The hysteria over Crimea’s secession from Ukraine and incorporation into the Russian Federation still has the Washington policy wonks all a-twitter. We even have the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (a.k.a. AIPAC) calling for US ground troops to be sent to "defend" Ukraine: apparently all military occupations are not morally equivalent. But the reality …
Continue reading “Ukraine – The Acid Test”
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Be careful what you wish for. In 2011, a Libyan rebellion began against autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. It undoubtedly reflected the wish of many Libyans for a new world of their own without his heavy hand or that of his secret police and secret prisons. Wishing to be rid of a ruler …
Continue reading “The Pentagon, Libya, and Tomorrow’s Blowback Today”
Western hysteria surrounding Russia’s seizing of Crimea is rooted in a larger problem with U.S. foreign policy – "the Munich 1938 syndrome." Ever since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain allowed Adolf Hitler to take over German-speaking portions of Czechoslovakia at a Munich meeting in 1938, appeasement has gone out of favor as a traditional, respectable …
Continue reading “Russia in Crimea: Not ‘Munich 1938’ Yet Again”
At least 55 people were killed and 44 more were wounded. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government transferred over 2,000 prisoners out of Abu Ghraib prison citing security concerns, as it is near militant-controlled areas.
On our TV talk shows and op-ed pages, and in our think tanks here, there is rising alarm over events abroad. And President Obama is widely blamed for the perceived decline in worldwide respect for the United States. Yet, still, one hears no clamor from Middle America for “Action This Day!” to alter the perception …
Continue reading “The End of Ideology?”
Your doctors are worried about your health – in fact, about your very survival. No, they’re not necessarily your own personal physicians, but, rather, medical doctors around the world, represented by groups like International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). As you might recall, that organization, composed of many thousands of medical professionals …
Continue reading “Your Doctors Are Worried”
Happy families are all alike: every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina The opening to Tolstoy’s great novel of love and tragedy could be a metaphor for Europe today, where “unhappy families” of Catalans, Scots, Belgians, Ukrainians, and Italians contemplate divorcing the countries they are currently a part …
Continue reading “Continental Drift: Europe’s Breakaways”
At least 57 people were killed today, and another 19 were wounded. Most of the fatalities were militants. Also, militants were able to shut down the Falluja Dam a day after authorities said it was completely reopened.
The US government’s attempt to utilize social media in an effort to subvert the Cuban government dramatizes how and why such efforts are not only doomed to failure, but also why they have nothing whatsoever to do with the cause of liberty. Last month, the Associated Press exposed the provenance of ZunZuneo, a Cuban version …
Continue reading “Washington, the Great Betrayer”
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Let me explain why writing the introduction to today’s post by TomDispatch Managing Editor Nick Turse is such a problem. In these intros, I tend to riff off the ripples of news that regularly surround whatever subject an author might be focusing on. So when it comes to the U.S. military, …
Continue reading “AFRICOM Becomes a ‘War-Fighting Combatant Command’” 
