US politics

New York ( Tomdispatch.com) – For almost 20 years, U.S. drone warfare was largely one-sided. Unlike Afghans and Yemenis, Iraqis and Somalis, Americans never had to worry about lethal robots hovering overhead and raining down missiles. Until, that is, one appeared in the skies above Florida. But that’s a story for later. For now, let’s […]

Donald Trump

Should Trump Have the Discretion to Murder at Will? His Drones Are at It

Rebecca Gordon

San Francisco (Tomdispatch.com) – They are like the camel’s nose, lifting a corner of the tent. Don’t be fooled, though. It won’t take long until the whole animal is sitting inside, sipping your tea and eating your sweets. In countries around the world — in the Middle East, Asia Minor, Central Asia, Africa, even the […]

Government surveillance

Israeli Gov’t directly involved in Cyberbullying, Stalking of our US Students: MESA

Judith E. Tucker

Tucson, Az. (Middle East Studies Association of North America [MESA]) – May 23, 2018 Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan gerdan@knesset.gov.il sar@mops.gov.il Dear Minister Erdan: We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to express our dismay that the Israeli government has been […]

Donald Trump

Will biggest victim of Trump Golden Shower Diplomacy be global Rule of Law?

Alfred W. McCoy

Madison, Wi. ( Tomdispatch.com) Month by month, tweet by tweet, the events of the past two years have made it clearer than ever that Washington’s once-formidable global might is indeed fading. As the American empire unravels with previously unimagined speed, there are many across this country’s political spectrum who will not mourn its passing. Both […]

Constitution

In growing Constitutional Crisis, Trump attacks CIA, FBI over Investigations

Paul Handley

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump attacked the probe into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia as a “political hit job” on Monday, as a part of a mounting White House effort to paint the probe as politically motivated. In the latest salvo from Trump’s administration and his Republican Party, the president assailed former […]

Donald Trump

How Pompeo’s “Severest Sanctions” on Iran will Backfire

Juan Cole

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech on new sanctions on Iran lays out a wide range of Iranian behavior he would like to change, and specified harsh US financial sanctions as his instrument. Pompeo, a Kansas oil man backed by the Koch brothers, is just a former congressman and a virulent Christian fundamentalist with white […]

Donald Trump

Trump Collusion: How afraid should we be of Mohammed Bin Zayed of the UAE?

Juan Cole

Another meeting between the Trump campaign and a representative of the leader of the United Arab Emirates has been uncovered by the New York Times’s Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman, and David Kirkpatrick, this one in August of 2016. The gathering at Trump Tower was arranged by George Nader, a Lebanese-American international fixer with ties to […]

Donald Trump

The Bolton Administration Has Already Begun

John Feffer

The hard-right national security adviser successfully tanked the Iran deal. His next target? The North Korea talks. For a man with a reputation for venting spleen and flying off the handle, John Bolton bided his time before finally rising to the position of power he now occupies. The former U.S. ambassador to the UN spent […]

Featured

Gun Epidemic: Pakistani Exchange Student killed by Santa Fe, TX, Shooter was no Safer in US than at Home

Juan Cole

Just to note the irony that a Pakistani exchange student, Sabika Sheikh, was among the (so far) 10 persons killed in the school massacre at Santa Fe, Texas. Pakistan has seen a stark reduction in deaths from terrorism in recent years. The Global Terrorism Index for 2017 says that “Pakistan also recorded a decrease in […]