Pentagon

Despite the U.S. Hype about an “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is not Ready to Risk War

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – Russia seems to be giving up on the “ultimatum” it issued to the United States in December. After Washington and its allies said no to Moscow’s security demands, the Kremlin started to soften its rhetoric regarding a potential NATO expansion eastward. Western media, however, keep spreading rumors of an […]

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 […]

Far Right

White Terrorism: Behind the 11 Oath Keepers charged with sedition are many more who have been trained by the US military

The Conversation

By Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko | – The leader of the Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes, must stay behind bars pending trial for his alleged role in the storming of the Capitol, a judge ruled on Jan. 26, 2022. While this means authorities can keep tabs on the whereabouts of Rhodes – and presumably […]

Pentagon

Did our Lost Imperial Wars turn America into our present Trumpian Dystopia?

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com) – In the long and storied history of the United States Army, many young officers have served in many war zones. Few, I suspect, were as sublimely ignorant as I was in the summer of 1970 upon my arrival at Cam Ranh Bay in the Republic of Vietnam. Granted, during the years of […]

Pentagon

Guantánamo’s Forever Elusive Endgame: Will We “Celebrate” Its 30th Anniversary?

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It’s now more than 20 years later and that American offshore symbol of mistreatment and injustice, the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is still open. In fact, as 2021 ended, New York Times reporter Carol Rosenberg, who has covered that notorious prison complex since its first day, reported on the Pentagon’s […]

nuclear weapons

Only Fools Replay Doomsday: The Cold War, Reborn and Resurgent

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In the early 1960s, at the height of America’s original Cold War with the Soviet Union, my old service branch, the Air Force, sought to build 10,000 land-based nuclear missiles. These were intended to augment the hundreds of nuclear bombers it already had, like the B-52s featured so memorably in the […]

Afghanistan

After Afghanistan, US military presence abroad faces domestic and foreign opposition in 2022

The Conversation

By Michael A. Allen, Carla Martinez Machain, and Michael E. Flynn | – In August 2021, the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan after fighting a war there for nearly 20 years. In addition to Afghanistan, the U.S. has reduced its military presence in several other conflict zones in recent years. It has lowered troop levels […]

Displaced and Refugees

America’s Bombing Wars Haven’t Ended, with 1,178 dropped under Biden

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

The Pentagon has finally published its first Airpower Summary since President Biden took office nearly a year ago. These monthly reports have been published since 2007 to document the number of bombs and missiles dropped by U.S.-led air forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria since 2004. But President Trump stopped publishing them after February 2020, […]

Pentagon

Congress Keeps Spending Nearly 1/4 of our Budget on the Pentagon, but it Hasn’t won any Wars for Decades

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Professional sports is a cutthroat business. Succeed and the people running the show reap rich rewards. Fail to meet expectations and you get handed your walking papers. American-style war in the twenty-first century is quite a different matter. Of course, war is not a game. The stakes on the battlefield are […]