Tuesday, April 8, 2014

INCREDIBLE Thick Libertarian in Favor of Sanctions

The desire to bend libertarianism beyond the non-aggression principle is getting crazier by the minute. Now, we have a "libertarian" supporting U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Skyler Lehto tells us that he writes about "economics and politics from a libertarian perspective." What is his perspective?  He uses  neocon arguments to call for sanctions against Russia. Note, he mentions many libertarian objections to sanctions but brushes them aside, including the fact that the U.S. instigated the crisis in Ukraine.

What does he say about U.S. meddling in Ukraine?  He says that NGO and other proxies of the U.S. will not cause him to ignore the faults of Russia. Russian actions, by the way, which were only a conservative reaction after the US inspired overthrow of the democratically elected Ukraine government, a U.S. plot caught on tape (SEE: An Important Second Listen to the "F--k the EU" Ukraine Recording).

He goes on to make the absurd claim that sanctions are okay because they do not entail physical aggression. Huh, try and attempt to trade with a sanctioned country and see what happens if you ignore warnings!

The neocon arguments he makes include:

That the U.S. should impose sanctions to "maintain credibility." What kind of credibility? Empire building credibility?

That the U.S. should impose sanctions to promote non-proliferation. Is he serious? Ukraine dismantled all its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  On June 1, 1966,
Ukraine became a non-nuclear nation when it sent the last of its 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads to Russia for dismantling.

That the U.S. should impose sanctions to uphold territorial integrity. Again, is he serious, given U.S. meddling in the region and the fact that Russia has an agreement ratified by both the Russian parliament and the Ukrainian parliament to the naval port at Crimea?

Finally, Lehto calls for sanctions to advance Ukraine's path to integration with the EU. Oh yeah, bring in the EU and the accompanying banksters (SEE: Don't Be Fooled: The IMF Stands For and Operationalizes US Power) and stick them on the front steps of Russia. Not to mention the auctioning of of Ukraine's energy assets (SEE: Could This Be a Tiny, Tiny Part of the Reason the Establishment is Promoting US Meddling in Ukraine?), which will surely fall into the hands of western energy giants.

I have been holding back on the charge made by some that the libertarian movement is being infiltrated by big government operatives, but this video is over the top. You really have to wonder what is going on.





(ht David Burns)

16 comments:

  1. Thick libertarians don't understand freedom of association? What a surprise!

    Thick libertarians need to be continually reminded of Bastiat's observations about the seen and the unseen. Maybe a sound beating around the head with Bastiat's Collected Works will help them see the light? I don't know. I am getting very tempted by my brutalist tendencies, you know ...

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    1. Embrace your inner Brutalist my friend, I do.

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    2. Careful with the collectivism, buddy. Let's focus on the failings of Skyler Lehto. Skyler Lehto came out in favor of sanctions, not some nebulous collective known as "thick libertarians."

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    3. @Nick B.

      No brutalist left behind on this blog....

      Delete
  2. This kid is a nobody. Giving him a rebuttal only helps to spread his ideas. He should be ignored unless he becomes more of a nuance.

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  3. Isn't there an old saying in business along the lines of: if you're in competition with someone (such as the democrats and the republicans are with the Libertarians) there's three things they can do:

    Lead.
    Follow.
    Get out of the way.

    They've added a dash of 'divide and conquer' with a splash of 'adulterate the opponents message'.

    I think they are trying to do all of the above at once, it's a Monster Mash.

    - Helot

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  4. "Now, we have a "libertarian" supporting U.S. sanctions against Russia."

    Just another neocon in libertarian garb.

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  5. Words become more meaningless every day. Psychopaths call themselves whatever is in vogue. Depending on trends and circumstances, they can be socialists, fascists, republicans, monarchists or libertarians. It doesn't matter. In the final analysis psychology always trumps ideology. It's long past time to reconsider the pre-"elightenment" understanding of the nature of man.

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    1. I noted in Gordon's Mises talk on The Road to Serfdom recently, his reference to "Rothbardians"- I'm liking that term more and more every day over 'libertarian'.

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  6. "I have been holding back on the charge made by some that the libertarian movement is being infiltrated by big government operatives, but this video is over the top."
    .
    Not quite over the top.
    Google Jeb Bush Libertarian.
    .Apparently he became one.
    .
    Sheeesh


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  7. Just recently Juan Williams called for america to be gun free and pretty much in the same breath called himself a libertarian. I am honestly convinced that certain clandestine parts of the US government are engaged in word manipulation.This group has managed to destroy the meaning of the word liberal from its original meaning of basically a Ron Paulian to now meaning basically a social democrat IE very pro-state person, now they are going after the word libertarian I think, they will try and water down the meaning of the word libertarian also in order to stop the masses from being awakened.

    I hope they do not succeed with their word destruction a second time also.

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    1. Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: “false flag operations” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting “negative information” on various forums. Here is one illustrative list of tactics from the latest GCHQ document we’re publishing today:




      [It's quite easy to see where the thick libertarians get their inspiration from! Mind manipulation is a science.]

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    2. Yes. I have heard neo-cons throw the word around, too. I think that is what the statists are up to.

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    3. Tell Juan Williams no thanks. I don't desire to be a defenseless target. And while i'm at it, no juan, you're not libertarian. Damned Liar.

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  8. Ohhhhh. So Jerry is a thick libertarian. Now I get it.

    I always thought he was just thick headed.

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  9. Being favor of sanctions can be libertarian?

    A) Even within the sphere of minarchism, the government can only concern itself with police, courts, justice system and defensive military. There is NO such libertarian thing as sanction against other nations that have not attacked you.

    B) The state operates on funds it first forcibly extracted. See point A), now tell us how imposing sanctions is libertarian, when it requires government actions paid for by forcibly extracted money from its OWN population.

    C) Economic sanction often precede physical sanctions or action.

    D) Economic sanctions have caused thousands of thousands of deaths. See: half a million Iraqi children + Madeleine Albright.

    E) Economic sanctions bring force to own citizens, by punishing them whenever they seek to make voluntary peaceful transactions with the country (and its citizens) under sanction. This, in other words, does not only bring force against the other nation and its citizens, but the OWN nation's citizens.

    F) Even *if* Russia's action are totally unwarranted, its actions are against a part of Ukraine, and therefore is none of the U.S. business. Furthermore, if the U.S. government undertakes unwarranted action, it "collectivized" it among U.S. citizens and any possible repercussions will also be collectivized over U.S. citizens.

    There is NO WAY in which economic sanctions can be explained as libertarian. No way at all. Skyler Lehto is either a total ignoramus about what libertarianism is, or he is a total fraud masquerading as a libertarian.

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