[Zamuel]

I thought the historical importance of declaring war with the Barbary pirates was in declaring war against an entity without a nation. It was used as a compare/contrast for justifying war against al qaeda and the teliban.

It was an action to protect American interests, on presidential authority. That's the comparison.

But the Barbary pirates were agents of their respective governments, who were all in on the profits. It was concluded by treaties with those governments.

For example be it neighbour or nation, you can't blow things and people up by declaring them a threat.

Maybe take a look at the Mexican American war ?

Zam

[Suntzu]

Might makes right.

Laws, treaties between nations are meaningless without a mechanism for enforcement.

Since WWII the U.S. has been in a series of undeclared wars, Korea, Vietnam, Cosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan to name just a few. We are fulfilling 1984. "Eastasia is our enemy, they have always been our enemy."

[skinster]

Which qualifies him as knowing dick about what is and isn't allowed by the US constitution. Beyond that his "Bias" is readily apparent. He's not a Journalist, he's a stooge.

Eva Bartlett is not a "he".

And international law is still a thing, even if you cry about it. Obviously world powers don't abide by it, but that doesn't stop it from being a thing.

[annatar1914]

As part of the general trend in this phase of Capitalism/Imperialism, we must start to realize that this is yet another sign of the disintegration of the modern nation state, it's privatization and personalist trajectory. In other words, something approaching Anarcho-Capitalism, the next iteration of Fascism as understood in it's Marxist sense. Is Trump operating strictly speaking here as US President Constitutionally speaking, or as head of a faction or private mass organization within the power structure of the West?

Before one considers my thesis as outlandish, consider mentally the United States as a kind of Corporation with Donald Trump as CEO, first. The political structure is a kind of shell or 'form' which gives this Corporation it's outward shape. What is important is what Carl Schmidtt would have called no doubt the ''Machstaadt'' or ''Power State''. This would be the /Military/Industrial/Scientific/Primitive accumulationism Capitalist/ Elites. But, with the caveat that there is nothing truly 'Statist' about any of these people, it's all about the money, the money of private concerns.

When the State enters it's final phase of being little more than a vestigial appendix to decision making, it matters not whether a declaration of war is needed or not. This is the Dictatorship of the Bourgeosie, and a missile is another tool in the toolkit, as are formal fact finding missions by international organizations or even international organizations to begin with. As Blackjack21 noted, the UN is a WW2 Victor's Council with a fig leaf of a General Assembly around it.

The question of the thread, right or wrong, is frankly irrelevant to these modern trends and developments.