National Security State

By Tom Engelardt | (Tomdispatch.com) Well, it’s one, two, three, look at that amputee,At least it’s below the knee,Could have been worse, you see.Well, it’s true your kids look at you differently,But you came in an ambulance instead of a hearse,That’s the phrase of the trade,It could have been worse. — First verse of a Vietnam-era […]

Featured

GOP’s Scott Walker: Pitches possible Syria War to make us Like Him

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Likely Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, says he might favor sending US ground troops to mount a conventional war against Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) in Syria or at least wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s see. The Bush administration invaded Iraq in 2003 on false pretenses of […]

Militarization

War Is the New Normal: Seven Deadly Reasons Why America’s Wars Persist

contributors

By William J. Astore | (Tomdispatch.com) – It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Pentagon insiders called it “the long war,” an open-ended, perhaps unending, conflict against nations and terror networks mainly of a […]

Iran

GOP Pres. Candidates warn Iran Nukes can hit NYC (despite No Nukes, ICBMs)

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) – “”Three likely presidential candidates shared the stage Sunday night before a roomful of wealthy donors, engaging in a rapid-fire policy discussion that underscored sharp disagreement within the GOP over global affairs and national security. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul took part in a largely […]

Government surveillance

America’s Walking Dead: The Perpetual War Machine

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) When it comes to the national security state, our capital has become a thought-free zone. The airlessness of the place, the unwillingness of leading players in the corridors of power to explore new ways of approaching crucial problems is right there in plain sight, yet remarkably unnoticed. Consider this the […]

Barack Obama

Netanyahu Imported by GOP to ensure Iran War

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Republican House Majority leader John Boehner secretly invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Washington to address Congress and then once it was set up he let Barack Obama know about it. The reason for bringing Netanyahu is that Boehner wants to craft a super-majority in Congress that […]

Barack Obama

Obama to GOP: More Iran sanctions lead to War (& 7 other Foreign Policy points in SOTU)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address slighted foreign policy in favor of touting domestic progress and proposing new domestic initiatives. But there were some foreign policy highlights worth underlining. 1. Obama pushed back hard against hawks like Senator John McCain, who want to ramp up a […]

Barack Obama

Obama wants new Mil. Authority, but Special Ops already on Missions in 105 Countries in 2015

contributors

By Nick Turse | (Tomdispatch.com) — In the dead of night, they swept in aboard V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Landing in a remote region of one of the most volatile countries on the planet, they raided a village and soon found themselves in a life-or-death firefight. It was the second time in two weeks that […]

Militarization

How the US Nat’l Security State goes on Failing Upward

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) As 2015 begins, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Imagine that it’s January 1963. For the last three years, the United States has unsuccessfully faced off against a small island in the Caribbean, where a revolutionary named Fidel Castro seized power from a corrupt but U.S.-friendly regime run by […]