A Middle East Peace That Could Happen (But Won’t)
The fact that the Israel-Palestine conflict grinds on without resolution might appear to be rather strange. For many of the world's conflicts, it is difficult even to conjure up a feasible settlement. In this case, it is not only possible, but there is near universal...
Yes, We Could… Get Out!
Yes, we could. No kidding. We really could withdraw our massive armies, now close to 200,000 troops combined, from Afghanistan and Iraq (and that's not even counting our similarly large stealth army of private contractors, which helps keep the true size of our double...
The Business of America Is Kleptocracy
It's hard to miss these days. The headlines tell the story – repetitively. Everyone, it seems, is on the take. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Goldman Sachs with securities fraud for creating and selling "a mortgage investment that was secretly...
The Two-Guantanamo Solution
It all began in Afghanistan (the War on Terror, of course). It was there as well that, in late 2001, the Bush administration first "took the gloves off," a phrase its top officials then loved to use. So the first torture and abuse of prisoners, including the use of...
America and the Dictators
Gods and Monsters
The Greeks had it right. When you live on Mount Olympus, your view of humanity is qualitatively different. The Greek gods, after all, lied to, stole from, lusted for, and punished humanity without mercy, while taking the planet for a spin in a manner that we mortals...
Your Taxes and War
If you're an average American taxpayer, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, since 2001, cost you personally $7,334, according to the "cost of war" counter created by the National Priorities Project (NPP). They have cost all Americans collectively more...
US War-Fighting Numbers to Knock Your Socks Off
In my 1950s childhood, Ripley's Believe It or Not was part of everyday life, a syndicated comics page feature where you could stumble upon such mind-boggling facts as: "If all the Chinese in the world were to march four abreast past a given point, they would never...
Afghanistan as a Drug War
A front-page New York Times article by Rod Nordland on the aftermath of a recent U.S. Marine offensive in Helmand province, opium poppy-growing capital of the planet, began this way: "The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marjah has put...
