War

Will the West Turn Ukraine into a Nuclear Battlefield? Why Depleted Uranium Should Have No Place There

By Joshua Frank | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – It’s sure to be a blood-soaked spring in Ukraine. Russia’s winter offensive fell far short of Vladimir Putin’s objectives, leaving little doubt that the West’s conveyor belt of weaponry has aided Ukraine’s defenses. Cease-fire negotiations have never truly begun, while NATO has only strengthened its forces thanks […]

Far Right

Sudan crisis Explained: What’s behind the latest Fighting and its Roots in the Past

The Conversation

By Christopher Tounsel, University of Washington | – Days of violence in Sudan have resulted in the deaths of at least 180 people, with many more left wounded. The fighting represents the latest crisis in the North African nation, which has contended with numerous coups and periods of civil strife since becoming independent in 1956. […]

Artificial Intelligence

Weaponizing ChatGPT? The Pentagon Girds for Mid-Century Wars

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com )- Why is the Pentagon budget so high? On March 13th, the Biden administration unveiled its $842 billion military budget request for 2024, the largest ask (in today’s dollars) since the peaks of the Afghan and Iraq wars. And mind you, that’s before the hawks in Congress get their hands on it. Last […]

US Foreign Policy

Will it Never Stop? From Forever War to Eternal War

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – “It is time,” President Biden announced in April 2021, “to end the forever war” that started with the invasion of Afghanistan soon after the tragic terror attacks on this country on September 11, 2001. Indeed, that August, amid chaos and disaster, the president did finally pull the last remaining U.S. forces […]

nuclear weapons

90 Seconds to Midnight: The Doomsday Clock and Me

Frida Berrigan

(Tomdispatch.com ) – I’m not a TikTok person. I’m too old. But when I finally ventured onto that popular but much-maligned app, which traffics in short videos and hot takes, I was surprised to find many videos about the Doomsday Clock. It’s nothing like a conventional timepiece, of course. It’s meant to show how close […]

Arms Sales

Can Iran and Russia’s Arms Swapping Sustain A Lasting Defense Partnership?

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Michael Scollon ( RFE/RL ) – When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Moscow in early 2022, he had high hopes of leaving with defense deals that would circumvent international sanctions and take advantage of the expiration of a United Nations embargo on arms trading with Tehran. Russian fighter jets, advanced antimissile defense […]

Climate Crisis

Savage Capitalism: From Climate Change to Bank Failures to War

Tomdispatch

By David Barsamian and Noam Chomsky | – [The following is excerpted from David Barsamian’s recent interview with Noam Chomsky at AlternativeRadio.org.] David Barsamian: On March 20th, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest report. The new IPCC assessment from senior scientists warned that there’s little time to lose in tackling the […]

Climate Crisis

As Tax Day Approaches: Is the Federal Budget Moral or Immoral?

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – April, the month tax filings are due, prompts us to ponder what our income taxes pay for. Are they used to provide all citizens sufficient resources and public goods for human security and well-being – the core of our national security? How much of our taxes pay […]

Nonviolence

The Tragic U.S. Choice to Prioritize War Over Peacemaking

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – In a brilliant Op-Ed published in the New York Times, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi explained how China, with help from Iraq, was able to mediate and resolve the deeply-rooted conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, whereas the United States was in no position to do so after siding with […]