Originally posted at TomDispatch. Drones seemed to come out of nowhere, sexy as the latest iPhones and armed to kill. They were all-seeing eyes in the sky (“a constant stare,” as drone promoters liked to say) and surgically precise in their ability to...
April 5th marked the five year anniversary of WikiLeaks publication of the Collateral Murder Video. The footage of a secret US military video depicted an Apache helicopter killing Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters journalists. It provided an uncensored view of...
"Pat, sometimes it seems like our friends want me to go over the cliff with flags flying," President Reagan once told me. Today, it is "Bibi" Netanyahu and the neocons howling "kill the deal" and "bomb Iran" who are shoving the...
Unfortunately, in the 24/7/365 media age, fearmongering has never been easier. The around the clock cable news coverage of an extremely rare event – a co-pilot's alleged mass murder of passengers aboard one of 40 million flights worldwide annually – is a case in...
The other day, as I was reading through the New York Times, I came upon this headline: “Powerful Afghan Police Chief Killed in Kabul.” His name was Matiullah Khan. He had once been “an illiterate highway patrol commander” in an obscure southern...
In December 2011, the United States sold $30 billion worth of weapons to the monarchy of Saudi Arabia. Included in the sale were 84 F-15 fighter jets, which are now “at the core” of the Saudi war in Yemen. This fact, and numerous others about the Kingdom have received...
A final, comprehensive agreement is yet to be drafted and signed, but by all indications negotiators have finally achieved a breakthrough in the decade-and-a-half-long Iranian nuclear negotiations. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) framework agreement,...
As I totter into my dotage, and start to fall apart at the seams, I've been spending more time in doctors' offices – and today is one of those days, unfortunately. Yes, I'd much rather be at home writing my column. Indeed I am taking off this week to deal with a...
