National Security State

( Code Pink) – In 2004, journalist Ron Susskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.” He dismissed Susskind’s assumption that public policy must be rooted in “the reality-based community.” “We’re history’s actors,” the advisor told him, “…and […]

Constitution

Conservatives worked for Decades to build an Imperial Presidency, and it Gave them Trump and now Biden

Juan Cole

By Tom Engelhardt | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Joe Biden’s got a problem — and so do I. And so, in fact, do we. At 76 years old, you’d think I’d experienced it all when it comes to this country and its presidencies. Or most of it, anyway. I’ve been around since Franklin D. Roosevelt […]

National Security State

Demilitarizing Our Democracy: How the National Security State Has Come to Dominate a “Civilian” Government

Tomdispatch

By Mandy Smithberger and William Hartung | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – This month’s insurrection at the Capitol revealed the dismal failure of the Capitol Police and the Department of Defense to use their expertise and resources to thwart a clear and present danger to our democracy. As the government reform group Public Citizen tweeted, […]

Joe Biden

The Rubble of Empire: Doctrines of Disaster and Dreams of Security as the Biden Years Begin

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – How can you tell when your empire is crumbling? Some signs are actually visible from my own front window here in San Francisco. Directly across the street, I can see a collection of tarps and poles (along with one of my own garbage cans) that were used to construct a makeshift […]

Donald Trump

Has Trump’s last-minute Purge of Defense Agencies Put America in Danger?

The Conversation

By Arie Perliger | – President Donald Trump’s recent firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and subsequent resignations from the department of four more top civilian officials – either in protest or under pressure – are raising alarms in Washington. All were replaced by people with questionable qualifications. One defense official described the situation to […]

Democratic Party

With Barrett on the Court, if Trump is Reelected and goes Full Mussolini, Can he be Stopped?

Michael G. Roskin

Williamsport, PA (Special to Informed Comment) – “A republic, if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin famously described the new Constitution in 1787. Well, can Americans, including the Republicans, keep it, or will they let it slide into authoritarianism? I, like Franklin, am an optimist, but we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that […]

Donald Trump

Ending the Pentagon’s Pandemic of Spending

Tomdispatch

By Mandy Smithberger | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) -The inadequate response of both the federal and state governments to the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the United States, creating what could only be called a national security crisis. More than 190,000 Americans are dead, approximately half of them people of color. Yelp […]

Militarization

Generals to the End: Patton and Westmoreland walk into a Bar . . .

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I’ve written a fair number of pieces for TomDispatch, but this one is a bit different — some might even say strange — so Tom asked me to introduce it myself. By almost any measure, we Americans are living through trying times. As a nation, we are long accustomed to being […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Did the US War on Terror Displace 37 Million?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Brown University Watson Institute Costs of War Project has put out a report concluding that the US-led “War on Terror” has displaced 37 million people. While there are parts of the report I agree with, some of the argument seems to me flawed. Let me explain why that is, […]