US politics

Washington (AFP) – John Bolton, the influential White House national security advisor, said Tuesday he will not listen to the tape recording of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder because he doesn’t understand Arabic. The gruesome tape — a key piece of evidence in the murder allegedly ordered by US ally Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed […]

Donald Trump

Trump wants out of Mideast, blames Oil and Israel for Having to Stay

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Trump bruited the notion of removing US troops from the Middle East. He said that Israel and oil were the only reasons the US was in the region and that oil no longer justified the US military presence. The Post reported: […]

Pentagon

Into the Maws of the Lost “Long War”: Trump sends Abizaid to Saudi Arabia

Andrew J. Bacevich

What does President Trump’s recent nomination of retired Army General John Abizaid to become the next U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia signify? Next to nothing — and arguably quite a lot. Abizaid’s proposed appointment is both a non-event and an opportunity not to be wasted. It means next to nothing in this sense: while once […]

Corruption

‘Blue Wave’ Dems in House to Probe Trump Money ties to Saudis & Russians

AFP

Washington (AFP) – Democrats intend to probe US President Donald Trump’s financial ties to determine whether they are the “hidden hand” driving US foreign policy on Russia and Saudi Arabia, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday. Adam Schiff, currently the ranking Democrat on that committee, accused Trump of being “dishonest” about […]

Bernie Sanders

Democrats Need to Go Bold on Wages, Ed, or Why would their Big Win Matter?

Sam Pizzigati

(Otherwords.org) – Tony Maxwell, a retired African-American naval officer, was trying to get his Jacksonville, Florida neighbor to go vote with him. The young neighbor, a high-school-dropout, had no interest. “Voting,” the young man declared, “doesn’t change anything.” Can Democrats use their newly won House majority to reach that dispirited young man in Jacksonville? That […]

Supreme Court

John Roberts, SCOTUS Chief Justice, Slams Trump in Extraordinary Rebuke

AFP

Washington (AFP) – US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump on Wednesday after the president criticized a ruling he said was handed down by an “Obama judge.” “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement to the […]

Donald Trump

He Really did intend to Lock Her Up: Trump went after Clinton and Comey

AFP

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump wanted prosecutions opened against his 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton and ex-FBI director James Comey, according to a report in The New York Times on Tuesday. The report, quoting unnamed sources, said that Trump’s wish earlier this year prompted his then White House lawyer, Donald McGahn, to advise him […]

National Security State

US Planetary Military: From Failed Mideast Counter-Insurgency to Nuclear Brinkmanship

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – American militarism has gone off the rails — and this middling career officer should have seen it coming. Earlier in this century, the U.S. military not surprisingly focused on counterinsurgency as it faced various indecisive and seemingly unending wars across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. Back in 2008, when I […]

Donald Trump

Ivanka Trump’s use of Personal Email for Gov’t Business called a “blatant derogation of the law.”

AFP

Washington (AFP) – The US president’s daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump used a personal email account for government business in violation of federal records rules, The Washington Post reported Monday. The Post, citing anonymous sources, said the discovery was made by White House officials reviewing emails in response to a public records lawsuit. When […]