War

By James Carroll | – (Tomdispatch.com) – It was only an announcement, but think of it as the beginning of a journey into hell. Last week, President Donald Trump made public his decision to abrogate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a 1987 agreement with the Soviet Union. National Security Advisor John Bolton, a Cold […]

War

All America’s Quagmires: Why We’re still at War in so Many Countries

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – As America enters the 18th year of its war in Afghanistan and its 16th in Iraq, the war on terror continues in Yemen, Syria, and parts of Africa, including Libya,Niger, and Somalia. Meanwhile, the Trump administration threatens yet more war, this time with Iran. (And given these last years, just how do […]

nuclear weapons

Moving toward a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

H. Patricia Hynes

(Informed Comment) – Seventy-three years ago, on August 6 and August 9, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This tragic act launched an arms race in nuclear weapons, now spread to nine countries. After the first atomic blast, which killed 100,000 residents of Hiroshima immediately, the grievous […]

War

The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire

H. Patricia Hynes

Review of “The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire” by Stephen Kinzer By the final decade of the 19th century, the American project sanctified as Manifest Destiny was complete. The western boundary of the United States now stretched to the Pacific Ocean, leaving in its wake the genocide of […]

War

Bankrupting Ourselves to Death: How We’re Borrowing to Fight the Wars we’re Losing

Stephanie Savell

Providence ( Tomdispatch.com) – In the name of the fight against terrorism, the United States is currently waging “credit-card wars” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Never before has this country relied so heavily on deficit spending to pay for its conflicts. The consequences are expected to be ruinous for the long-term fiscal health of […]

Nuclear weapons

Quiet Armageddon: Pentagon’s Hush-Hush new B-21 Stealth Bomber can Carry Nukes

William J. Astore

Yarmouth Port, MA ( Tomdispatch.com) – Did you know the U.S. Air Force is working on a new stealth bomber? Don’t blame yourself if you didn’t, since the project is so secret that most members of Congress aren’t privy to the details. (Talk about stealthy!) Known as the B-21 Raider, after General Doolittle’s Raiders of […]

Donald Trump

Even though we keep Bombing Weddings, Americans can’t See the extremist in the Mirror

Tom Engelhardt

They are the extremists. If you need proof, look no further than the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the latest wave of suicide bombings has proven devastating. Recently, for instance, a fanatic set off his explosives among a group of citizens lining up outside a government office to register to vote in upcoming elections. At least […]

Israel

Lost in the debate on Iran: Israel’s Nukes and the Vanunu Case

John Buell

Recently there was an extraordinary moment on corporate TV. Late last month CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Does Israel have nuclear capabilities and nuclear weapons, yes or no?” Netanyahu responded evasively, claiming: “we’ve always been the first to say we wouldn’t introduce it so we haven’t introduced it.” After Cuomo continued […]

Donald Trump

The Imperial Presidency was always a Peril but now Volatile Trump can take us to War

Danny Sjursen

It may be too late. The president of the United States is now a veritable autocrat in the realm of foreign policy. He has been since at least 1945, when the last congressionally declared war finally ended. Wars in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen (among other places) were all […]