Jabotinsky and Greater Israel

The spectacle is almost bizarre: a political party refuses to accept new members. And not just a few individuals, but tens of thousands. And not just any party, but the Likud ("Unification"), the main force in Israel's governing coalition. Strange? But there...

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Operation CYA – Afghanistan

Steve Bannon’s Breitbart and others notwithstanding, that was Trump being Trump when he announced he would not be quitting Afghanistan, despite the manifest futility and counterproductivity – that is, idiocy – of America’s 16-year war there. He is not a...

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Breaking America’s Cold War Addiction in Korea

With tensions at an all-time high between the United States and North Korea, the New York Times headlined a recent digital newsletter with Lies Your High School History Teacher Told You About Nukes. The basic point was to debunk the theory of “mutually assured...

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The CIA and Me

Originally posted at TomDispatch. When historian Alfred McCoy began his long journey to expose some of the darkest secrets of the U.S. national security establishment, America was embroiled in wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Almost 50 years later, the United...

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In Retrospect, We’re Winning

My regular readers may have noticed that I’ve been absent much more than usual lately: the reason is because I’ve had to deal with increasing health problems, the extent of which I’ve tried to keep from interfering with my writing schedule. However, as much as I’ve...

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The Donald’s Pathetic Afghan Flip-Flop

We are speaking of his horrid lip-synching effort last night to keep time with the voice of his ventriloquist generals. Not only was the substance of their speech threadbare, risible, foolish and quasi-criminal; they basically turned the Donald into a pathetic joke in...

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Trump Plans Permanent Occupation of Afghanistan

On my first reporting trip to Afghanistan, I was surprised to find that so many people supported the US invasion. They loved President George Bush because he got rid of the hated Taliban regime. But when I asked what should the US do now, most answered “go...

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