National Security State

( Tomdispatch.com) – They called it Castle Black, an obvious homage to the famed frozen citadel from the HBO series Game of Thrones. In the fantasy world of GoT, it’s the stronghold of the Night’s Watch, the French Foreign Legion-esque guardians of the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. This Castle Black, however, was all […]

Donald Trump

The Ukraine Whistleblowers and the Question of Partisanship

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Hannah Gurman and Kaeten Mistry | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – This moment should spark a conversation about the place of national security whistleblowing in a democratic society. “We must determine the whistleblower’s identity,” tweeted Donald Trump, who has become obsessed with finding and punishing the individual(s) that blew the whistle on […]

Militarization

Killing Me Softly with Militarism: The Decay of Democracy in America

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com) – When Americans think of militarism, they may imagine jackbooted soldiers goose-stepping through the streets as flag-waving crowds exult; or, like our president, they may think of enormous parades featuring troops and missiles and tanks, with warplanes soaring overhead. Or nationalist dictators wearing military uniforms encrusted with medals, ribbons, and badges like so many […]

Militarization

In Wars and Weapons We Trust: America’s Militarized Profession of Faith

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com ) – When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I looked to the heavens: to God and Christianity (as arbitrated by the Catholic Church) and to the soaring warbirds of the U.S. military, which I believed kept us safe. To my mind then, they were classic manifestations of American technological superiority over the […]

National Security State

NSC Advisor Bolton won’t listen to Tape of Khashoggi Murder b/c Doesn’t Know Arabic

AFP

Bolton’s reluctance to hear the recording mirrored President Donald Trump’s position that there is no need for him to listen.

National Security State

US Planetary Military: From Failed Mideast Counter-Insurgency to Nuclear Brinkmanship

Danny Sjursen

Make no mistake: war with Russia would be an unnecessary disaster — and it could go nuclear.

National Security State

How the Neocons’ ‘New American Century’ Crashed and Burned

Tom Engelhardt

(Tomdispatch.com) – When you think about it, Earth is a relatively modest-sized planet — about 25,000 miles in circumference at the Equator, with a total surface area of 197 million square miles, almost three-quarters of which is water. It’s not so hard, if you’re in a certain frame of mind (as American officials were after […]

Donald Trump

The Irrelevance of Trump: America was a Plutocratic Nat’l Security State and Still Is

Andrew J. Bacevich

Boston ( Tomdispatch.com) – Donald Trump’s tenure as the 45th U.S. president may last another few weeks, another year, or another 16 months. However unsettling the prospect, the leaky vessel that is the S.S. Trump might even manage to stay afloat for a second term. Nonetheless, recent headline-making revelations suggest that, like some derelict ship […]

Climate Change

Is America Sclerotic or still Youthful Enough to take on Imperial Presidency and Climate Change?

Tom Engelhardt

There was a period in my later life when I used to say that, from the age of 20 to my late sixties, I was always 40 years old; I was, that is, an old young man and a young old one. Tell that to my legs now. Of course, there’s nothing faintly strange in […]