Tom Engelhardt

An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters. He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Visit his Web site. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

Making Sense of US Moves in the Middle East

Originally posted at TomDispatch. [Editor’s note: The Jewish Nation-State bill described here was passed early Thursday morning. This article was written before passage.] The report was devastating – or would have been, if anyone here had noticed it. “Between 2001 and 2017,” it concluded, “U.S. government efforts to stabilize insecure and contested areas in Afghanistan … Continue reading “Making Sense of US Moves in the Middle East”

Special Ops: 133 Countries Down, 17 to Go?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Give them credit. As TomDispatch’s Nick Turse has so vividly reported over the last decade, America’s previously “elite” Special Operations forces — once small, specially trained units in a large military — have now essentially become a military in their own right, all 70,000 of them (larger, in fact, than many … Continue reading “Special Ops: 133 Countries Down, 17 to Go?”

Weaponized Keynesianism in Washington

Who could forget it? There were the $37 screws (no need to say who was getting screwed), the $2,043 nut (McDonnell Douglas made it specially for the U.S. Navy), the $7,622 coffee pot, the $74,165 aluminum ladder, and the $640 plastic toilet seats for the Air Force. All of those examples of Pentagon waste were … Continue reading “Weaponized Keynesianism in Washington”

How America’s Wars Fund Inequality at Home

Originally posted at TomDispatch. On the campaign trail in 2016, Donald Trump wasn’t shy when it came to the issue of debt. As he told Norah O’Donnell of CBS This Morning at the time, “I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I’ve made a fortune by using … Continue reading “How America’s Wars Fund Inequality at Home”

Is a War With China on the Horizon?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. There’s no other imperial tradition like it. For two millennia, dynasty after dynasty rose and fell, spread and shrank, reaching into Southeast Asia and far out into the steppes of Eurasia, its commercial fleets — 3,500 ships in the fourteenth century — voyaging as far as Africa. It’s true that ours … Continue reading “Is a War With China on the Horizon?”

How the Last Superpower Was Unchained

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Think of it as the all-American version of the human comedy: a great power that eternally knows what the world needs and offers copious advice with a tone deafness that would be humorous, if it weren’t so grim. If you look, you can find examples of this just about anywhere. Here, … Continue reading “How the Last Superpower Was Unchained”

Promoting Islamophobia in America

Honestly, if you’re trying to grasp our strange new world, this Washington Post headline gets you at least part of the way there: “New NSC Chief of Staff Is From Group That Believes Muslims Are Plotting to Take Over U.S.” No, that NSC isn’t the National Student Clearinghouse or the Norfolk Southern Corporation or the … Continue reading “Promoting Islamophobia in America”

Not So Great Wars, Theirs and Ours

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In case you hadn’t noticed – and it wasn’t exactly front-page news – America’s eighth war commander in Afghanistan (and keep in mind that we’re only talking about this country’s second Afghan War), General John Nicholson, is about to be history. Sometime in the coming months, the ninth, Lieutenant General Austin … Continue reading “Not So Great Wars, Theirs and Ours”

The Military-Industrial Complex Strikes (Out) Again

Remember Donald Trump’s magical plan to turn $200 billion in federal money… hey, presto!… into $1.5 trillion in investment in America’s aging, underfunded infrastructure (to which the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a grade of D+ in 2017)? Why should you, especially since that plan is now officially dead in the water in Congress … Continue reading “The Military-Industrial Complex Strikes (Out) Again”