US politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – VOA reports that Trump will pull 4,000 US troops from Afghanistan, leaving less than 9,000 in country. Of the 13,000 US troops now in Afghanistan, 8,000 are training the Afghanistan National Army, while 5,000 are actively engaged in counter-terrorism operations. Last week Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that any […]

Pentagon

The Military-Industrial State Just Keeps Getting More Expensive for the Rest of US

William D. Hartung

By William D. Hartung | – (Tomdispatch.com) – I’ve been writing critiques of the Pentagon, the national security state, and America’s never-ending military overreach since at least 1979 — in other words, virtually my entire working life. In those decades, there were moments when positive changes did occur. They ranged from ending the apartheid regime […]

Donald Trump

Result of 50 yrs of the New Right: Trump Will Stay, GOP will Cling to Him

The Conversation

By J.M. Opal | – Donald Trump is no Richard Nixon. Nixon was a bully, a cynic and a crook who did all kinds of damage to American politics and society, not to mention to Cambodia and Vietnam, too. And yet he had a sense of obligation to his office — and to the Republican […]

Congress

A Coup against Trump? Or Trump’s Coup against the Rule of Law?

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – Donald Trump says that impeachment is actually a coup. It’s one more example of his attack on the rule of law. Coups have been one of the greatest threats to democracy. The people elect a daring leader willing to take on the status quo. And then, as in Iran in […]

Donald Trump

On Impeaching Trump: An Open Letter to a Working-Class Friend

Reese Erlich

Robby reflects the views of many older white workers who are critical of the system and blame Democrats and liberals for its breakdown. I first met Robby Robertson during the 1969 General Electric strike. He was a young, militant worker fighting for a decent contract and social justice. He considered himself a “radical humanitarian.” We […]

Climate Change

Top 5 Differences between Chill Trump and “Angry” Greta Thunberg

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump bullied environmentalist Greta Thunberg over her Time magazine cover on Thursday. In a tweet he called the award “ridiculous” and accused her of having “anger management issues,” advising her to “chill.”

Donald Trump

Patronizing Jews and Persecuting Palestinians: The Trump Executive Order

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Informed Comment) – President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring Judaism to be a nationality is both a gross act of anti-Semitism, and an attack on free speech. The alleged intent is to combat rising anti-Semitism on college campuses, by requiring the schools to treat the Boycott Divest Sanction (BDS) movement and other advocacy […]

Climate Crisis

After the Cold War: Is the Climate Crisis the US Military’s Biggest Enemy?

Michael T. Klare

(Tomdispatch.com) – It was Monday, March 1, 2032, and the top uniformed officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were poised, as they are every year around this time, to deliver their annual “posture statement” on military readiness before the Senate Armed Services Committee. As the officers waited for the committee members […]

African-Americans

How Turkish Muslims at Atlantic Records Marketed Motown, Jazz, Black Music to America

Shalom Goldman

(Special to Informed Comment) – To those outside of the music business the title, “The House that Ahmet Built” might sound like the name of a Turkish folktale for children. But for those in the know, the ‘house’ was Atlantic Records and ‘Ahmet’ was Ahmet Ertegun, the great record company’s co-founder. In 1947 along with […]