National Security State

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Decline. It’s a word that hasn’t been much in the American vocabulary, though, as retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, historian, and TomDispatch regular William Astore suggests today, it certainly should have been. In fact, you could argue that we’re talking about 30-plus years of all-American decline, during much of which, after […]

Arms Sales

The U.S. Still Spends More on Its Military Than Over 144 Nations Combined

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Ashik Siddique | Originally published in National Priorities Project. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – World military spending has reached a new record high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, according to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). That’s up 3.7% since the previous year, including the steepest increase among […]

National Security State

The Privatization of War, American-Style

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The way mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private army have been waging a significant part of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been well covered in the American media, not least of all because his firm, the Wagner Group, draws most of its men from Russia’s prison system. Wagner offers […]

National Security State

Are the Best Years of My Country Behind Me? Reflections on a Long-Ago Tour of Los Alamos and the Trinity Atomic Test Site

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – I turn 60 this year. My health is generally good, though I have aches and pains from a form of arthritis. I’m not optimistic enough to believe that the best years of my life are ahead of me, nor so pessimistic as to assume that the best years are behind me. But […]

National Security State

US Military: Losing Wars is making Recruitment Harder

Tomdispatch

By Nan Levinson ( Tomdispatch.com ) – After more than 20 years of losing wars, recruiting for the U.S. Army is now officially a mess. Last year, that service fell short of its goal by 15,000 recruits, or a quarter of its target. Despite reports of better numbers in the first months of this year, Army […]

Bush

20 Years Ago, the Bush Administration Launched the Iraq War: Juan Cole: “I Have a Bad Feeling About This”

Juan Cole

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, here are some brief blog entries Juan Cole made in the run-up to the war expressing caution and pessimism about the triumphalist rhetoric issuing from the White House and many US news organizations. Juan Cole 01/28/2003 (Remarks delivered in late 2002). The Journal of the International […]

China

Is War with China Inevitable?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – Is China really on the verge of invading the island of Taiwan, as so many top American officials seem to believe? If the answer is “yes” and the U.S. intervenes on Taiwan’s side — as President Biden has sworn it would — we could find ourselves in a major-power conflict, possibly even […]

China

At the Brink of War in the Pacific? The Nightmare of Great Power Rivalry Over Taiwan

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – While the world has been distracted, even amused, by the diplomatic tussle around China’s recent high-altitude balloon flights across North America, there are signs that Beijing and Washington are preparing for something so much more serious: armed conflict over Taiwan. Reviewing recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region raises a tried-and-true historical […]

National Security State

Children of War: The War on Terror and the Battle for Young Minds

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – During a Veterans Day celebration in my small Maryland community, a teacher clicked through a slideshow of smiling men and women in military uniforms. “Girls and boys, can anyone tell me what courage is?” she asked the crowd, mostly children from local elementary schools, including my two young kids. A boy […]