Elan Journo, the Ayn Rand Institute’s director of Policy Research and foreign policy expert, recently gave a wide-ranging video interview to the student-run YouTube channel Objectivist Discussions.
Yesterday, The American Spectator published Elan Journo’s reply to Arnold Steinberg’s contention that Donald Trump’s “America first” foreign policy is “an unintended reincarnation of Ayn Rand.”
The truck attack at a Christmas market in Berlin has cast a lurid spotlight on German authorities. The police apparently knew the suspect, had evidence of his ties to jihadists and believed he posed a threat. Yet twelve people are now dead. Last August, we saw a truck used as a weapon of jihad in Nice, France, so why didn't police prevent this one?
Isn’t summer the perfect time to read a good book? We think so. That is why we at ARI have compiled a summer reading list with a selection of great books covering today’s important issues from a distinctly Objectivist perspective. These books address topics such as the inequality debate, the threat from Islamic totalitarianism, the state of American education and other significant issues.
In this recent episode of The Yaron Brook Show, originally airing on May 14, 2016, guest host Elan Journo, ARI fellow and author of Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism, discusses the tremendous educational, social and spiritual value of attending Objectivist Summer Conference 2016; whether America needs “elites,” especially in foreign policy; how Hamas’s rise to power illustrates how philosophical ideas shape our foreign policy; the theme of his upcoming book, tentatively titled Unprincipled: Why America’s Foreign Policy Undercuts Israel and Empowers Jihadists; why you should read Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri’s A Companion to Ayn Rand.
When defending the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration and its surrogates made claims that seemed, at least to some people, plausible. For a long time, I’ve argued that the deal was predicated on evading Iran’s jihadist character and malignant goals, and that the deal’s selling points were fantastical. Some people felt that “only time will tell”; so let’s consider two of the administration’s claims.
Barack Obama vowed to reset America’s orientation to the world. He also pledged a radical departure from Bush’s policy. Now, as his presidency comes to an end, two important questions arise: How different has Obama’s Middle East policy actually been? And, how should we evaluate it?
The Iran nuclear deal was the centerpiece of Obama’s multi-year diplomatic campaign to extend a hand of friendship to Tehran. Six months later, where do things stand?
From the Wall Street Journal, on the butchers who carried out last week’s attack in San Bernardino: “Agents are pursuing ‘the very real possibility’ that Ms. Malik was the catalyst for the violence, said one official. So far her husband ‘seems like someone who was searching for answers,’ the official said. . . An initial review of the couple’s online activity indicates one or both explored propaganda from al Qaeda and the Nusra Front, a terror group fighting in Syria, officials said.”