National Security State

By Michael T. Klare | (Tomdispatch.com) | – Take a look around the world and it’s hard not to conclude that the United States is a superpower in decline. Whether in Europe, Asia, or the Middle East, aspiring powers are flexing their muscles, ignoring Washington’s dictates, or actively combating them. Russia refuses to curtail its support for […]

Bill of Rights

Why the so-called USA PATRIOT Act can’t actually Keep America Safe

contributors

by CHARLES KURZMAN for ISLAMiCommentary: Charles Kurzman With the “USA PATRIOT Act” set to expire at the end of the month, you might expect supporters of domestic surveillance to tout the take-down of the biggest plot of violent extremism America has experienced so far this year. Not the plot by two men who drove to […]

Foreign Policy

Iranian-Americans demand apology from Lindsey Graham for “Liar” Racism

contributors

NIAC | — NIAC Condemns Senator Graham’s Racist Statement, Demands Apology Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council, the largest Iranian-American grassroots organization in the United States, strongly condemns Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) comments that “Iranians are liars” and demands an apology to the Iranian-American community. The Senator and Presidential hopeful’s comments were given […]

Bill of Rights

Snowden’s Revenge: USA “Freedom” [Surveillance] Act Fails in Senate

contributors

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) — “The failure of these bills to pass shows just how dramatically the politics of surveillance changed once the extent of the government’s surveillance programs became known to the public.” In a move that is being hailed by civil liberties advocates as a victory for privacy rights, the […]

Bill of Rights

Obama Prosecutes another Whistleblower to Senate for “Espionage”

contributors

By John Kiriakou | (Foreign Policy in Focus) Jeffrey Sterling learned the hard way that the feds will throw the book at anyone who embarrasses them. Jeffrey Sterling recently stood before a judge as his sentence was read. The former CIA officer, the judge declared, would spend 42 months — that’s three and half years […]

Bill of Rights

The National Security State gets Real: 9 Ways the US is becoming Bizarro World

Tom Engelhardt

By Tomd Engledhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – It’s commonplace to speak of “the fog of war,” of what can’t be known in the midst of battle, of the inability of both generals and foot soldiers to foresee developments once fighting is underway. And yet that fog is nothing compared to the murky nature of the […]

Barack Obama

Was that a White House- Gulf Arab Summit or an Arms Bazaar?

contributors

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia on Mar. 5, 2015, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before the two and their counterparts attended a meeting of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. Credit: U.S. State Department/public domain UNITED NATIONS, May […]

Foreign Policy

Too Big not to Fail: The US Military’s Missions Unaccomplished

contributors

By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) It’s 1990. I’m a young captain in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve just witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, something I never thought I’d see, short of a third world war. Right now I’m witnessing the slow death of the Soviet Union, without the accompanying nuclear Armageddon so […]

Barack Obama

Just how Illegal has the NSA’s Domestic Spying Been?

contributors

By Andrew Crocker | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – We now have the first decision from a court of appeals on the NSA’s mass surveillance program involving bulk collection of telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and it’s a doozy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion […]