Francis Fukuyama’s famous essay “The End of History” – often cited, less often actually read, and frequently misunderstood – is commonly thought to have been rendered irrelevant and proved wrong. After all, aren’t we perpetually at war – and didn’t 9/11 show that...
‘Yemen After Five Months Looks Like Syria After Five Years’
The crisis in Yemen has become catastrophic. Since the beginning of the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes on March 26, violence in Yemen has escalated significantly, leaving the nation decimated with little to no hope for an end in sight. The Saudi-led coalition,...
Maintaining American Supremacy in the Twenty-First Century
Originally posted at TomDispatch. It could be a joke of the “a penguin, a rabbi, and a priest walked into a bar” variety, but this one would start, “five Chinese naval vessels operating in the Bering Sea sailed into U.S. territorial waters, coming...
120 Killed in Iraq; Turkey Warns of More Airstrikes
No Peace Through Politics
They were supposed to be different: Republicans for peace, conservatives against empire, leading a grassroots insurrection to overthrow the neocons and restore the Republic. It was Mr. Libertarian goes to Washington. Mr. Frodo goes to Mordor. Yet, when the chips were...
US Response to Syrian Civil War and Refugee Crisis Is Telling
The American response to the Syrian civil war and resulting refugee crisis should illustrate to all the unfortunate militarization of U.S. foreign policy. The nation's anti-militaristic founders – who blanched at the militarism of European kings and thus refused, in...
Water Official Among 78 Killed in Iraq
Is Russia Invading Syria?
Having given up waiting for the supposedly “imminent” Russian assault on Kiev, which we’ve been told for lo these many months is coming down the pike momentarily, our new cold warriors are now in a frenzy over the sudden discovery of a Russian presence in Syria. It...
Garrisoning the Globe
Originally posted at TomDispatch. It’s not that I knew nothing about U.S. military bases before I met Chalmers Johnson. In certain ways, my idea of the good life had been strongly shaped by such a base. Admittedly, it wasn’t in Germany or Japan or South Korea or some...
US War Theories Target Dissenters
When the U.S. Department of Defense published a new Law of War Manual (LOW) this past summer, editorialists at the New York Times sat up and took notice. Their concern was that the manual stated that journalists could be deemed “unprivileged belligerents.” The...


