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The Fall of Afghanistan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3VucIRZihw The Taliban have entered the Afghan capital, having rapidly swept to power throughout the country, while the U.S. is frantically airlifting its diplomats to safety. What explains the fall of Afghanistan? In 2001 U.S. forces targeted the Taliban’s Islamic totalitarian regime, which had harbored the 9/11 plotters. What went wrong? Featuring Onkar Ghate and … Continue reading The Fall of Afghanistan

New ARI Book Examines What Went Wrong After 9/11

Yesterday the Taliban entered Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, after a rapid takeover of the country. Amid the chaos, the U.S. is attempting to airlift its diplomats to safety. Twenty years after the horrific 9/11 attacks, the long-range effects of decisions taken in the immediate aftermath have become increasingly clear. In case after case, those … Continue reading New ARI Book Examines What Went Wrong After 9/11

Ayn Rand’s Repudiation of the UN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EyZM7Sbk-8 The United Nations is widely seen as an essential organization, albeit needing reform. To say that Ayn Rand was critical of the UN is an understatement: she regarded it as fundamentally corrupt. Her moral analysis is unique -- and profoundly illuminating. Elan Journo and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Rand’s distinctive, philosophic view of this … Continue reading Ayn Rand’s Repudiation of the UN

Vaccine False Alternatives: Bribes vs. Mandates

https://youtu.be/Dt7UQAQYTBE Although Covid vaccines are widely available in the U.S., many people refuse to take the vaccine. Should more states emulate California and Ohio in giving out million-dollar lottery prizes as incentivizes? Is it true (as some argue) that to overcome the pandemic, we need vaccine “mandates”? Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss this issue, … Continue reading Vaccine False Alternatives: Bribes vs. Mandates

Why Ayn Rand Rejected ‘Conservatism’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBEs57RU4ko Many critics and fans think of Ayn Rand as belonging within the “conservative” movement. This view is reinforced by a number of prominent conservative figures who are self-declared fans of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. But Rand was not simply critical of “conservatism,” she repudiated it. Why? What was her evaluation of “conservatism”? In … Continue reading Why Ayn Rand Rejected ‘Conservatism’

What Was Ayn Rand’s View of ‘Conservatism’?

By many of her fans and critics, Ayn Rand was often seen as belonging within the “conservative” movement. Isn’t her philosophy, people wondered, “just another form of conservatism”? That assumption outlived her. Rand’s ideas, one journalist claimed in 2019, are the intellectual backbone of everything that’s reprehensible about “conservatism.” This linkage in the public mind has been … Continue reading What Was Ayn Rand’s View of ‘Conservatism’?