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...
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...
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...
ISIS Burns Family to Death; 84 Killed in Iraq
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...
If You Can’t Change Your Mind, Change the Subject
On the heels of his worst week in office, during which his crude comments about race were widely perceived as defending racism and hatred – comments that sent some of his natural domestic allies fleeing – President Donald Trump could not bring himself to articulate a...
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...
Thousands of Dead Remain Under Mosul Rubble; 46 Killed in Iraq
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...
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...


