National Security State

By Andrew J. Bacevich | ( Tomdispatch.com To judge by the early returns, the presidential race of 2016 is shaping up as the most disheartening in recent memory. Other than as a form of low entertainment, the speeches, debates, campaign events, and slick TV ads already inundating the public sphere offer little of value. Rather […]

Militarization

No, Donald Trump, we can’t just “take their oil”

contributors

By Emily Schwartz Greco | (Otherwords.org) | – – Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign ad pledged to “take their oil.” That’s what President (gasp) Trump would do after having “quickly cut the head off the Islamic State,” says the deep-voiced narrator. Along with political decapitation, there are many disturbing things in the Republican front-runner’s commercials […]

Foreign Policy

‘We had to destroy the Country to save it, Sir!’ The US Imperial Treadmill in Iraq etc.

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) One of the charms of the future is its powerful element of unpredictability, its ability to ambush us in lovely ways or bite us unexpectedly in the ass. Most of the futures I imagined as a boy have, for instance, come up deeply short, or else I would now […]

Foreign Policy

The Collapsed Iraqi Army: How to Succeed at Failing, Pentagon-Style

contributors

By Nick Turse | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – There’s good news coming out of Iraq… again. The efforts of a 65-nation coalition and punishing U.S. airstrikes have helped local ground forces roll back gains by the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS). Government forces and Shiite militias, for example, recaptured the city of Tikrit, while […]

African-Americans

Palin for Trump: ‘Political Correctness’ (anti-racism) is a Suicide Bomb Vest

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The term “political correctness” has a long and varying history, but what do Donald Trump and Sarah Palin mean when they attack it? They are using it to mean anti-racism. A day after Martin Luther King Day, Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president in Ames, […]

African-Americans

On MLK Day, let’s Remember Ike’s warning about the Military-Industrial Complex

contributors

By Shahid Buttar | Electronic Frontier Foundation [Sunday] marked the 55th anniversary of a world-historical speech by the last war hero to occupy the White House: President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower. His last speech while in office holds crucial implications for the U.S. today, as well as the history we celebrate . . . on […]

Barack Obama

Americans more likely to get hit by Lightning than Terrorism, but 51% Fear It

Juan Cole

By Peter Certo | (Foreign Policy In Focus) | – – One in 3.5 million: That’s your annual risk of dying from a terrorist attack in the United States, at least according to Cato analyst John Mueller. Rounded generously, that comes out to roughly 3 one-hundred thousandths of a percentage point, or 0.00003 percent. And […]

Featured

War Talk, Jingoism and White Supremacy at GOP Debate

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The GOP presidential debate last night veered even further right on international issues, given the absence of Ron Paul, who represents the Libertarian wing of the party that is less interested in foreign wars. Ted Cruz started off with a promise of war on Iran over […]

Constitution

The Best Way to Close Guantanamo? Give It Back to Cuba

contributors

By Alli McCracken | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – In one fell swoop, President Obama could erase the stain of Guantanamo and make major headway on normalization with Cuba. President Obama should be given props for the progress made in thawing U.S.-Cuban relations, but there’s a piece of unfinished business on the island […]