JP Sottile

The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming! Well, actually, they were just parading around their capital, celebrating the defeat of the Japanese and end of their bloody part in World War II. But (cue some strangely ominous music plucked on a Chinese guitar) this was no Chinese New Year parade featuring dancing acrobats, red … Continue reading “The Chinese Military Parade Freak-Out”

How would you like to spend a week in an exotic locale with “The Boss”? No, not that “Boss,” the other “Boss” – as in the Bruce Springsteen of Neo-Con crooners, the silver-tongued frontman of the rockin’-shockin’-awe-inspiring band that gave America and the world some of the greatest hits on Iraq. Folks, put your hands … Continue reading “The Neo-Con Travel Agency Is Open for Business”

On May 23, 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) trade show in Tampa, Florida to share her vision of “smart power” and to explain the State Department’s crucial role in extending the reach and efficacy of America’s growing “international counterterrorism network.” First, there is such a … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton and the Weaponization of the State Department”

The defense industry dreams of genies. That’s because it is really hard to get the genie back into bottle after you let it loose. Really, the only option after releasing a genie is to invent new, expensive ways to combat it. And that’s been the story of America’s persistent gift to posterity – the “nuclear … Continue reading “Drones and the Dream of a New Genie”

Last year, government contracting behemoth Boeing paid an effective tax rate of -1.4%. Yes, you read that correctly – negative 1.4%. According to a new report from the Center for Effective Government, one of America’s biggest corporations, with profits ranging from $1.6 to $5.9 billion over the last five years, found ways to whittle down … Continue reading “Step Right Up and See Boeing’s Amazing Shrinking Tax Rate!”

It’s official – America has finally forgiven France. This is big news, particularly after such a messy breakup over America’s infatuation with remaking the Middle East. That fixation on Iraq turned into an international affair when France spurned America’s proposition and then-President Jacques Chirac refused to get sucked into a morally and legally sticky ménage … Continue reading “America and France Rekindle Their Foreign Affair”

What exactly is al-Qaeda?Is it a group of committed jihadists previously led by Osama bin Laden? Or it is a “brand?” Is the enemy just the so-called “core” al-Qaeda, or it is now an amorphous conglomerate of affiliates, franchisees and enthusiasts? If “core al-Qaeda” is, as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper just said in … Continue reading “The al-Qaeda Menace: A Tale of Two Headlines”

Americans don’t know much about geography. In 2006, three years into the bloody War on Iraq, 63% of Americans aged 18-24 couldn’t find the “target-rich” nation on a map. To be fair, only half could find New York State on a map, so it is unsurprising that, in spite of its then-dominance of the news … Continue reading “For America, Denial Is a River in Iraq”

Poor Pol Pot. He just can’t get any respect. Despite a solid resume as a crazed, brutal dictator responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million of his own people, his name never comes up when the caretakers of American empire set their sights on an enemy du jour. The same goes for Josef Stalin, Chairman Mao, … Continue reading “When In Doubt, Say ‘Hitler’”