Any attempt to provide a coherent account of the political strife afflicting Yemen is bound to fail. The country is crucible of contradictions that defy normal categories of rational analysis. If we look beyond the political fog that envelops the conflict the tragic circumstances of acute suffering imposed on the civilian population do emerge with …
Continue reading “Yemen Catastrophe: Beset by Contradictions of Will and Intellect”
At least 36 were killed across Iraq and 20 were wounded, including a journalist.
"Do you realize now what you have done?" So Vladimir Putin in his U.N. address summarized his indictment of a U.S. foreign policy that has produced a series of disasters in the Middle East that we did not need the Russian leader to describe for us. Fourteen years after we invaded Afghanistan, Afghan troops are …
Continue reading “The Mind of Mr. Putin”
Sustaining America’s state of post-9/11 perpetual war requires skillful manipulation of the public at home. The key tool used for this purpose is the bloodless narrative, a combination of careful policy, deliberate falsehoods, and media manipulation that creates the impression that America’s wars have few consequences, at least for Americans. How can the American government …
Continue reading “Sustaining Perpetual War: The Bloodless Narrative”
As Russian fighter jets target al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, the Western media is up in arms – and in denial. They deny the Russians are taking on ISIS – and they are indignant that Putin is targeting al-Qaeda, which is almost never referred to by its actual name, but is instead described as “al-Nusra,” …
Continue reading “War Party Hates Putin – Loves al-Qaeda”
At least 257 were killed across Iraq, mostly in battles and airstrikes.
