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Contra Hoppe

October 21, 2023
War on Ukraine, foreign policy
- Roman Skaskiw, “Hoppe’s Idiotic speech about Russia and Ukraine”
- Jan Krepelka, “Hoppe, Putin Versteher”
- Jan Krepelka, “The myth of neutrality”
- Jan Krepelka, “The madness of surrender”
- Walter E. Block, Alan G. Futerman,“Rejoinder to Hoppe on Israel versus Hamas”
Immigration, racism, nationalism
- Philip W. Magness, “Racial Determinism and Immigration in the Works of Ludwig von Mises”
- Jan Krepelka, “A Pure Libertarian Theory of Immigration”
- Tom G. Palmer, “Hans-Hermann Hoppe and the German Extremist Nationalist Right”
- Jan Krepelka, “Hoppe, Putin Versteher”
Adverse influence on the US Libertarian Party
- Alexander Salter & Philip W. Magness, “A lament of rising illiberalism on the Right and Left”
Marxist theory of history
- Tim Starr, “Against Hoppe’s Defense of Marxist Historical Theory”
Monarchy and democracy
- Jan Krepelka, “Sunset Towns and Sultanism: Hoppe’s favorite forms of government?”
- Jacek Sierpiński, “A Critique of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Thesis on Lesser Harmfulness of Monarchy than Democracy”
Real libertarians stand with Taiwan, not Mao Tse Tung’s Communists

July 2, 2022

Where “no war in Taiwan”?

– Либертарианская партия России (ЛПР) (Russian Libertarian Party), replying to foreign policy statements by the US “Libertarian” Party (since its takeover by the “Mises” Caucus), June 8, 2022

The US Government backs and arms Al Qaeda in Syria/Yemen and Nazis in Ukraine.

Which “freedom fighters” will they be funding and arming with US taxpayer’s dollars in Taiwan? #NoWarWithChina

– Libertarian Party NH, May 24, 2022

Those would be the Taiwanese people, you embarrassment of a libertarian. Sustainable liberty requires people to come to each other’s defense and unfortunately we don’t have any private armies and navies on which we can rely. A terrible lot can be lost holding out for perfection.

– Son of Liberty, May 25, 2022

While the “Mises” Caucus has turned the US Libertarian party into a parody, the “Mises” Institute, likewise...

Setting aside the fact that Taiwan is party to a still ongoing, seventy-year civil war against mainland control and that America’s act of arming the separatist province is highly provocative and injudicious ... The truth is that just like the arming of Taiwan, NATO expansion and support for the unconstitutional overthrow of Ukraine’s Russian-aligned president were reckless and injudicious acts that ignore likely long-term security implications in favor of short-term geopolitical and domestic gains.

– Joseph Solis-Mullen, “An American Fight in Ukraine Brings Big Costs, No Benefits”

This is especially irritating when it comes to Taiwan/Taipei, a province everyone, from the United Nations to the United States, acknowledges is part of China and which but for the opaque, and under President Joe Biden now explicit, threat of US military intervention would now be securely back under Beijing’s control. That the island is strategically valuable is granted—so too that its democratic and technological achievements are laudable; but is a now seven-decade-old civil war supposed to continue indefinitely? As Taiwan’s and China’s positions of relative strength change, both in the region and elsewhere, militarily as well as economically and diplomatically, is China expected to put up with this state of affairs? How, one wonders, would the American public, media, and political, policy, and military elite react if China were to sign a basing agreement with Brazil, or Russia with Venezuela?

As the only probing of the Monroe Doctrine attempted since Teddy Roosevelt’s time resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis, I think it’s safe to say we know the answer.

… With public polls revealing increasing support among the American public for military intervention in defense of Taiwan’s claim to territorial autonomy, Americans would do well to pause and reflect on how what China wants is recognition and control of its internationally recognized borders, in the case of Taiwan. The American public should also not be misled into thinking the question of Taiwan’s status can be indefinitely put off through clever diplomacy or the threat of American military intervention. Already simulated military conflicts over the island have the US side losing regularly.

Especially since Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong dispelled any illusion as to that region’s ultimate fate, Taiwan’s domestic politics have increasingly trended toward independence, and this is unlikely to change. In truth, however, the minute Richard Nixon set foot in Beijing the matter was decided: if Beijing is the legitimate government of China and Taiwan is part of China, ipso facto Taiwan belongs to Beijing.

The US has been interfering in internal Chinese affairs for well over a century. It’s time we said enough is enough. That is not isolationism: it is abandonment of an inconsistent, untenable, and indefensible foreign policy.

– Joseph Solis-Mullen, “US Foreign Policy Has Always Been Aggressive” (archived version)

Taiwan, one of the freest countries in the world. 24 million people not living under the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party. Irritating. For “libertarians”.

The same author now pushing to leave Taiwan at the mercy of the Chinese communists, was, surprise, also eager to leave Ukraine at the hands of the Russian communists:

For their part, the US and NATO should do as little to contribute to the problem as possible. This especially includes continuing to arm Ukraine and insisting that it has a future in NATO.

– Joseph Solis-Mullen, “The West Must Stop Trying To Expand NATO into Ukraine”, December 13, 2021

This should not be overly surprising to our readers. Rothbard, after all, had no problem allying with Maoists:

Rothbard was attracted to the growing student movement and actually entered the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) with his small following. He broke with those libertarians still clinging to an alliance with the anti-New-Deal Right by opposing Barry Goldwater in 1964 and beginning publication of Left & Right in 1965. He actively attended New Left meetings, wrote for Ramparts magazine, and even formed tactical alliances at the Freedom & Peace Party conventions with Maoists against old-line socialists.

– Samuel Edward Konkin III, “History of the Libertarian Movement”

Strategy was always an issue of primary concern for Rothbard, and he always aligned himself with the anti-state forces of the moment, wherever they were. In the late 1960s, this was obviously the radical Left. It would have been insanity for anarchists to attempt an alliance with conservatives at the height of the Vietnam War, while the Cold War was still raging, and when virtually all right-wingers were cheering on police repression of the antiwar movement. Instead, the natural allies of libertarians for the moment were the antiwar protestors, student rebels, youth counterculture, the black power movement, and other popular radical strands of the time. Rothbard even participated in a coalition with Trotskyists and Maoists under the banner of the Peace and Freedom Party. These efforts worked remarkably well for a time, and the libertarian movement experienced much growth during the late 1960s and early 1970s, due in large part to an influx of countercultural radicals from the New Left.

– Keith Preston, “Rothbard’s Time on the Left”

This is the regime that these “libertarians” think should rule over Taiwan:

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre.

Chinese students on AMERICAN college campuses who openly discuss the massacre or criticize the CCP have been targeted by Beijing while studying thousands of miles away.

If you wish to stand with the Maoist rebels against the relatively liberal Taiwan regime, (or indeed, with Russian imperialism against its victims) at least have the decency of not pretending to be libertarian, and especially, stop using Ludwig von Mises’ name to promote wars he would abhor.

The “Mao Tse Tung Institute” would sound much better.

Meanwhile, the real libertarian position should be obvious. Taiwan, of course, is not a “separatist province” as it was never ruled by the PRC. A more libertarian, less nihilistic suggestion would therefore be the opposite: the maoist rebels controlling the Taiwan West province mending their silly ways and joining the prosperous, free and democratic Republic of China.
Against Urki Libertarianism

June 13, 2022
А психология урки очень проста, очень доступна к усвоению:
1. Хочу жить и наслаждаться, на остальных на…!
2. Прав тот, кто сильней.
3. Тебя не <дол>бут - не подмахивай! (т. е. пока бьют не тебя, не заступайся за тех, кого бьют. Жди своей очереди.) Бить покорных врагов по одиночке! - что-то очень знакомый закон. Так делал Гитлер. Так делал Сталин.
[And the psychology of the urki was exceedingly simple and very easy to acquire:
1. I want to live and enjoy myself; and fuck the rest!
2. Whoever is the strongest is right!
3. If they aren’t [beat]ing you, then don’t lie down and ask for it. (In other words: As long as they’re beating up someone else, don’t stick up for the ones being beaten… Wait your own turn.) Beat up your submissive enemies one at a time! Somehow this is a very familiar law. It is what Hitler did. It is what Stalin did.]
– Александр Солженицын, Архипелаг ГУЛаг, “Глава 16. Социально-близкие” [ Chapter 16: The Socially Friendly ]
Which appears to be exactly the professed philosophy of “Putin’s libertarians” – henceforth, Kremlintarians. See:
To which we would oppose:

1. The long run matters, others matter

What happens to others and in the rest of the world affects us. Libertarianism is not selfish. Libertarianism is not irrational. Libertarianism is not short-sighted.
2. My rights are your rights

Rights are universal, for everyone, everywhere. Libertarianism is for everyone. I am not free if everyone is not free. Libertarianism is a humanism. Libertarianism is a universalism. Libertarianism is the opposite of nihilism.
- Introducing Janarchism
- The impossibility of a non-libertarian philosophy of Law
3. Freedom isn’t free

RKBA matters. Defensive alliances (like NATO) matter. Opposing evil matters. Whether you do it for your own correctly understood interest, or for the sake of others, evil must be opposed, freedom must be fought for. For our freedom and yours.
- Libertarianism is against aggression
The legacy of Genghis Khan

June 12, 2022
Ob unter Iwan IV., Peter I. oder Katharina II., unter Stalin, Chruschtschow oder Breschnew: trotz mancher Rückschläge ist der russische Drang zur Expansion nie wirklich erloschen. Ihm liegt ein moskauzentrischer Messianismus zugrunde, welcher der russischen Staatsidee inhärent geblieben ist.

[ Whether under Ivan IV [ Ива́н Гро́зный, the Terrible ], Peter I [ Пётр Вели́кий, the Great ] or Catherine II, under Stalin, Khrushchev or Brezhnev: despite some setbacks, the Russian urge to expand never really died out. It is based on a Moscow-centric messianism that has remained inherent in the Russian idea of the state. ]

– Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany 1974-1982, Menschen und Mächte, 1987

And Putin sees himself right there in the continuity of this infamous history:

Вот Пётр Первый Северную войну 21 год вёл. Казалось бы, воевал со Швецией, что-то отторгал… Ничего он не отторгал, он возвращал! Так и есть. Всё Приладожье, там, где Петербург основан. Когда он заложил новую столицу, ни одна из стран Европы не признавала эту территорию за Россией, все признавали её за Швецией. А там испокон веков наряду с финно-угорскими народами жили славяне, причём эта территория находилась под контролем Российского государства. То же самое и в западном направлении, это касается Нарвы, его первых походов. Чего полез туда? Возвращал и укреплял – вот что делал.

Судя по всему, на нашу долю тоже выпало возвращать и укреплять. И если мы будем исходить из того, что вот эти базовые ценности составляют основу нашего существования, мы, безусловно, преуспеем в решении задач, которые перед нами стоят.

[ Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. On the face of it, he was at war with Sweden taking something away from it… He was not taking away anything, he was returning. This is how it was. The areas around Lake Ladoga, where St Petersburg was founded. When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognised this territory as part of Russia; everyone recognised it as part of Sweden. However, from time immemorial, the Slavs lived there along with the Finno-Ugric peoples, and this territory was under Russia’s control. The same is true of the western direction, Narva and his first campaigns. Why would he go there? He was returning and reinforcing, that is what he was doing.

Clearly, it fell to our lot to return and reinforce as well. And if we operate on the premise that these basic values constitute the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in achieving our goals. ]

– Владимир Путин, “Встреча с молодыми предпринимателями, инженерами и учёными” [ “Meeting with young entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists” ], June 9, 2022

(And never mind his past declarations to the contrary.)

As if Peter “the Great” were not bad enough, some of his pundits choose to go even further back, to worse.

“Georgy Danilovich was one of the founders of the Great Empire, who began the Great conquest of the world. He went down in history, in particular, under the name of Genghis Khan.”

The Multimedia Museum of the New Chronology, Yaroslavl, Russia

The Great Empire? Ah yes: “One estimate is that about 11% of the world’s population was killed either during or immediately after the Mongol invasions.”

Now who would lie about Genghis Khan, probably the worst mass-rapist in history, in order to be associated with such a horrendous legacy of rape, murder and looting?

Shakhnazarov described Russia as an empire, the rightful descendant of the Golden Horde Mongol dynasty: “I believe that Russia is a natural heir to Tatar-Mongols, who have created the first empire on the territory of Eurasia.”

– “Kremlin Cronies Say Putin Is Ready to Go Full Kim Jong Un” (video)

Threats to Poland

Embracing “might makes right” nihilism fully, they proclaim that:

About the speech of Duda, which infuriated me to the bottom of my soul, perhaps Poland should remember its borders of 1939. He says, ‘if we fear Russia’s nuclear weapons, we might as well surrender. Should we get scared and obey Putin’s directives, and fulfill his political goals in Europe just because we fear nuclear weapons?’ Here’s what I would say to Mr Duda. You know, it’s very cynical, but if you live with wolves, learn how to howl. I would respond that yes, you should. Yes, you should. That’s how this world works, that’s life. If you aren’t capable of creating such weapons to defend yourself with, if you don’t have engineers, scientists, industry, then you have to take into account that other countries will be determining how you live. It’s just the way it is.

– Каре́н Гео́ргиевич Шахназа́ров

Which is an interesting comment, given that Russia got its nuclear technology… by stealing it from the United States (they stole the uranium, too). Remember that “90% of all Soviet technology was of Western origin”. And now: “‘No hope for science in Russia’: the academics trying to flee to the west”, “‘A Nail In The Coffin’: Tech Workers Are Fleeing Russia And The Impact Will Last For Years”, etc.

Threats to Switzerland

Solovyov suggested: “Since we’re going to be enlarging, if we need—for example—auto parts, let’s enlarge towards the places where those factories are located. I’m also still peeved about Lake Como. Let’s enlarge in that direction.”

Solovyov. Poor, hard-working Solovyov was very upset about having several of his humble dwellings seized.

Why does a communist have several villas instead of sharing a коммунальная квартира? On what grounds can Solovyov object to their confiscation?

And what does he need a villa on Lake Como for anyway? Wouldn’t one on Lake Karachay be more suitable and patriotic?

Also, Lake Como being only a few kilometers from the Swiss border, what happened to our Swiss right to a buffer zone?

Incidentally:
- “Russia Seizes Rare Swiss Watches in Sanctions Reprisal”
- “Switzerland listed as ‘unfriendly’ country by Russia”
- Swiss embassy took down Swiss flag, out of fear Russians would deliberately target it (if they deliberately target hospitals, does anyone seriously expect them to respect neutrality? And how was Ukraine not neutral, except by actually allowing Russian troops on its soil (bad idea)?
- Pour Moscou, Genève n’est plus «une ville neutre»
- Berne ne veut pas expulser les diplomates espions russes
Could we start taking the threat seriously now, finally help arming Ukraine, stop with this “neutrality” nonsense already, and consider joining NATO?

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.

– Elie Wiesel
Pro-war is the new anti-war

June 12, 2022

War is peace

freedom is slavery

ignorance is strength

Below some of the most outrageous statements from allegedly “anti-war” websites, in fact explicitely rooting for a Russian victory in its war of aggression. Could we please stop pretending these people are “anti-war” or “libertarians” in any way?

If there were any justice in the world, Russia never would have entered the [sic] Ukraine. Instead, they would have declared war on all the member nations of NATO, all of them without exception. Thank God that there is no justice in this world. We should thank our lucky stars that Putin is a mensch.

– Walter E. Block, “Nuclear War?”, April 28, 2022

No other nation should supply Ukraine with weapons of any type or variety. This country should cease and desist from its attempt join NATO. That mischievous, nasty and malicious organization should be disbanded and salt sowed where once it stood.

– Walter E. Block, “Nuclear War?”, April 28, 2022

Published both by the “Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity” (more accurately: Ron Paul Infamy for War and Poverty) and by the Lew Rockwell Cesspool whose tagline is “anti-state anti-war pro-market”.

People around the world have every reason to sympathize with the plight of the Ukrainian people, but the least bad outcome of the war would be a Russian victory and a negotiated settlement in the near future.

– Ted Galen Carpenter, “The Closer Ukraine Gets to Victory, the Closer the World Comes to Nuclear War”, June 7, 2022

Ted Carpenter? Ah yes, this Ted Carpenter. Published on Antiwar.com (sic) and Cato, where he is a Senior Fellow (sic). Cato itself claiming that “Our mission is to originate, disseminate, and advance solutions based on the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.” Right.

Putin’s campaign against this Nazi revival and his defense of the independent Russian areas in the beleaguered Donbas region deserve our admiration, not our condemnation.

– Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., “Exposing Some Myths About the Ukraine War”, April 18, 2022

Lew Rockwell himself, chairman of the Mises Institute. Note that the same “anti-war” Lew Rockwell who wholeheartedly approves Russia invading Ukraine because of the minuscule neo-nazi presence there (far-right parties made 2.15% in the last elections, antisemitism is the lowest in Europe, etc, etc, see our series), thinks, conversely, that stopping Hitler was wrong, and promotes neo-nazi websites on his own Lew Rockwell Cesspool.

For an in-depth analysis of the errors on “foreign policy” of so-called “anti-war libertarians”, see our series: “Libertarianism is against aggression”.
Свобода России!

April 12, 2022
(see also: Слава Україні!)

The Canton of Zoug being one of the most libertarians of Switzerland, we can but applaud the choice of Free Russians of a similar flag:
Regime change? Yes please!
- Time for the Russian Army and Russian People to Revolt and Overthrow Putin
- Why Russia needs to be humiliated in Ukraine
The current regime:
Слава Україні!

March 27, 2022
(see also: свобода россии!)

Some years ago, ISIL, the International Society for Individual Liberty (of which we are members), had to change its name to avoid any confusion with the Islamic State, whose aims are of course antinomic to liberty.

Today, it is the neo-stalinian fascists who usurp our dear Z of laissez-faire (ironically, a letter that is not even in the cyrillic alphabet). Common watch thieves, plane thieves, thieves of symbols, Социально-близкие thieves. In order to avoid any confusion, especially since, alas many (ipso facto so-called) libertarians support or excuse the barbaric aggression of a violently illiberal regime, we have had to (temporarily, let us hope) change the favicon of our Institute.

Our own analyses:
Essential links:
(The flag can be bought from our friends at the Czech Liberal Institute. Half of the sale proceeds go to aid for Ukraine.)
Kołakowski’s Enigma

April 4, 2020

Stalin had simply been a criminal and a maniac, personally to blame for all the nation’s defeats and misfortunes. As to how, and in what social conditions, a bloodthirsty paranoiac could for twenty-five years exercise unlimited despotic power over a country of two hundred million inhabitants, which throughout that period had been blessed with the most progressive and democratic system of government in human history—to this enigma the speech offered no clue whatsoever. All that was certain was that the Soviet system and the party itself remained impeccably pure and bore no responsibility for the tyrant’s atrocities.

Leszek Kołakowski, Main Currents of Marxism, p. 1149

This article comes from:
https://laissez-faire.ch/en/