War

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Here’s a scenario to consider: a military force has purchased a million cheap, disposable flying drones each the size of a deck of cards, each capable of carrying three grams of explosives — enough to kill a single person or, in a “shaped charge,” pierce a steel wall. They’ve been programmed […]

Authoritarianism

Dick Cheney says he doesn’t Recognize current GOP, but he Helped pave way for Insurrection

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Vice President Dick Cheney accompanied his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), to the Capitol on Thursday to join the moment of silence in commemoration of the Jan. 6 insurrection. They were the only Republicans to attend. The elder Cheney was quoted as saying of the Republican House leadership, “It’s […]

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 […]

Displaced and Refugees

Urgent UN Action needed on Yemen Atrocities to end “Pandemic of Impunity”

Human Rights Watch

Human rights Watch – (New York) – The United Nations General Assembly should act swiftly to establish an investigative mechanism to gather and preserve evidence of serious human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war in Yemen, a coalition of more than 60 organizations said. Failure to act would not only be a […]

China

Countdown to World War III with China?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When the Department of Defense released its annual report on Chinese military strength in early November, one claim generated headlines around the world. By 2030, it suggested, China would probably have 1,000 nuclear warheads — three times more than at present and enough to pose a substantial threat to the United […]

Militarization

No, Modern Warfare is not “Accurate” or “Accountable” and dead Innocents are not “Collateral Damage”

The Conversation

By Lauren Gould, Jolle Demmers, and Nora Stel | – The US military is facing allegations it covered up civilian casualty cases in the US-led coalition war against Islamic State (IS). It’s an issue that has drawn attention to one of the most worrying aspects of US and coalition involvement in the Middle East: the […]

Militarization

The Costs of War (to You): Where So Much of Our Money Really Went

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – As a Navy spouse of 10 years and counting, my life offers an up-close view of our country’s priorities when it comes to infrastructure and government spending. Recently, my husband, a naval officer currently serving with the Department of Energy, spent a week with colleagues touring a […]

Militarization

The Pentagon as Penta-god: America’s Abyss of Weapons and Warmaking

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – Who is America’s god? The Christian god of the beatitudes, the one who healed the sick, helped the poor, and preached love of neighbor? Not in these (dis)United States. In the Pledge of Allegiance, we speak proudly of One Nation under God, but in the aggregate, this country doesn’t serve or worship […]

Climate Crisis

COP26: how the world’s Militaries hide their huge Carbon Emissions

The Conversation

By Doug Weir, Benjamin Neimark, and Oliver Belcher | – Climate change leadership requires more than stirring speeches. It means facing up to hard truths. One truth that governments around the world are struggling with is the immense contribution their militaries are making to the climate crisis. For example, the US Department of Defense is […]