Appellate Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown: Democracy Is Broken and Congressional Oversight is a Joke
A senior judge has today described American democracy as “broken” and Congressional oversight a “joke” in failing to check the US drone killing program. In a concurring opinion in the … Continue reading
Andrew J. Bacevich: What Obsessing About You-Know-Who Causes Us To Miss
24 Key Issues That Neither the Washington Elite Nor the Media Consider Worth Their Bother Donald Trump’s election has elicited impassioned affirmations of a renewed commitment to unvarnished truth-telling from … Continue reading
Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese: A Failing Empire
The United States is a failing empire: the domestic economy has fallen to a level equivalent to a developing nation for most of us while the stock markets, especially for weapons-makers, are … Continue reading
Michael Gregory: Battleship America
Most Americans, like most people in the world for the past hundred years, have lived with the threat of war hanging over them, or have been in actual combat. For … Continue reading
Tom Engelhardt: The Sweet Nostalgia for War
Donald Trump and the triumph of fantasy The other day, I walked across much of Manhattan Island on the street where I grew up. Once upon a time, in a … Continue reading
Tom Engelhardt: A 9/11 Retrospective — Washington’s 15-Year Air War
Bombs Away! Their Precision Weaponry and Ours. On the morning of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda launched its four-plane air force against the United States. On board were its precision weapons: … Continue reading
W.J. Astore: The Many Purposes of War
Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military theorist who wrote at the end of the Napoleonic Era, is noted for saying that war is a continuation of politics. That saying explains … Continue reading
Alfred W. McCoy: How a Pink Flower Defeated the World’s Sole Superpower
America’s Opium War in Afghanistan After fighting the longest war in its history, the United States stands at the brink of defeat in Afghanistan. How can this be possible? How … Continue reading
George Monbiot: Surgical Strike
The US bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan is just one symptom of comprehensive military failure. “The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.” This … Continue reading
Robert Koehler: Why Bombing a Hospital is a War Crime
U.S bombs hospital in Afghanistan, kills 22 people including three children, apologizes, promises to investigate itself. “We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings. I cannot … Continue reading
David Vine: Garrisoning the Globe
How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Undermine National Security and Harm Us All With the U.S. military having withdrawn many of its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans would be … Continue reading
W. J. Astore: The United States of Militarism
A century ago, the USA was a dynamic, forward-looking, freedom-espousing country that was focused on science and technology and its practical applications, as represented by Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. … Continue reading
W.J. Astore: America’s Military Strategy? Persistent Overreach
Reports that President Obama is considering even more troops and bases to fight ISIS in Iraq put me to mind of Roman general Publius Quinctilius Varus. Two millennia ago, Varus … Continue reading
Daniel N. White: The Fish Rots from the Head — My Q&A with Admiral William McRaven
A strange turn of fate now makes Admiral (retired) William McRaven, formerly head of US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), a neighbor of mine. He’s the new Chancellor of the University … Continue reading →