Originally posted at TomDispatch. What are the odds? You put about $68 billion annually into a maze of 17 major intelligence outfits. You build them glorious headquarters. You create a global surveillance state for the ages. You listen in on your citizenry and gather...
China Is a Paper Tiger
The rise of China as America’s chief rival on the international stage has long been a staple of our foreign policy pundits’ alleged wisdom. The Chinese, simply by virtue of their enormous population, have been deemed the inheritors of the earth. China, we are told,...
Attack of the Five Monarchies
It is the irony of ironies. A cadre of repressive monarchies is chosen to liberate the captive peoples of Iraq and Syria from the tyranny of ISIS. Combating a group known for its violent sectarianism, the five Arab allies ordered by the United States to participate in...
3,790 Killed Across Iraq in September
DHS Is a Mess
After an intruder was able to jump over the fence and enter the White House, the Secret Service, an agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is talking about augmenting security procedures and widening the White House security perimeter to include...
Most Americans Say US Gives Too Much Aid to Israel
Most Americans believe the United States is giving too much foreign aid to Israel according to an online survey. The American Public Opinion on U.S. Aid to Israel (PDF) survey was fielded via Google Consumer Surveys between September 26-29, 2014 as a necessary...
At Least 246 killed across Iraq As Battles Rage near Baghdad
They’re Making Up Stuff
It’s hard to keep the American people engaged with foreign affairs: notoriously "isolationist," we just can’t stay interested in the various overseas "threats" our rulers would have us in a panic over. While Al Qaeda was Washington’s biggest...