(Tomdispatch.com) – When you think about it, Earth is a relatively modest-sized planet — about 25,000 miles in circumference at the Equator, with a total surface area of 197 million square miles, almost three-quarters of which is water. It’s not so hard, if you’re in a certain frame of mind (as American officials were after […]
Our Thirty Years War of the 21st Century
New York (Tomdispatch.com) – Fair warning. Stop reading right now if you want, because I’m going to repeat myself. What choice do I have, since my subject is the Afghan War (America’s second Afghan War, no less)? I began writing about that war in October 2001, almost 17 years ago, just after the U.S. invasion […]
Is America Sclerotic or still Youthful Enough to take on Imperial Presidency and Climate Change?
There was a period in my later life when I used to say that, from the age of 20 to my late sixties, I was always 40 years old; I was, that is, an old young man and a young old one. Tell that to my legs now. Of course, there’s nothing faintly strange in […]
America’s other Crisis of Addiction besides Opioids: Trump and War
America’s addiction crisis goes deeper than prescription drugs
The Escalating Tragedy of American Imperial Overstretch
One of these days we may be facing “regime change” on a planetary scale
Don’t forget to Duck! Advice to College Graduates in the Trump Apocalypse
For those entering the workforce in 2018, the future looks grim
Blowback Machine: How our forever Wars are opening the Gates of Hell
The costs of America’s wars, still spreading in the Trump era, are incalculable
Even though we keep Bombing Weddings, Americans can’t See the extremist in the Mirror
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 […]
Ultimate Blowback: A Planet Boiling With Unintended Consequences
( Tomdispatch.com) | – – You want to see “blowback” in action? That’s easy enough. All you need is a vague sense of how Google Search works. Then type into it phrases like “warmest years,” “rising sea levels,” “melting ice,” “lengthening wildfire season,” or “future climate refugees,” and you’ll find yourself immersed in the grimmest […]