National Security State

By Sebastian Rotella | ProPublica | – – Former colleagues say the next national security adviser — whose job is to marshal information and present it to the president fairly — resists input that doesn’t fit his biases and retaliates against people he disagrees with. In early 2002, as the Bush administration hunted for Osama […]

Donald Trump

Voters & Congress need to Stop Warmongers like Bolton via War Powers Act

contributors

By Sarah van Gelder | (Yes! Magazine) | – – A widespread show of support at the local level could embolden lawmakers toward a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons. “Yes, John Bolton Really Is That Dangerous” read a headline from the New York Times. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he “can’t imagine a more reckless, […]

Donald Trump

Trumpism: Why having US Ambassadors in 1/3 of Countries & Spec Ops in 3/4s is Bad

contributors

Monica Duffy Toft | (The Conversation) | – – A strong legacy of U.S. leadership and engagement in global politics has been reduced today to what I call kinetic diplomacy – diplomacy by armed force. As of March 2018, the Trump administration has appointed only 70 of 188 U.S. ambassadors. At the same time, it […]

National Security State

Can Democracy Survive Trump’s untransparent Forever Wars Abroad?

contributors

By William J. Astore | ( Tomdisptach.com ) | – – Overseas, the United States is engaged in real wars in which bombs are dropped, missiles are launched, and people (generally not Americans) are killed, wounded, uprooted, and displaced. Yet here at home, there’s nothing real about those wars. Here, it’s phony war all the […]

Militarization

American Crusade: The War on Terror and the Ruins of the Middle East

contributors

by James Carroll | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – America may be sinking ever deeper into the moral morass of the Trump era, but if you think the malevolence of this period began with him, think again. The moment I still dwell on, the moment I believe ignited the vast public disorder that is now […]

Corruption

The Russians aren’t the only election hackers

Juan Cole

By Reese Erlich | (48hills.org ) | – – The US has interfered in elections all over the world — and this Russian ‘crisis’ is a big deal about very little Welcome to the latest Washington crisis. The American people are supposed to be petrified at the threat posed by Russian spies who hack our […]

Donald Trump

Ultimate Blowback: A Planet Boiling With Unintended Consequences

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) | – – You want to see “blowback” in action? That’s easy enough. All you need is a vague sense of how Google Search works. Then type into it phrases like “warmest years,” “rising sea levels,” “melting ice,” “lengthening wildfire season,” or “future climate refugees,” and you’ll find yourself immersed in the grimmest […]

Donald Trump

Pentagon bloats the Federal Budget and Small-Gov’t Marks don’t Care

Juan Cole

By William D. Hartung | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Imagine for a moment a scheme in which American taxpayers were taken to the cleaners to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and there was barely a hint of criticism or outrage. Imagine as well that the White House and a majority of […]

Foreign Policy

The Hidden Costs of America’s Perpetual Wars

Juan Cole

By Stephanie Savell | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – I’m in my mid-thirties, which means that, after the 9/11 attacks, when this country went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq in what President George W. Bush called the “Global War on Terror,” I was still in college. I remember taking part in a couple of campus […]