US politics

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Monday, the Taliban swept into the provincial capital of Kunduz, taking it in half a day from a large and well-equipped Afghan National Army force. Tuesday’s riposte had only mixed success, with the ANA saying it had taken back the (no-empty) prison. An attempt to […]

Republican Party

Carly Fiorina Says Waterboarding Keeps America Safe

contributors

Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel | (TheLipTv) | – – “Carly Fiorina has defended the use of CIA waterboarding by the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11, in an interview with Yahoo News. The Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO called the controversial interrogation method, which is equivalent to torture, an important strategy […]

Foreign Policy

Americans are Powerful & Safe; So why do they feel Like Victims?

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Given the cluttered landscape of the last 14 years, can you even faintly remember the moment when the Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War ended in a stunned silence of shock and triumph in Washington, Eastern Europe was freed, Germany unified, and the Soviet Union […]

Barack Obama

Why Obama and Putin are Both Wrong on Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama seemed awfully defensive in his speech at the United Nations on Monday. The reason is not far to seek. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has surprised Washington by volunteering to get militarily involved in Syria and by arguing that only by enlisting the Baath regime of […]

Plutocracy

Donald Trump wants to cut taxes of self, other Billionaires by $3 Trillion

contributors

John Iadarola and Jimmy Dore | (The Young Turks) | – – “Donald Trump’s tax plan is being pitched, and covered by the media, with terms like “populist” and “tax hikes for the wealthy,” but those are complete lies. John Iadarola (Think Tank) and Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show Podcast), hosts of the The […]

Arab Americans

Do the Republicans need the Muslim Vote?

contributors

by Julie Poucher Harbin, EDITOR | ( ISLAMiCommentary) | – – Over the past week-and-a-half Islamophobia seemed to dominate the headlines; first when a 14-year-old Texas student who was arrested for bringing “a hoax bomb” to school that was really a home-made clock, and capped off by GOP presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson saying a […]

National Security State

How Henry Kissinger created a world of bad guys Armed to the Teeth

contributors

By Greg Grandin | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – The only person Henry Kissinger flattered more than President Richard Nixon was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. In the early 1970s, the Shah, sitting atop an enormous reserve of increasingly expensive oil and a key figure in Nixon and Kissinger’s move into the Middle […]

al-Qaeda

US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Qaeda Pentagon confirms

contributors

RT | – – “The U.S. military has revealed that American -trained Syrian rebels surrendered equipment to an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group in exchange for safe passage. They handed over pick-up trucks and ammunition. A spokesman for the military described the move as “very concerning”. ” RT: “US-trained Syria rebels gave weapons to al-Nusra Islamists, […]

Featured

Things like Ted Cruz’s threat to Murder Iran’s Ayatollah are why Iranians don’t Trust US

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Ted Cruz said Friday at the Value Voters Summit conference in Washington, D.C., “If you vote for me, under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. And if the ayatollah doesn’t understand that, we may have to help introduce him to his 72 virgins.” Neoconservatives keep […]