The massacre in Orlando has the usual political narratives all jumbled up. It was gun violence against gays. Therefore, say Hillary Clinton supporters, it validates calls for gun restrictions and anti-hate laws. Yet it was also an act of terrorism by a Muslim whose...
ISIS Abandons Fallujah; 52 Killed in Iraq
US-China Maritime Disputes: Too Close for Comfort
Two recent close encounters between US spy planes and Chinese jets spell trouble for relations between Washington and Beijing. The first, between a US EP-3 spy plane and two Chinese jets over the South China Sea (SCS) near China’s Hainan Island, was strikingly similar...
The Pentagon’s Real $trategy: Keeping the Money Flowing
Originally posted at TomDispatch. When it comes to Pentagon weapons systems, have you ever heard of cost “underruns”? I think not. Cost overruns? They turn out to be the unbreachable norm, as they seem to have been from time immemorial. In 1982, for...
‘Something is Going On’ – And It’s Worse Than You Thought
I used to wonder why in the heck right-wing commentators on Fox News kept repeating the same mantra over and over again: sitting through the Republican debates, my eyes glazed over when I heard each and every candidate denounce the Obama administration for refusing to...
Fighting Continues in Fallujah; 185 Killed in Iraq
Violence Begets Violence: The Orlando Shootings and the War on Terror
“Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the US... But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement...
Paris Conference a Tired and Clichéd Failure
Matthew Duss is right. The Paris Peace Conference is different, and the fact that the United States’ stronghold of supposedly trying to resolve conflicts in the Middle East is being challenged, is a point worth noting. Yet, this is hardly important. “The multilateral...
Heavy Fighting Kills Dozens in Fallujah; 29 Others Killed in Iraq
What the FBI Was Doing Instead of Catching the Orlando Shooter
After the most recent mass shooting in Orlando, Florida – the worst in U.S. history – one might ask how the FBI was able to investigate the perpetrator, twice, without deciding to take any further action. This question is further confounded by the fact the...