Originally posted at TomDispatch. Former Obama speechwriter, confidant, and deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes had an all-encompassing label for the wonks, experts, think tankers, cable news talking heads, and former or future officials, always ready to spin...
George Washington’s Warnings Yet Go Unheeded
Foreign influence, designed to affect political outcomes and influence our nation's conduct and policies, did not begin with Russia and the 2016 elections. In the early days of the Republic, as President Washington was resisting pressure to abandon the policy of...
Border Guards Among 15 Killed in Iraq
47 Bodies Found in Mass Grave; 13 Killed in Iraq
Putin on National Defense: Threats or a Bid to Negotiate on Arms Control?
As he stated at the outset, Vladimir Putin’s annual state of the nation address today before a joint session of the nation’s bicameral legislature was devoted preponderantly to domestic policy. He was expanding on the practical implications for the Russian population...
Pulwama: A Present Moment in the Longer Kashmir Story
While the bodies of the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops who died in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Valentine’s Day are only just now being laid to rest, unrest prevails throughout the Indian subcontinent in the wake of the deadliest attack...
Truffle Hunters Executed; 17 Killed in Iraq
Russian Mediation: The Critical Messages of the Hamas-Fatah Talks in Moscow
The Russian-sponsored Palestinian unity talks in Moscow on February 11 were neither a success nor failure. Uniting Palestinian factions was not the main objective of the Moscow conference, in the first place. Instead, the nature of the event, the host country and the...
US Counterterror Missions Across the Planet
Originally posted at TomDispatch. “Training.” It sounds so innocuous. It also sounds like something expected of a military. All professional soldiers undergo some sort of basic training. Think: calisthenics, negotiating obstacle courses, and marksmanship....
The First Rule of AIPAC Is: You Do Not Talk about AIPAC
Washington’s political establishment went berserk when US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) publicly noted that US-Israel relations are “all about the Benjamins” – slang for $100 bills, referring to money shoveled at American politicians by the...


