By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – When George W. Bush and Dick Cheney launched their forever wars — under the banner of a “Global War on Terror” — they unleashed an unholy trinity of tactics. Torture, rendition, and indefinite detention became the order of the day. After a partial suspension of these […]
Archives for April 2017
Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?
By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – Days before President Donald J. Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on Syria, his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq to learn first-hand how the Iraqi government assesses the security situation, more than a decade after the United States delivered regime change to that country. The issues facing […]
We are heading for the warmest climate in half a billion years
By Gavin Foster, Dana Royer, and Dan Lunt | (The Conversation) | – – Carbon dioxide concentrations are heading towards values not seen in the past 200m years. The sun has also been gradually getting stronger over time. Put together, these facts mean the climate may be heading towards warmth not seen in the past […]
Washington’s Supreme Hypocrisy on Chemical Weapons and Civilian Deaths
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Army in Idlib is an atrocity and the pictures of dead children tug at the heart. But the outrage of American politicians inside the beltway about it draws on the myths of American exceptionalism and Alzheimer’s of the […]
Bannon booted from US National Security Council, takes swipe at Susan Rice
TeleSur | – – “General McMaster has returned the NSC to its proper function,” Bannon said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has been removed from the National Security Council’s principals committee, replaced by U.S. intelligence officials, according to a new presidential memorandum issued Wednesday. The decision was made by […]
As Trump Breaks it, Top Ten Things we need to do to Fix America
By William R. Polk | (Informed Comment) | – – Let me suggest what seem to me to be the major categories of challenges men who care about the country face, but before I do, let me frankly state my position: I think the Democratic Party leaders had it coming to them. Obama’s rhetoric raised […]
Climate Change Solutions Can’t Wait for Trump
By Desmond Brown | (Inter Press Service) | – – BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (IPS) – From tourism-dependent nations like Barbados to those rich with natural resources like Guyana, climate change poses one of the biggest challenges for the countries of the Caribbean. Nearly all of these countries are vulnerable to natural events like hurricanes. “Why is […]
ISIL: Imbecilic Buffoon Trump leading America to Extinction
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Disturbing signs emerged Tuesday that Donald J. Trump’s odd self-presentation and erratic pronouncements could be a serious security threat to . . . all Americans. That is, if the US appears to be led by an incompetent it will encourage attacks. Al-Hayat reports that a spokesman […]
Trump Ordered 70 Airstrikes in Yemen, Twice as Many as Last Year of Obama
TeleSur | – – U.S. President Trump also greenlighted a group operation in Yemen in February that killed more than 30 civilians. The young U.S. administration of Donald Trump has carried out at least 70 airstrikes in Yemen, more than twice as many as those carried out in 2016 under the Obama administration, according to […]