US Foreign Policy

(Tomdispatch.com) – My first question is simple enough: After 18-plus years of our forever wars, where are all the questions? Almost two decades of failing American wars across a startlingly large part of the planet and I’d like to know, for instance, who’s been fired for them? Who’s been impeached? Who’s even paying attention? I […]

Iraq

As Warhawks Eye Iran, Iraq War has already cost the US nearly $2 trillion

The Conversation

By Neta C. Crawford | – Even if the U.S. administration decided to leave — or was evicted from — Iraq immediately, the bill of war to the U.S. to date would be an estimated US$1,922 billion in current dollars. This figure includes not only funding appropriated to the Pentagon explicitly for the war, but […]

Pentagon

The Art of the Deal, Pentagon-Style: Wars Without Victories, Weapons Without End

William J. Astore

By William J. Astore | – (Tomdispatch.com) – The expression “self-licking ice cream cone” was first used in 1992 to describe a hidebound bureaucracy at NASA. Yet, as an image, it’s even more apt for America’s military-industrial complex, an institution far vaster than NASA and thoroughly dedicated to working for its own perpetuation and little […]

China

With Visa Ban, has Trump’s US just Lost Nigeria to China?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump and his white nationalist pet Stephen Miller have placed Nigeria on their racist visa ban. But Nigeria is not Chad, and there could be serious repercussions for the United States of slapping around Africa’s most important country. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country at over 200 million persons, and […]

Constitution

A Pence Presidency and an Iran War? Why does John Bolton really want Trump Out?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former National Security Adviser John Bolton may have singlehandedly stopped Senate majority Mitch McConnell from simply acquitting Trump in the Senate impeachment trial and adjourning without witnesses or documents. Bolton publicly announced his willingness to testify before the Senate, after having stiffed the House proceedings. And then a manuscript of […]

Donald Trump

American Apocalypse: The Rapture of a U.S. Foreign Policy Off the Rails

Danny Sjursen

By Danny Sjursen | – (Tomdispatch.com) – In March 1906, on the heels of the U.S. Army’s massacre of some 1,000 men, women, and children in the crater of a volcano in the American-occupied Philippines, humorist Mark Twain took his criticism public. A long-time anti-imperialist, he flippantly suggested that Old Glory should be redesigned “with […]

Donald Trump

Corporate Media Blackout: Americans need to Hear from Iranians about Life Under Sanctions and Trump’s Attack

Foreign Policy in Focus

Here are a few illuminating and emotionally resonant pieces by real Iranians on life under sanctions, the brutality of war, and the recent crisis.

Donald Trump

The U.S. and Iran are Having a Huge Food Fight in Iraq after Trump assassinated Soleimani

The Conversation

By Bamo Nouri | – When thousands of anti-government protesters returned to Iraq’s streets on January 10, they were expressing anger at the explosion of foreign interference in their country’s affairs in early 2020. “Keep your war away,” one banner read, referring to the escalation of US-Iranian tensions in early January following the US assassination […]

Donald Trump

Khamenei: Trump Killed Soleimani to help ISIL Terrorists, but is Impotent; Trump: “Be careful with your Words”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump on Friday warned Iran’s clerical Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be “careful with his words” after the ayatollah gave a fiery sermon against the US and Europe on Friday in Tehran. Trump urged Iran to give up “terrorism’ and to “make Iran great again.” Khamenei, Iran’s “August Leader” gave […]