War

Why does the Pentagon Budget Really Keep Growing? When Democracies Pursue Imperial Dominance it doesn’t End Well

( Tomdispatch.com) – Imagine this scenario for a moment: a “great power” watches another major power fight a war in a nearby nation for 10 years before its army limps home defeated and, not so very long after, that country implodes. A little over a decade later, by then unofficially the “last superpower” on planet […]

NATO

Can NATO and the Pentagon Find a Diplomatic Off-Ramp From the Ukraine War?

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, known for his staunch support for Ukraine, recently revealed his greatest fear for this winter to a TV interviewer in his native Norway: that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a major war between NATO and Russia. “If things go wrong,” […]

nuclear weapons

Imagining a World Without Nuclear Weapons

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – January 22 marks the second anniversary of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a global lifeboat supported by 70% of the world’s countries. Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy’s 2023 budget request for nuclear weapons’ upgrade is more than $21 billion and close to $8 […]

Russia

The Ukraine Crisis: A Classic Security Dilemma

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – On December 27 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side will reject. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a “peace summit” in February to be chaired by UN Secretary General Guterres, but with the […]

Afghanistan

America’s Night Raids in Afghanistan: An Ongoing Nightmare

ProPublica

By Lynzy Billing. Video by Mauricio Rodríguez Pons | – Prologue March 2019 • Rodat District, Nangarhar Province This story contains graphic descriptions and images of war casualties. ( ProPublica ) – On a December night in 2018, Mahzala was jolted awake by a shuddering wave of noise that rattled her family’s small mud house. […]

nuclear weapons

The Madness of Nuclear Warfare, Alive and Well in America

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – Hey, cheer up because it truly is a beauty! I’m talking about this country’s latest “stealth bomber,” the B-21 Raider, just revealed by Northrop Grumman, the company that makes it, in all its glory. With its striking bat-winged shape and its ability to deliver a very big bang (as in nuclear weapons), […]

Children

UN: 11,000 Boys and Girls have been Killed or Wounded in the Yemeni War that the US backed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – UN News reports that 11,000 boys and girls are estimated to have been killed or wounded by direct violence in the Yemen War that has been going on since the Saudi air assault of spring 2015. The figure was released by Catherine Russell, the head of the UN children’s fund, […]

Arab World

Climate Action in Middle East is Doomed to fail without Reform and Peace

Sustainability Times

By Sustainabiity Times | – ( Sustainability Times) – The United Nations COP27 conference has now drawn to a close, with talks culminating in a historic agreement to establish a climate “loss and damage” fund. Egyptian foreign minister and president of COP27, Sameh Shoukry, celebrated after all-night negotiations, declaring that “we rose to the occasion” […]

Displaced and Refugees

Northeast Syria: Turkish Strikes Exacerbate Humanitarian Crisis

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – Turkish airstrikes since November 20, 2022, are inflicting damage on densely populated areas and critical infrastructure across north and northeast Syria and exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis for Kurds, Arabs, and other communities in the region, Human Rights Watch said today. The strikes have displaced families, caused significant power […]