More than half a century ago, Congress passed the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Since mid-April, US president Donald Trump has twice invoked one of the law’s nearly forgotten provisions, ordering Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to investigate the possibility that steel and aluminum imports “threaten to impair the national security.” If Ross says they do …
Continue reading “‘National Security’: The Last Refuge of Vote-Buying Politicians”
Justin is under the weather, his column will return Friday. Like the child who innocently asks “Where are the Emperor’s clothes?” Donald Trump has once again blurted out a truth that none of the “adults” in the room are supposed to acknowledge. In an interview with Reuters, the President averred: “On the THAAD system, it’s …
Continue reading “Why Defend South Korean Ingrates?”
4,033 were killed in Iraq and another 629 were wounded during April. At least 288 were killed and 20 were wounded in recent violence.
A U.S. servicemember was killed in an explosion near Mosul.
There’s little more we can do than hope that some cool heads around Donald Trump are telling him he’d be nuts to attack North Korea. I don’t know who they might be. Still, we must hope. It doesn’t take a lifetime of study to know that, fortunately, no military resolution of the standoff is available. …
Continue reading “Talk to, Don’t Provoke, North Korea”
AN OPEN MEMORANDUM FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE From: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) Subject: Mattis ‘No Doubt’ Stance on Alleged Syrian CW Smacks of Politicized Intelligence Donald Trump’s new Secretary of Defense, retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, during a recent trip to Israel, commented on the issue of Syria’s retention and use …
Continue reading “Mattis’ Politicized Intelligence on Syrian Chemical Claim”
On April 26th, 2017, in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, the Saudi-led coalition which has been waging war in Yemen for the past two years dropped leaflets informing Hodeidah’s residents of an impending attack. One leaflet read: "Our forces of legitimacy are heading to liberate Hodeidah and end the suffering of our gracious Yemeni people. …
Continue reading “The Shame of Killing Innocent People”
A suicide bomber targeted a police station in the Karrada district.
A lot of my job as editorial director of Antiwar.com is cutting through the veil of obfuscation with which the War Party masks its ill intentions. But sometimes you don’t even have to read between the lines to see what our conniving rulers are up to. Such is the case with the current war scare …
Continue reading “Phony Hysterics Over North Korea”
Has President Donald Trump outsourced foreign policy to the generals? So it would seem. Candidate Trump held out his hand to Vladimir Putin. He rejected further U.S. intervention in Syria other than to smash ISIS. He spoke of getting out and staying out of the misbegotten Middle East wars into which Presidents Bush II and …
Continue reading “The Rise of the Generals” 
