Libya: We’re About To Return to the Crime Scene

The New York Times reports that the “government” of Libya is hiding in a hotel room in Tunis: “Officials said there was agreement that the United States and its allies needed to find ways of shoring up Libya’s new government of national accord – established just this...

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Uncle Sam’s Suicide Squads

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” This first line of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” opens the latest trailer for the upcoming big-budget super-hero movie Suicide Squad. It poses a pertinent question, because, unfortunately for those of us in real life, the...

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Iran Is Guilty of ‘Contempt of Empire,’ Nothing More

For all the fearmongering about Iran’s alleged danger to civilization, they are guilty merely of what should be called “Contempt of Empire.”  I say “merely” with a slight caveat: the penalty for “contempt of Empire” mirrors the punishment dealt by many cops who deem...

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Failed States and States of Failure

Originally posted on TomDispatch. One of the charms of the future is its powerful element of unpredictability, its ability to ambush us in lovely ways or bite us unexpectedly in the ass. Most of the futures I imagined as a boy have, for instance, come up deeply short,...

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