War

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Iraqi Army and its Shiite militia adjuncts have taken Kirkuk city and raised the Iraqi flag over the state house, taking down the Kurdistan flag. They also have an army base and oil fields in Kirkuk province, which they are returning to the control of […]

Displaced and Refugees

More civilian Airstrike Deaths under Trump than in 8 years of Obama

contributors

By Steven Feldstein | (The Conversation) | – – When President Donald Trump took office in January, it was unclear whether the bombast from his campaign would translate into an aggressive new strategy against terrorism. At campaign rallies he pledged to “bomb the hell” out of the Islamic State. He openly mused about killing the […]

Donald Trump

Trump wants 10-fold increase in Atom Bombs but is after Iran, which has none

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As far as I can figure, the US presently has about 6,800 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down to 4018 once it dismantles those scheduled to be decommissioned, by 2023. The Russian Federation has about 7,000 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down […]

Epidemics

Yemen Cholera cases heading to 1 Mn. amid Saudi-led War

The Conversation

By Edna Bonhomme | (The Conversation) | – – As of October 1, 771,945 people in Yemen have been infected with cholera and 2,134 have died from the disease. The epidemic, rare on such a scale in contemporary times, reemerged as a formidable force last year due to Yemen’s ongoing civil war. The Saudi Arabia-led […]

Donald Trump

As Trump seeks Defense Budget Increase, Pentagon Pork fattens Private Contractors to do Nothing

contributors

By William D. Hartung | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Here’s a question for you: How do you spell boondoggle? The answer (in case you didn’t already know): P-e-n-t-a-g-o-n. Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department’s already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is […]

Afghanistan

What if we Gave Seven Wars and No Americans Noticed?

contributors

By Andrew J. Bacevich | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts. First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven. Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less. Nor can it be […]

Donald Trump

Was Ayatollah Khamenei right about Washington? Trump Reneges

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump appears likely to attempt to derail the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA]), next week. The deal curbs Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and prevents it from using the program to do more than create fuel for power plants. Trump will argue […]

journalism

Getting the Story: Combat Journalists and the Fixers they Depend On

contributors

By Nick Turse | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – We were already roaring down the road when the young man called to me over his shoulder. There was a woman seated between us on the motorbike and with the distance, his accent, the rushing air, and the engine noise, it took a moment for me to […]

Climate Change

Tweeting while the Planet Burns: Dystopia 2025

Juan Cole

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – It’s January 2025, and within days of entering the Oval Office, a new president already faces his first full-scale crisis abroad. Twenty-four years after it began, the war on terror, from the Philippines to Nigeria, rages on. In 2024 alone, the U.S. launched repeated air […]