Tom Engelhardt

An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters. He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Visit his Web site. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

The Five Commandments of Barack Obama

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Think of us as having two presidents. One, a fellow named Barack Obama, cuts a distinctly Clark Kent-ish figure. In presiding over domestic policy, he is regularly thwarted in his desires by the Republicans in Congress and couldn’t until recently get his most basic choices for government positions or the judiciary … Continue reading “The Five Commandments of Barack Obama”

Thug State U.S.A.

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Here, at least, is a place to start: intelligence officials have weighed in with an estimate of just how many secret files National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden took with him when he headed for Hong Kong last June. Brace yourself: 1.7 million. At least they claim that as the number … Continue reading “Thug State U.S.A.”

The Pentagon Makes History the First Casualty

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Call me human. It turns out that I’m no better at predicting the future than the rest of humanity. If as a species we were any good at it, right now I would undoubtedly be zipping through the gloriously spired skies over my hometown, New York City, my jet pack strapped … Continue reading “The Pentagon Makes History the First Casualty”

Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Imagine this: a president and his top officials as self-professed assassins – and proud of it, even attempting to gain political capital from it. It’s not that American presidents have never been associated with assassination attempts before. At a National Security Council meeting, Dwight D. Eisenhower personally ordered the CIA to … Continue reading “Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment”

The Folly of Arming Israel

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Last year, Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Russia’s pledge to sell advanced antiaircraft weapons to Syria, noting that it would have "a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the region." And really, who could argue that pouring more weapons into a heavily-armed corner of … Continue reading “The Folly of Arming Israel”

The Wild West of Surveillance

Originally posted at TomDispatch. The question Senator Ron Wyden asked on March 12th of last year was straightforward enough and no surprise for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. He had been given it a day in advance of his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee and after he was done, Senator Wyden and his … Continue reading “The Wild West of Surveillance”

The Empire’s New Asian Clothes

Originally posted at TomDispatch. You want ominous? Then offer a deep bow to conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a man eager to turn the Japanese military into an ever less defensive force, fully breach his country’s “peace constitution,” and assumedly someday end Japan’s “nuclear allergy” when it comes to a future weapons program. In the … Continue reading “The Empire’s New Asian Clothes”

The Golden Age of Journalism?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It was 1949. My mother – known in the gossip columns of that era as “New York’s girl caricaturist” – was freelancing theatrical sketches to a number of New York’s newspapers and magazines, including the Brooklyn Eagle. That paper, then more than a century old, had just a few years of … Continue reading “The Golden Age of Journalism?”

It’s About Blackmail, Not National Security

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Spying has a history almost as ancient as humanity itself, but every now and then the rules of the game change. This post-9/11 moment of surveillance is one of those game-changers and the National Security Agency (NSA) has been the deal-breaker and rule-maker. The new rules it brought into existence are … Continue reading “It’s About Blackmail, Not National Security”

Secret Wars and Black Ops Blowback

Originally posted at TomDispatch. These days, when I check out the latest news on Washington’s global war-making, I regularly find at least one story that fits a new category in my mind that I call: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Take last Saturday’s Washington Post report by Craig Whitlock on the stationing of less than … Continue reading “Secret Wars and Black Ops Blowback”