National Security State

By Farrah Hassen | – ( Otherwords.org ) – Growing up in the Southern California suburbs, government surveillance never worried me. But my Syrian-American parents were more cautious. They would often warn me against talking about politics over the phone — in case Big Brother was snooping. As a teenager, I dismissed their concerns. “Listen, […]

Bush

George W. Bush denounces “the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq — I mean, Ukraine”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Michael Williams at the Dallas Morning News reports on George W. Bush’s speech at his presidential center at Southern Methodist University, during which the former president made what MSNBC’s Mehdi Hassan called “one of the biggest Freudian slips of all time.” Bush denounced the rigged elections that produced the dictatorship […]

Feminism

Women to the Rescue: Review of “Hope but Demand Justice” by Pat Hynes

Nick Mottern

A Review of “Hope, But Demand Justice” By Pat Hynes (Haley’s, 2022) — by Nick Mottern (Special to Informed Comment) – The basic conclusion that I came to after reading Pat Hynes’ “Hope, But Demand Justice” is this: If we humans are to survive, women must achieve decisive roles in governments, on an emergency basis, […]

National Security State

The Last Good Guys? Five Reasons Why Washington Can’t Break Its War Addiction

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Why has the United States already become so heavily invested in the Russia-Ukraine war? And why has it so regularly gotten involved, in some fashion, in so many other wars on this planet since it invaded Afghanistan in 2001? Those with long memories might echo the conclusion reached more than a […]

Counter-Terrorism

US could have done more to prevent civilian casualties in Raqqa, report says

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – The United States could have done more to eliminate the chances of killing civilians in the campaign to capture the city of Raqqa in northern Syria three years ago, a newly-released report by the RAND Corporation has stated. The report released on Thursday acknowledged the impact of the US-led […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Report: U.S. Marines Returned Fire After Suicide Bombing, but No Enemies Were Shooting at Them

ProPublica

By Brian J. Conley and Mohammad J. Alizada, Alive in Afghanistan, and Joshua Kaplan and Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica | – ( ProPublica ) – During the final days of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan in August, a suicide bomber killed 13 American service members guarding an entrance to Kabul’s airport and scores of Afghan civilians […]

al-Qaeda

Bin Laden and Trump: Two Bookends to America’s Imperial Decline

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – The end of 2021 and the beginning of a new year is a convenient time to take stock of the causes of America’s decline. This past year saw both Washington’s inglorious exit from Afghanistan after 20 years in the country that had served as the launching pad for its direct […]

Militarization

How to End America’s Forever Wars for Once and for All

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com) – As August ended, American troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan almost 20 years after they first arrived. On the formal date of withdrawal, however, President Biden insisted that “over-the-horizon capabilities” (airpower and Special Operations forces, for example) would remain available for use anytime. “[W]e can strike terrorists and targets without American boots […]

Congress

We’re not at War: Why is Congress giving $778 Billion of our Money to the Pentagon?

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – Despite a disagreement over some amendments in the Senate, the United States Congress is poised to pass a $778 billion military budget bill for 2022. As they have been doing year after year, our elected officials are preparing to hand the lion’s share – over 65% – of federal discretionary spending […]