Jon Basil Utley

Jon Basil Utley is associate publisher of The American Conservative. He was a foreign correspondent in South America for the Journal of Commerce and Knight Ridder newspapers and former associate editor of The Times of the Americas. He is a writer and adviser for Antiwar.com and edits a blog, The Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

Avoiding Accidental Nuclear War

One of the great pleasures in publishing and writing for The American Conservative is the civilized discourse, knowledge, and profundity of the comments sections. Our survival and reach today is quite astounding considering how we started as such a lonely voice in Washington’s warmongering media wilderness. Yet there is still much more work to do. … Continue reading “Avoiding Accidental Nuclear War”

Paul Ryan’s Phony Budget – Taxes Today for Promises Tomorrow

We now know that despite all the smoke and mirrors Paul Ryan’s budget was primarily a way to reinstate defense sequester cuts. For all its posturing about what future congresses should do, e.g. reforming Medicare and social security, his real budget proposes to take away tax deductions and preferences so as to spend more on … Continue reading “Paul Ryan’s Phony Budget – Taxes Today for Promises Tomorrow”

Benghazi, Mali, and the Need for a Defensive American Strategy

The greatest threat to America is not what foreigners do to us; rather it is what we do to ourselves. The greatest recent example is 9/11, Bin Laden’s attack. Our response was to virtually bankrupt ourselves, lose the goodwill of much of the world, and make ourselves hated in most Muslim nations. Our trillion dollar … Continue reading “Benghazi, Mali, and the Need for a Defensive American Strategy”

Romney, War, and the Republican Base: Libertarians May Split

Foreign policy is scarcely on the media radar covering Romney. Yet it is liable to have very great effect upon most Americans in the next years. Domestic problems are so intractable with voters so divided and cutting spending so difficult that foreign wars may be seen as a way to unite Americans and calm domestic … Continue reading “Romney, War, and the Republican Base: Libertarians May Split”

Polling the Right Questions on Defense – Voters Get It Right

Americans who despair of Washington ever cutting waste from its trillion dollar defense/homeland security budget can take heart from pollster Scott Rasmussen’s book The People’s Money. The author argues that the public is always ahead of the politicians and that the time is ripe for an effective leader to win election with real budget cuts. … Continue reading “Polling the Right Questions on Defense – Voters Get It Right”

Call It the ‘Militarism Budget’

Ron Paul says, “Of course, I’m for defense; who isn’t?” On Morning Joe, he said we should call it the “militarism budget” if we hope to gain support in curtailing it. Words are vital in today’s age for gaining political support. It’s time all antiwar and anti-empire writers started using the term. Just think how … Continue reading “Call It the ‘Militarism Budget’”

J Street Offers Alternative to AIPAC

Hundreds of Jewish activists from J Street visited congressional offices on March 1 to talk about Israel and the settlements and to present a pro-peace agenda against the dominant views of the most powerful lobby in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The visits followed their second major convention with representatives from all … Continue reading “J Street Offers Alternative to AIPAC”

CPAC and the Wars

Antiwar sentiment was a major issue for the first time at this year’s giant CPAC meeting in Washington. Thousands of young conservatives attended, some 5,000, and for the first time, Ron Paul was voted the favorite presidential candidate with 31% of the vote. His speech about how governments use wars to take over dictatorial power … Continue reading “CPAC and the Wars”

Sun Tzu and America’s Way of War

America’s way of war is, actually, not so new under the sun. Centuries ago, China’s Sun Tzu would have recognized some of our ways and errors. Indeed he would be rolling over in his grave at seeing how his famous dictums for successful wars are ignored and violated by America: a trillion-dollar war in Iraq, … Continue reading “Sun Tzu and America’s Way of War”

Too Many Dots, Too Many Enemies

As intelligence agencies rush to connect more dots on a page so crowded with dots that they already almost touch, Americans need to focus on the real problem, our foreign policies. We have made ourselves the enemy of over a billion people, nearly a quarter of the world’s population. Aside from President Obama’s Bush-sounding, bombastic … Continue reading “Too Many Dots, Too Many Enemies”