Jeffrey Cavanaugh

Jeffrey Cavanaugh is a former MintPress political analyst and columnist specializing in international relations and US policy. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations, specializing in International Security and Conflict. He has worked as a political science and public administration lecturer at Mississippi State University.

Cultural Evolution and the New Science of Morality

Like our personalities, it seems that our politics is something that is at least in part passed down to us by virtue of genetic inheritance.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh

Consider the following situation. You are on a bridge and observe five pedestrians walking along train tracks. Situated above and well away from them to their rear, they do not spot you as you observe them. You, however, see them and also a trolley car that is rushing down the tracks toward them. A terrible accident is about to befall the five when

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Democratic Multiculturalism And The Right Of Return

If Spain can accept liberal multiculturalism, there is no reason to think Israelis can’t do so as well.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh
Israeli soldiers and relatives of new Jewish immigrants from the U.S. and Canada, wave Israeli flags to welcome them as they arrive at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, July 23, 2013. A total of 231 Jewish immigrants arrived on the flight from the U.S. Tuesday and were welcomed in a ceremony at the airport. Israel's Law of Return accords any Jew and eligible non-Jewish relatives the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The year 1492 is important in world history. As every school boy and girl in America learns, that was when Christopher Columbus sailed the proverbial ocean blue and so ‘discovered’ America. Or, at least, some inhabited, offshore islands that he then commenced to claim for Spain, and whose inhabitants were quickly enslaved by rapacious Spanish

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A Fruitless, Pointless War: America’s Legacy in Afghanistan

End the war. Bring all the troops home. Now.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh
U.S. Army Soldiers in the Konar province of Afghanistan. (Photo/U.S. Army by Sgt. Johnny R. Aragon via Flickr)

Rudyard Kipling, the British poet laureate of Western imperialism, wrote in his great poem “White Man’s Burden” that the job of ruling foreign peoples – whom he characteristically referred to as childish, slothful heathens – was often one that was both costly and thankless. Blood, treasure and the best of entire generations, said Kipling, would be

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In Coke We Trust

We may mock conservatives over their silly reaction to the Coca-Cola ad, but we would also be fools to miss the much larger undercurrents of fear and uneasiness their overreaction represents.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh

Every empire has its equivalent of bread and circus – the combination of welfare provision and communal entertainment that buys off the public’s acceptance of the status quo – but few do the circus bit with as much pizzazz or production value as the United States. And in America, no show is as big as professional football’s Super Bowl. From the

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As Christie Collapses, Can Rand Paul Rise?

For a party that normally has a more-or-less designated nominee election after election, the lack of an obvious candidate for the money men, Washington insiders, and conservative activists to rally around is astounding.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh

For those watching politics on the American right these days the clown show that is the run-up to the 2016 Republican presidential nomination contest is turning out to be non-stop entertainment. Already potential candidates are positioning themselves for a run at the White House and the media, bored as usual, is running wild with speculation as to

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Ukraine Is No Game

Ukraine’s addition as a member of the Western camp would spur Russia to assist the West’s enemies and could even return Europe to militarized competition between East and West last seen during the Cold War.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh

In an episode of the classic 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld,” two of the show’s characters, Kramer and Newman, find themselves playing Risk on a New York City subway car. As they clutch the board to keep the passengers around them from overturning their armies of plastic men, Kramer gleefully informs Newman that his friend’s last stronghold – Ukraine – is

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Tortured Propaganda: Manipulating The Syria Narrative

What’s truly terrible isn’t what these pictures actually contain, but the cynical way they are being used to manipulate Americans.

Jeffrey Cavanaugh
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh
A statue of Hafiz Al-Assad stand guard over a public square in Homs, Syria (Photo by MintPress).

The ongoing dark comedy that is the civil war in Syria took a turn for the surreal on Wednesday as CNN and The Guardian released an ‘exclusive’ story alleging that the government run by Bashar al-Assad has detained and tortured thousands of dissidents and opponents. It was, said quoted experts, major evidence that indicated the regime was guilty of

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