Month: August 2017

At least 2,152 people were killed throughout Iraq during August.

Suddenly it’s possible – indeed, all too easy – to imagine one man starting a nuclear war. What’s a little harder to imagine is one human being stopping such a war. For all time. The person who came closest to this may have been Tony de Brum, former foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, who … Continue reading “The Man Who Stood Up to Armageddon”

The fighting in Ayadiya may already be over, according to Shi’ite militia reports. Iraq regular troops want the battles over by the start of the Eid al-Adha observances Thursday night.

“If we’re training cops as soldiers, giving them equipment like soldiers, dressing them up as soldiers, when are they going to pick up the mentality of soldiers? If you look at the police department, their creed is to protect and to serve. A soldier’s mission is to engage his enemy in close combat and kill … Continue reading “Battlefield America Is the New Normal”

The long-running police investigations into the affairs of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to cross a Rubicon earlier this month. Netanyahu is under suspicion in a number of cases involving alleged bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, among other things. A deal has now been reached by the State Prosecutor’s Office for Netanyahu’s former … Continue reading “Has Netanyahu Defeated the Palestinians?”

After 16 years of writing about it, I thought I knew a lot about the war in Afghanistan, but Scott Horton’s new book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan, showed me how much I didn’t know – and that’s quite a bit. Did you know that the Taliban tried desperately to surrender, … Continue reading “Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan“

Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, has been reduced to rubble. It has been finally conquered, snatched back from the notorious group, Daesh, after months of merciless bombardment by the US-led war coalition, and a massive ground war. But ‘victory’ can hardly be the term assigned to this moment. Mosul, once Iraq’s cultural jewel and model … Continue reading “The Terror Next Time: The Daesh Story Is Not Ending”

Fighting continues not only in Ayadiya, but Peshmerga fighters are also battling fleeing militants.

The Senate Intelligence Committee recently passed its Intelligence Authorization Act for 2018 that contains a chilling attack on the First Amendment. Section 623 of the act expresses the “sense of Congress” that WikiLeaks resembles a “non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors and should be treated as such.” This language is designed to … Continue reading “Will Congress and Trump Declare War on WikiLeaks?”

For months, the Trump administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have each made a series of moves that have appeared to take them ever closer to the brink of war. But a closer review of the escalation of the conflict reveals that both sides are consciously maneuvering for what they know will be extended … Continue reading “Can the US and North Korea Move From Threats to Negotiations?”