A Discussion With Antiwar.com’s Angela Keaton

Antiwar.com is ran by a dedicated group of activists devoted to non-interventionism and opposed to the military-industrial complex. The site was founded in 1995 and has been spreading the idea of peace ever since. The website is also a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit, and has accepted bitcoin since 2012, being one of the first recognized charitable organizations to do so.

Also read: ‘Life On Bitcoin’ is Easier Than Producing a Film About it

Bitcoin.com had a discussion with Antiwar.com’s Executive Director Angela Keaton. She explains why the organization believes in cryptocurrency and alternative means of counter-economics to starve the war-machine that plagues our globe. Keaton says Antiwar.com is also against the war on drugs, and has been vocally supportive of victims of the State, such as Ross Ulbricht. This coming Memorial Day, Angela tells us that Antiwar.com, with the help of friends Bitcoin Not Bombs, will raise money by selling poppy pins — a traditional symbol of peace in the UK.

“Once people reject war, central banking, and the police state, they might learn to engage one other without relying on force and fraud.”

Antiwar.com: ‘Bitcoin is Decentralizing the Transfer of Money and Wealth That Can’t Be Taxed’

Bitcoin.com (BC) How are things going with Antiwar.com in 2016?

Antiwar.com: That’s a loaded question, Jamie. If you mean as a website, we are always doing well. Even when we are worried about the bills each month, we know what we are doing. If you mean as to our mission? “NATO Targets Russia with Planned Missile Defense Expansion: Poland to Break Ground on Next NATO Base“ is today’s headline. A new Cold War is very promising. There has been an international clamour to move the nuclear clock closer to midnight.

BC: Antiwar.com has been informing the masses about the atrocities of War since 1995. Do you believe that the anti-war philosophy has declined or become more popular?

Antiwar.com: Not sure how to answer that without interviewing normal people, but judging by our declining hate mail, people are less aggressively pro-war. Not conceding anything to Donald Trump, but one of the ways he discredited Jeb Bush was by blaming the entire family for the Iraq War. Trump is wildly popular and with people who wouldn’t be found at an Anti-War rally.

BC: The organization is a recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit that accepts Bitcoin. How long has the group been accepting the cryptocurrency?

Antiwar.com: Since November of 2012.

BC: Do you think alternative currencies such as Bitcoin can help starve the beast of funds?

Antiwar.com: Yes, and it will. People talk revolution and “burn it down.” No need. The commie cliché of the State “withering away” is already happening right in front of us. The technology that made Bitcoin possible is decentralizing how people not only transfer money but how they create wealth that can’t be taxed (read: “stolen.”)

BC: How do you guys feel about the current set of candidates in the presidential election? Do you feel any of them share the anti-war sentiment?

Antiwar.com: First, all the standard disclaimers: Antiwar.com is a 501c3. We do not endorse candidates. Second, the staff of Antiwar.com is not a collective. Third, elections are superficial changes of a corrupt and immoral system. It ultimately does not matter. The candidates for Emperor rarely promise peace and if they do, they do not deliver.

Our Editorial Director, Justin Raimondo, has become infamously bullish on Donald Trump, while our Opinions Editor, radio host Scott Horton, uses the hashtag “#neveranyone.” The case for Trump is based on a few sensible statements: He claims he’d negotiate with Putin, and sane people want peace amongst the nuclear powers. If you take Trump’s bare statement about NATO at face value, he seems to understand that NATO is an expensive Cold War relic. He has made some hint that he might attempt to be an honest broker between Israel and Palestine.

Trump has also made contradictory statements about those points, however, as well as taken many radically hawkish views, like undermining the Iran Nuclear Deal. His other horrible statements are too numerous to list.

Bernie Sanders didn’t support the Iraq War. He has, however, supported intervention in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and approves of the drone wars, regime change in Syria, and an alarmist stance regarding Ukraine and Russia.

Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. She can’t possibly have made her stance clearer if she actually detonated a nuke.

BC: You guys have been supportive of Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road site. How do you guys feel about the war on drugs?

Antiwar.com: The war on drugs, the central project of the police state, is not a discrete category. It’s a manifestation of the empire at home.

Kent State, Jackson State, MOVE, Waco, and Ruby Ridge; Police departments with military equipment; US-induced chaos in Latin America (apart from the usual CIA shenanigans); and, veterans coming home with anger becoming cops.

BC: What are some things people can do to spread the anti-war message?

Antiwar.com: Activists are the worst about insularity. The most important thing one can do is speak to normal people about the war. Not with rhetoric that assaults the listener but straightforward facts: the wars cost too much; the wars are not Constitutional; and, the wars are [in]compatible with people who claim to value life.

BC: Memorial Day is coming up. What do you guys plan for days such as these?

Antiwar.com: Thanks to our friends at Bitcoin Not Bombs, we are raising money by selling poppy pins. The poppy is a traditional symbol of peace in the UK.

BC: Can you tell our readers the overall mission of AntiWar.com?

For people to understand the Randolph Bourne quote, “war is the health of the state.”

And who knows? Once people reject war, central banking, and the police state, they might learn to engage one other without relying on force and fraud.

Thanks for speaking with us here at Bitcoin.com. We also believe that Bitcoin can starve the nation-state’s military-industrial complex, hopefully bringing peace in this world.

Have you visited Antiwar.com? Let us know what you think about them in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Antiwar.com.