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.

Will China Be Number One?

Tired of Afghanistan and all those messy, oil-ish wars in the Greater Middle East that just don’t seem to pan out? Count on one thing: part of the U.S. military feels just the way you do, especially a largely sidelined Navy—and that’s undoubtedly one of the reasons why, a few months back, the specter of … Continue reading “Will China Be Number One?”

An Empire of Failed States

Imperial powers hedge their bets. The most striking recent example we have of this is in Egypt. While the Pentagon was pouring money into the Egyptian military (approximately $40 billion since 1979), it turns out—thank you, WikiLeaks!—that the U.S. government was shuttling far smaller amounts (millions, not billions) to various “American government-financed organizations” loosely connected … Continue reading “An Empire of Failed States”

The Great Israeli Security Scam

Recent uprisings and rumblings across North Africa and the Middle East from Tunisia and Egypt to Saudi Arabia and Yemen have shone a bright, unflattering light on long-time U.S. allies in the region—despotic kleptocrats whom we supported sometimes to the tune of millions of dollars, or in some cases multi-billions of dollars, for decades. After … Continue reading “The Great Israeli Security Scam”

Obama Still Hammering Away

Was there ever an American president who publicly told more people on this planet what they must do than George W. Bush? I suspect not. He’s gone, of course, but America’s version of a “must-do” foreign policy didn’t exactly leave the scene with him—the only difference being that from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to Libya, … Continue reading “Obama Still Hammering Away”

Chalmers Johnson vs. the Empire

Chalmers Johnson was a stalwart of TomDispatch. He first wrote for this website on Jan. 8, 2003 (“Iraqi Wars”), barely more than a month after it was launched. The last piece he wrote in his life (“Portrait of a Sagging Empire”) was for TomDispatch as well. In the years between, he penned 28 other TD … Continue reading “Chalmers Johnson vs. the Empire”

Intolerance ‘R’ Us

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: As of Wednesday, I’ll be off the grid for a week. Back April 8. TomDispatch will be unaffected and will post as usual thanks to associate editors Nick Turse and Andy Kroll. But for those writing in with comments, requests, or anything else, I probably won’t be particularly available. For all … Continue reading “Intolerance ‘R’ Us”

Murder in Bahrain

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been one busy official of late. Last week, on a surprise visit to Afghanistan, he managed to apologize for U.S. helicopters killing nine boys collecting wood on a hillside in Kunar Province, even as he announced that a negotiating team would soon be dispatched from Washington to work out … Continue reading “Murder in Bahrain”