US politics

On August 5, 1974, Nixon was forced by the Supreme Court to release the smoking gun tape in which he and his chief of staff H. R. Haldemann had a conversation, in the course of which Nixon could be heard acknowledging his knowledge of the burglary of the Democratic National Committee office files in the […]

Donald Trump

For Trump, Regime Change Begins at Home

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – Trump has been enlisting foreign leaders in his fight against the U.S. state. Is impeachment a moral necessity or political trap? A month after he won the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump gave a speech in North Carolina where he declared that “we will stop racing to topple foreign regimes […]

Displaced and Refugees

US Move Puts More Asylum Seekers at Risk: Expanded ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program Undermines Due Process

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Ciudad Juarez, Mexico) –The Trump administration has drastically expanded its “Remain in Mexico” program while undercutting the rights of asylum seekers at the United States southern border, Human Rights Watch said today. Under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) – known as the “Remain in Mexico” program – asylum seekers in […]

Democratic Party

Finally, an Impeachment Inquiry: Pelosi on “Nationalist” Trump’s “betrayal of our National Security”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Nancy Pelosi finally caved to pressure to open an impeachment inquiry into Trump, after he admitted to having pressured the Ukraine government to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Biden is clearly furious over the whole thing, and as a pillar of the Democratic establishment and former president of the […]

Immigration

The Problem with Policing US Borders is that they Extend throughout the Planet

Tomdispatch

By Todd Miller | – (Tomdispatch.com) – The driver of the passenger van pulled onto the shoulder of the road, looked back, and said, “There’s an immigration checkpoint up ahead. Does everyone have their papers?” We were just north of the Guatemalan border, outside the town of Ciudad Hidalgo in the Mexican state of Chiapas. […]

Democratic Party

Ukraine Scandal shows the Squad was Right about Impeaching Trump, & they’re Telling the Dems so

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mi) was widely castigated for saying, virtually as soon as she was elected, that it was necessary to impeach Trump (she used a colorful epithet in doing so, which some observers said made a bad impression, even though rich old white guys speak like that all the […]

Afghanistan

From Baghdad to Kabul: One Officer’s Journey from True Believer in our Forever Wars to Dissident Veteran

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently, on a beautiful Kansas Saturday, I fell asleep early, exhausted by the excitement and ultimate disappointment of the Army football team’s double overtime loss to highly favored Michigan. Having turned against America’s forever wars and the U.S. military as an institution while I was still in it, West Point football, I’m […]

Corruption

Bribery & High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Did Trump finally go Full Impeachable in Ukraine Calls?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that in the course of his conversation in July with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump pressed him on eight separate occasions to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden. Biden when vice president is known to have pressured the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor […]

Donald Trump

Trump again Tries to Get Ilhan Omar Killed à la Heather Heyer with Lies about Dancing on 9/11

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – One of the “very fine people” Trump praised at the Charlottesville riot by Nazis and Klansmen rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters (i.e. ordinary people) and killed Heather Heyer on August 12, 2017. Trump appears to be angling for one of his Volk to do the same thing […]