Norman Solomon

The current political brawl over next year’s budget is highly significant. With Democrats in a House majority for the first time in eight years, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and most other party leaders continue to support even more largesse for the Pentagon. But many progressive congressmembers are challenging the wisdom of deference to the military-industrial complex … Continue reading “The Toxic Lure of ‘Guns and Butter’”

What Barbara Lee did on the House floor three days after 9/11 – speaking prophetic words and casting the only vote against a green light for endless war – remains the bravest wise action in Congress during this century. The contrast was jolting last week when her vote enabled the House Budget Committee to approve … Continue reading “Rep. Barbara Lee’s Startling Vote To Boost Military Spending”

When Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell teamed up to invite NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to address a joint session of Congress, they had every reason to expect the April 3 speech to be a big hit with U.S. media and political elites. The establishment is eager to affirm the sanctity of support for the … Continue reading “Pelosi and McConnell Are Inching Us Closer to Nuclear War”

Daniel Ellsberg has a message that managers of the warfare state don’t want people to hear. “If you have information that bears on deception or illegality in pursuing wrongful policies or an aggressive war,” he said in a statement released last week, “don't wait to put that out and think about it, consider acting in … Continue reading “Those Who Controlled the Past Should Not Control the Future”

For several months we’ve been hearing a crescendo of outcries that Russia used social media to sway the 2016 presidential election. The claim has now been debunked by an unlikely source – one of the most Russiagate-frenzied big media outlets in the United States, the Washington Post. Far away from the media echo chamber, the … Continue reading “Social Media Madness: The Russia Canard”

Some leading Democrats in Congress are eager to turn the summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin away from avenues for improvements in U.S.-Russian relations, even if that means deflecting it toward World War III. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that “the White House announced that the meeting with Mr. Putin would … Continue reading “Instead of Trying to Sabotage the Trump-Putin Meeting, Democrats Should Support Vital Proposals”

Any truthful way to say it will sound worse than ghastly: We live in a world where one person could decide to begin a nuclear war – quickly killing several hundred million people and condemning vast numbers of others to slower painful deaths. Given the macabre insanity of this ongoing situation, most people don’t like … Continue reading “The Trump-Putin Meeting and the Fate of the Earth”

A new book about Hillary Clinton’s last campaign for president – Shattered, by journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes – has gotten a lot of publicity since it appeared two weeks ago. But major media have ignored a revealing passage near the end of the book. Soon after Clinton’s defeat, top strategists decided where to … Continue reading “How the Russia Spin Got So Much Torque”

Four weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that “nothing he has done since the inauguration allays fears that he is in effect a Putin puppet.” The liberal pundit concluded with a matter-of-fact reference to “the Trump-Putin axis.” Such lines of attack have become routine, citing and stoking fears that … Continue reading “The Risk of Baiting Trump on Russia”

Many top Democrats are stoking a political firestorm. We keep hearing that Russia attacked democracy by hacking into Democratic officials’ emails and undermining Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Instead of candidly assessing key factors such as longtime fealty to Wall Street that made it impossible for her to ride a populist wave, the party line has increasingly … Continue reading “Democratic Party Line Could Torch Civil Liberties… and Maybe Help Blow Up the World”