There were plenty of important statements from Pope Francis during his recent three-day trip to Palestine and Israel – including a plea for “justice,” a traditional call for peace, and a reference to the “State of Palestine” – but at the end of the day it...
Our Pathological Fear of Cutting Federal Budgets and Agencies
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the Platonic Ideal of a government entity, at least in these United States. TSA is oppressive, it subjects people to indignities, and its paranoid goal of keeping us safe from terrorists is being done – by most...
No Place To Hide
With heart-pounding suspense, John le Carre-like intrigue and Jeffersonian fidelity to the principles of human freedom, Glenn Greenwald has just published No Place to Hide. The book, which reads like a thriller, is Greenwald’s story of his nonstop two weeks of work in...
Premature US Victory-Dancing on Ukraine
Washington’s role in the coup d’etat in Kiev on Feb. 22 has brought the U.S. a Pyrrhic victory, with the West claiming control of Ukraine albeit with a shaky grip that still requires the crushing of anti-coup rebels in the east. But the high-fiving may be short-lived...
Bombers Strike in Baghdad and Mosul; 94 Killed, 116 Wounded Across Iraq
US Alliances Lead Asian Allies to Be More Antagonistic Toward China
President Barack Obama’s "pivot" to Asia is directed at strengthening U.S. Cold War era alliances to tacitly contain a rising China. However, that means that even minor disputes between American allies and China could drag the United States into a shooting...
Euroskepticism and Its Discontents
The conventional wisdom is nearly always wrong, and rarely so wrong as when it comes to the EU elections, the results of which are being trumpeted as the triumph of the "far right." The more alarmist among these uniformly pro-EU commentators are even...
HRW Alleges Iraq Gov’t Targeting Civilians; 78 KIlled, 83 Wounded
Bombs, Shootings Take Their Toll Across Iraq; 43 Killed, 76 Wounded
The VA Scandal Is Just the Tip of the Military Abuse Iceberg
President Obama held a press conference last week to express his outrage over reports that the Veterans Administration was routinely delaying treatment to veterans, with some veterans even dying while on alleged secret waiting lists. The president said that, “if these...