US politics

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – NBC nightly news anchor Brian Williams is under fire for repeatedly having told an embellished story of being in a Chinook helicopter that took RPG and small arms fire at the beginning of the Iraq War and was forced down. His critics, and military personnel present on the […]

Militarization

The Lone-Wolf Terror Trap: Why the Cure Will Be Worse Than the Disease

contributors

By Matthew Harwood | (Tomdispatch.com) The shadow of a new threat seems to be darkening the national security landscape: the lone-wolf terrorist. “The lone wolf is the new nightmare,” wrote Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer recently, and the conservative pundit wasn’t alone in thinking so. “I really see [lone wolves] as being a bigger threat […]

Bush

Is ISIL’s ‘Shock and Awe’ more Awe-ful because One Victim?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) burning of a captured Jordanian pilot alive produced justified revulsion globally, resulting in the terrorist organization being termed “barbarous” and similar epithets. Why did it behave this way? Because it wants to terrify its opponents into submission and underline that it is too […]

Militarization

How the Anti-War Movement was Demobilized; Remembering I.F. Stone

contributors

By Tom Engelardt | (Tomdispatch.com) Well, it’s one, two, three, look at that amputee,At least it’s below the knee,Could have been worse, you see.Well, it’s true your kids look at you differently,But you came in an ambulance instead of a hearse,That’s the phrase of the trade,It could have been worse. — First verse of a Vietnam-era […]

Featured

GOP’s Scott Walker: Pitches possible Syria War to make us Like Him

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Likely Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, says he might favor sending US ground troops to mount a conventional war against Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) in Syria or at least wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s see. The Bush administration invaded Iraq in 2003 on false pretenses of […]

Iran

Iran and the West on Revolution Anniversary: 36 Years of Futile Estrangement

contributors

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Informed Comment) – Anniversary of Iranian Revolution February 2nd marks the 36th anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran after 14 years of exile. After ruling Iran for 37 years as a staunch U.S. ally, Mohammad Reza Shah left Iran on January 16, 1979, never to return. Demonstrations […]

Militarization

War Is the New Normal: Seven Deadly Reasons Why America’s Wars Persist

contributors

By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) – It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Pentagon insiders called it “the long war,” an open-ended, perhaps unending, conflict against nations and terror networks mainly of a […]

Iran

GOP Pres. Candidates warn Iran Nukes can hit NYC (despite No Nukes, ICBMs)

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) – “”Three likely presidential candidates shared the stage Sunday night before a roomful of wealthy donors, engaging in a rapid-fire policy discussion that underscored sharp disagreement within the GOP over global affairs and national security. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul took part in a largely […]

Economy

Attn. Tea Party: ‘How Immigrants (yes, Muslims and Latinos) can save Detroit & other Cities’

contributors

The Economist | — “From Detroit to Philadelphia to Baltimore, policy makers in America’s old industrial metropolises are struggling with the same problem: how to reverse the fortunes of decaying cities. Decades of economic decline and suburbanisation have left their city centres depressed and dangerous. But immigrants – whether students, migrants or refugees – could […]