International

By Peter McPhee | – We live in a world of violent challenges to the status quo, from Chile and Iraq to Hong Kong, Catalonia and the Extinction Rebellion. These protests are usually presented in the media simply as expressions of rage at “the system” and are eminently suitable for TV news coverage, where they […]

Arms Sales

America’s Arms Sales Addiction: The 50-Year History of U.S. Dominance of the Middle Eastern Arms Trade

William D. Hartung

(Tomdispatch.com) – It’s no secret that Donald Trump is one of the most aggressive arms salesmen in history. How do we know? Because he tells us so at every conceivable opportunity. It started with his much exaggerated “$110 billion arms deal” with Saudi Arabia, announced on his first foreign trip as president. It continued with […]

Donald Trump

How Trump’s Maximum Sanctions Endanger the Health of Iran’s Children, Civilians

Human Rights Watch

US Should Ensure Effective Humanitarian Exemptions

Drones

Drone Strikes and Tears

Tomdispatch

By Allegra Harpootlian | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Think back to the last time you cried at work. Did the tears come after your boss sent you a curt email? Or when you accidentally cc’d (instead of bcc’d) everyone? Maybe you just had a really, really long day and that one last little misstep pushed you […]

Far Right

Trump, Johnson, Erdogan: The International Alt-Right’s Bluster and Surrender

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – From the U.S. to the U.K. to Turkey, it is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced to retreat. It is a hallmark of right-wing populists to make a preposterous policy and then be forced — by opposition, by circumstance, by the laws […]

Culture

The Rats of Oran: The Far Right’s War on Culture

John Feffer

By John Feffer | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – The far right is on a roll. Just a few years ago, liberals and conservatives would have considered its recent political victories a nightmare scenario. Right-wing extremists have won elections in the United States, Brazil, Hungary, India, and Poland. They pushed through the Brexit referendum in the […]

Health

In the Billionaires’ America, Inequality Is Literally Killing Us

Sam Pizzigati

( Otherwords.org) – Again and again, studies show that the richer wealthy Americans become, the shorter the rest of us live. What do the folks at the U.S. Census Bureau do between the census they run every 10 years? All sorts of annual surveys, on everything from housing costs to retail sales. The most depressing […]

China

Trump, head of GOP, demands Chinese Communist Party Prosecute Businessman for Crime of Making Money

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A particularly unperceptive and unfeeling wag came up with the bon mot defining a “socialist” as someone kept up at night by the fear that somewhere someone was making money. (Socialists are actually haunted by people working but not making money because the capitalist class is stiffing them). But by […]

Climate Crisis

The New Age of Protest

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – People are hitting the streets to protest government inaction, repression, and corruption. Does that mean democracy is in trouble or stronger than ever? By John Feffer, October 2, 2019. Print School strike for climate in Melbourne (Julian Meehan via Flickr) Led by young people, climate strikers blocked traffic on two […]