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.

Creating a Military-Industrial-Immigration Complex

I mean, come on. You knew it had to happen, didn’t you? In a 2010 Department of Homeland Security report, wrested from the bowels of the secrecy/surveillance state (thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation), the Customs and Border Protection agency suggests arming their small fleet of surveillance drones. … Continue reading “Creating a Military-Industrial-Immigration Complex”

The Classic Military Runaround

The 30-year-old history of U.S. foreign policy: now, there’s a dynamite issue! Explosive, in fact. Far too dangerous, it turns out, for Americans to be informed about or have access to basic documents about – so you might conclude from a recent report at Steven Aftergood’s website Secrecy News. According to him, "A 1991 statute … Continue reading “The Classic Military Runaround”

The Dictionary of the Global War on You (GWOY)

In the months after September 11, 2001, it was regularly said that “everything” had changed. It’s a claim long forgotten, buried in everyday American life. Still, if you think about it, in the decade-plus that followed – the years of the PATRIOT Act, “enhanced interrogation techniques,” “black sites,” robot assassination campaigns, extraordinary renditions, the Abu … Continue reading “The Dictionary of the Global War on You (GWOY)”

Obama’s War on Whistleblowers Finds Another Target

Sometimes, it’s hard to grasp just how our world has been transformed since September 11, 2001. But here’s a little exchange at NBC Nightly News a few days back – just part of the humdrum flow of TV news-chat – that somehow caught my attention. News anchor Brian Williams and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea … Continue reading “Obama’s War on Whistleblowers Finds Another Target”

The Wonderful American World of Informers and Agents Provocateurs

Back in the early 1970s, I worked for Pacific News Service (PNS), a small antiwar media outfit that operated out of the Bay Area Institute (BAI), a progressive think tank in San Francisco.  The first story I ever wrote for PNS came about because an upset U.S. Air Force medic wanted someone to know about … Continue reading “The Wonderful American World of Informers and Agents Provocateurs“

The U.S. Military and the Unraveling of Africa

The other day, Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-supported Afghan president who was once sardonically nicknamed “the mayor of Kabul,” had a few curious things to say about American policy in the Muslim world. Karzai, of course, is a man whose opinions – whether on U.S. special operations forces and their (out of control) militias, U.S. night … Continue reading “The U.S. Military and the Unraveling of Africa”

The Making of a Global Security State

As happens with so much news these days, the Edward Snowden revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) spying and just how far we’ve come in the building of a surveillance state have swept over us 24/7 – waves of leaks, videos, charges, claims, counterclaims, skullduggery, and government threats When a flood sweeps you away, it’s … Continue reading “The Making of a Global Security State”

Bradley Manning vs. SEAL Team 6

Okay, give them this much: their bloodlust stops just short of the execution chamber door. The military prosecutors of the case against Bradley Manning, presumably with the support of the Obama administration, have brought the virulent charge of “aiding the enemy” against the Army private who leaked state secrets. Yet they claim to have magnanimously … Continue reading “Bradley Manning vs. SEAL Team 6”

Miscarriages of Justice

Sometimes, when you watch the strange, repetitive political dance that swirls around the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — the president announcing yet again that he plans to “close” it and the Republicans in Congress swearing that they won’t let him — it’s hard not to wonder what alternative universe we live in. The … Continue reading “Miscarriages of Justice”

Are Washington, Moscow, and Beijing Creating a New Cold War?

Imagine for a moment that in 2010, China’s leaders had announced a long-term, up to $60 billion arms deal with an extreme Islamic fundamentalist regime in the Middle East, one that was notoriously repressive to women and a well-known supporter of the Taliban.  Imagine as well that the first $30 billion part of that deal, involving 84 advanced jet fighters, was … Continue reading “Are Washington, Moscow, and Beijing Creating a New Cold War?”