes that a victory by the Syrian government might be the "best option." Option one, according Hayden, who also led the NSA, is an increasingly brutal war between Shiite and Sunni factions, and option two is a dissolution of the country. Facing this, he said he is "trending toward option three," the survival of Assad and...

Who could argue that the moves and maneuvers taking place on the Ukraine geo-political chessboard are as surreal as they get? The events occurring in Kiev are so transparent as to motive and purpose that one wonders if the CIA has all but abandoned their cloak and dagger MO of the past … in favor of living color revolutions taking place in real time. CNN must be jumping for joy at the prospects of improving their ratings plummet. They get to advertise and propagandize yet another...

Terrorism has become as all-American as apple pie. It is ingrained in our civic DNA, it fills our newspapers and is the backstory for every foreign policy discussion on talk radio and television. One might reasonably expect that American mothers might now cajole their children into turning out the light and going to sleep not because the bogeyman would otherwise be coming but rather because al-Qaeda might be lurking somewhere up the street. Warning one’s children about bin Laden would be an...

After suffering one military defeat after another, the Syrian radical opposition, backed by the support of the West and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, are increasingly retaliating cruelly against the civilian population. The jihadists seize towns and cultural and religious sites which up to that point had remained outside the combat zone, loudly proclaiming their victories. For example, in response to the advance of the government army into the Qalamoun mountains between Damascus and...

On December 12, 2007, six years ago today, Dr. Paul was a participant at the Iowa Republican Presidential debate. He was asked the following questions: 1) “What sacrifices would you ask Americans to make for debt reduction?” 2) “Realistically, what do you believe you could accomplish in your first year as President?” Dr. Paul goes straight for the U.S. military empire in both of his responses. You can watch them below, or read the transcript after the video: Answer #1) I think it’s absolutely...

One of the first critics to miss the point was Laura Miller. Writing in The New Yorker in 2010, she claimed that “dystopian fiction exists to warn us about the dangers of some current trend,” and she went on to interpret The Hunger Games as “a fever-dream allegory of the adolescent social experience,” her idea being that coming of age in America is now a particularly scathing crucible, with foreboding trends, like bullying and near constant parental surveillance. It was a fine theory, but a...

Far from promoting EU values and democracy the European delegation to Ukraine threatens democratic process, Professor Mark Almond told RT in his extensive analysis of the events in Kiev. RT: The German chancellor and the French foreign minister say they want to meet with Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko - and support his presidential ambitions. Do they see an exit for Yanukovich as a done deed, then? Mark Almond: Well I think they hope so, and I think this is what is deeply...

Welcome to a new series on RPI called “Ron Paul Rewind”! Dr. Paul has a long and rich history of battling every form of U.S. government militarism -- whether it is focused abroad or against American citizens. As much as the interventionists and neoconservatives would love to see that history go down the memory hole, we at RPI will never let that happen. The Internet is full of "Ron Paul was right" video clips, where his past predictions have come to pass and his advice, where taken, has...

One of the most important cases the US Supreme Court will consider this term is Hobby Lobby’s lawsuit challenging the Obamacare mandate that employer-provided health care plans must cover abortion and contraceptives. Hobby Lobby, a corporation owned and managed by a traditional Christian family, argues that the mandate violates their First Amendment rights. Much of the discussion has focused on whether a corporation such as Hobby Lobby can even have First Amendment rights. But the issue of...

Those wondering what lies in store for Afghanistan need only look at the way the British Empire ruled Iraq in the 1920’s. As Shakespeare wrote, “what is past is prologue.” Imperial Britain created the state of Iraq after World War I to secure Mesopotamia’s vast oil deposits that had become vital for the Royal Navy. To control this artificial nation seething with unrest, Britain imposed a puppet king, Faisal, and created a native army commanded by British officers. Britain’s colonial rule was...

Israel is stepping up its efforts to sabotage the agreements reached in Geneva on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. On December 1 the head of the Israeli military intelligence agency AMAN, Amos Yadlin, and former CIA director Michael Hayden simultaneously and in unison, although in different parts of the world, stated that Iran has already crossed the nuclear threshold and is ready to “build several nuclear bombs in a matter of weeks.” In their opinion, requirements for the further...