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 Coming Era of Tiny Wars and Micro-Conflicts

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In terms of pure projectable power, there’s never been anything like it. Its military has divided the world – the whole planet – into six "commands." Its fleet, with 11 aircraft carrier battle groups, rules the seas and has done so largely unchallenged for almost seven decades. Its Air Force has … Continue reading “The Coming Era of Tiny Wars and Micro-Conflicts”

The Desert of Israeli Democracy

In case you hadn’t noticed, Israel has been in the news a lot lately. After all, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the U.N. in the midst of an Iranian "charm offensive," just as presidents Obama and Rouhani were having the first conversation between Iranian and American heads of state since Jimmy Carter’s day, … Continue reading “The Desert of Israeli Democracy”

The Data Hackers – Mining Your Information for Big Brother

Sometimes, the world sends you back to school. These last months have offered us a crash course – call it Surveillance 101 – in how Washington, enveloped in a penumbra of extreme secrecy, went to work creating a global surveillance state on a scale almost beyond the imagination. It was certainly beyond the imaginations, not … Continue reading “The Data Hackers – Mining Your Information for Big Brother”

The Pentagon’s Italian Spending Spree

This may be a propitious moment to offer an up-to-date version of a classic riddle: Which came first, the chicken or the terrorist? For many in this country, the Kenyan mall horror arrived out of the blue, out of nowhere, out of a place and a time without context. Next thing you know, it’s all … Continue reading “The Pentagon’s Italian Spending Spree”

The Forgotten War

Listen to Ann Jones on Monday’s Scott Horton Show The Afghan War is officially winding down. American casualties, generally from towns and suburbs you’ve never heard of unless you were born there, are still coming in. Though far fewer American troops are in the field with Afghan forces, devastating “insider attacks” in which a soldier … Continue reading “The Forgotten War”

The Mystery of Washington’s Waning Global Power

Among the curious spectacles of our moment, the strangeness of the Obama presidency hasn’t gotten its full due.  After decades in which "the imperial presidency" was increasingly in the spotlight, after two terms of George W. Bush in which a literal cult of executive power – or to use the term of that moment, "the … Continue reading “The Mystery of Washington’s Waning Global Power”

Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the Twenty-First Century

“But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential … Continue reading “Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the Twenty-First Century”

Destroying the Right To Be Left Alone

For at least the last six years, government agents have been exploiting an AT&T database filled with the records of billions of American phone calls from as far back as 1987. The rationale behind this dragnet intrusion, codenamed Hemisphere, is to find suspicious links between people with "burner" phones (prepaid mobile phones easy to buy, … Continue reading “Destroying the Right To Be Left Alone”

Letter to an Unknown Whistleblower

Dear Whistleblower, I don’t know who you are or what you do or how old you may be. I just know that you exist somewhere in our future as surely as does tomorrow or next year. You may be young and computer-savvy or a career federal employee well along in years. You might be someone … Continue reading “Letter to an Unknown Whistleblower”

What If Congress Says No on Syria?

Looked at one way at least, the president’s Syrian war proposal – itself an ever shifting target – couldn’t be more brain-dead. The idea that one country, on its own, has the right to missile and bomb another to resolve the question of a chemical attack and war crime should, on the face of it, … Continue reading “What If Congress Says No on Syria?”