In this episode I’m joined by Daniel McAdams, director of the Ron Paul Institute and co-host of the Ron Paul Liberty Report, we dissect three seismic issues shaking the globe: the war in Ukraine, speculative land grabs in Gaza, and Europe’s escalating assault on free speech. Our conversation offers a lens to analyze how these crises are not just geopolitical flashpoints but catalysts for a broader fight for individual liberty.
Ukraine: A Neocon Legacy Meets a Resilient Adversary
McAdams frames the Ukraine conflict as a decades-long chess game orchestrated by U.S. neocons, not a spontaneous Russian outburst.
“The U.S. involvement in Ukraine goes back to 2004 and the Orange Revolution,” he said, spotlighting figures like Victoria Nuland, whose career spans from Dick Cheney’s team to Obama’s administration, embodying the “seamless” transition of interventionists across party lines. The 2004 coup, followed by the 2014 Maidan revolution—“she admits her guilt, essentially, on the intercepted phone call,” McAdams noted of Nuland’s infamous exchange with Ambassador Pyatt—illustrates a pattern of regime change that’s left Ukraine a battleground of chaos.
This analysis aligns with libertarian skepticism of state overreach, but let’s expand the context. The neocons’ vision, traceable to the post-Cold War triumphalism of the 1990s, aimed to encircle Russia with NATO allies, a strategy crystallized in the 1997 expansion eastward. Russia’s 2022 invasion, while indefensible to some, was preceded by years of ignored grievances—think Minsk agreements flouted and NATO’s creep to Russia’s doorstep, which Trump captured with his blunt exertion, “They expanded NATO right up to his doorstep. Who wants that?” McAdams sees this as less a defense of Putin than a diagnosis: “You have to get the history right… like a doctor.”
Today, Russia’s resilience—its GDP outpacing Europe’s despite sanctions, its military rebounding—challenges the interventionist playbook. McAdams warns that Trump’s hinted economic levers, like tariffs, won’t bend Moscow: “Russia is probably the most sanctioned country in the world right now… It won’t work.” This suggests a global shift: as BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) deepen ties, the U.S.’s unipolar grip weakens, fueling a liberty-minded pushback against meddling empires. The fight here isn’t just Ukraine’s—it’s about sovereignty versus puppeteering.
Gaza: Property Rights vs. Imperial Daydreams
Trump’s floated idea of transforming Gaza into an international hub drew a sharp rebuke from McAdams: “You can’t get a title of this because it’s not your land.” This cuts to the libertarian core—property rights are sacred, and any state-led grab reeks of aggression. He ties Israel’s actions—“abominable,” he calls them—to U.S. enabling: “We gave them all the money, we gave them all the weapons, and Joe Biden turned the other way.” This moral hazard, where American support emboldens risky moves, has turned Gaza into a humanitarian disaster.
Let’s unpack this further. Israel’s campaign, intensified since October 7, 2023, has destroyed much of Gaza, displacing nearly two million people. Trump’s proposal, echoed by Jared Kushner’s earlier musings about “nice beachfront property,” imagines a redevelopment that sidesteps the messy reality of ownership and consent. McAdams predicts failure: “You can’t ethnically cleanse two million people… The resistance will continue.” History backs him—think of the Palestinian intifadas or even colonial land grabs that birthed endless insurgencies. The 1948 Nakba, when 700,000 Palestinians were uprooted, still fuels resistance; a 2025 repeat would only radicalize a new generation.
Globally, this resonates as a test of self-determination. If the U.S. or Israel impose a top-down “solution,” they risk not just local backlash but a broader rejection of Western overreach—much like Ukraine’s ripple effects. McAdams’ critique of U.S. policy as a disservice to Israel—“Everyone in the entire region hates their guts”—hints at a liberty paradox: true security comes from negotiation, not domination. The fight for Gaza’s people is a microcosm of a world tiring of imposed masters.
Europe: Speech Crackdowns Signal a Cultural Reckoning
Europe’s tightening noose on free expression—epitomized by the UK’s Online Safety Act and Germany’s hate speech laws—drew McAdams’ alarm: “They used the virus as an excuse to crack down viciously… The mechanism for oppression still remains.” He pegs this to COVID’s authoritarian hangover, when governments relished control. For us libertarians, this is a direct affront to the marketplace of ideas, where speech, however offensive, must flow freely.
The UK’s 2023 law mandates platforms to remove “harmful” content, a vague term ripe for abuse, while Germany’s NetzDG fines companies for tardy takedowns of “hate.” Post-COVID, these measures have targeted dissent—anti-lockdown voices in 2020, anti-immigration views today. McAdams sees economic fallout: “It lessens people’s ability… they have to be cautious.” Stifled discourse could drive innovation underground, a “black market of social media platforms.” Europe’s tech lag—lacking a Silicon Valley—might worsen if firms flee such regimes.
“You’re seeing a backlash,” McAdams noted, citing the AfD’s rise in Germany, Marine Le Pen’s traction in France, and Viktor Orban’s defiance in Hungary. Orban, whom McAdams admires—“through the force of his own will and the content of his character”—has turned a small nation into a symbol of resistance. This mirrors the U.S., where Elon Musk’s X exposed government censorship, a “world-changing event” per McAdams. Europe’s unpopular elites, like the unelected Ursula von der Leyen—“Nobody voted for you,” he echoed India’s Ashankar—face a reckoning. The liberty fight here is about reclaiming voice from the state’s muzzle, a trend that could inspire America’s own vigilance.
Liberty’s Global Test
These threads—Ukraine’s sovereignty, Gaza’s property, Europe’s speech—interweave into a tapestry of resistance against statism. McAdams sees Trump as a double-edged sword: his “neo-colonial” impulses (Greenland, Canada, Gaza) clash with libertarian ideals, yet his defiance of elites—“classic Trump… a master troll”—energizes the disaffected. “The average American doesn’t want to pay $10 for eggs,” he said, nodding to domestic priorities over imperial adventures.
The 2020s have seen a populist wave—Brexit, Trump’s 2016 win, now Europe’s rightward shift—fueled by distrust in unaccountable power. Ron Paul’s prescience, once mocked, now shapes GOP rhetoric, as McAdams observed: “Everything that he said has been embraced.” This isn’t just politics; it’s a cultural pivot toward self-rule. Ukraine’s war tests intervention’s limits, Gaza’s fate probes property’s sanctity, and Europe’s censorship battles define liberty’s frontier. Together, they’re forging a global movement—messy, imperfect, but unmistakably alive. Today’s global unrest, from Kyiv to Gaza to Berlin, isn’t just chaos—it’s a litmus test for liberty’s resurgence. The fight, as this podcast makes clear, is far from over.
This podcast of The Kurt Wallace Show on RandPaulReview.com was recorded on February 24, 2025.
Reprinted with permission from The Rand Paul Review.
