Conditioning Americans for War With Russia

Reprinted from Consortium News. As the drums beat louder and louder about alleged threats from Russia, the Biden administration today blew perilous new life into the debunked and disgraced Russiagate disinformation operation. Russiagate seems too good of a weapon for the Democrats to give up. Its initial appearance, beginning in 2016, dangerously raised tensions with … Continue reading “Conditioning Americans for War With Russia”

Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit in Journalism

Reprinted from Consortium News. Russiagate continues to survive like a science fiction monster resilient to bullets. The latest effort at rehabilitating it is an interview by Adam Rawnsley in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine of one Michael van Landingham, an intelligence analyst who is proud of having written the first draft of the … Continue reading “Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit in Journalism”

Will Putin Attack Poland and the Baltics?

Reprinted from Consortium News. At Thursday’s debate with Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” claimed that he “wants all of Ukraine… Do you think he’ll stop?… What do you think happens to Poland and other places?” Spoiler Alert: Official Ukrainian sources confirm that Putin did stop in March … Continue reading “Will Putin Attack Poland and the Baltics?”

Russia and China – Two Against One

Reprinted from Consortium News: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s extremely warm reception of President Vladimir Putin yesterday in Beijing sealed the increasingly formidable Russia-China strategic relationship. It amounts to a tectonic shift in the world balance of power. The Russia-China entente also sounds the death knell for attempts by U.S. foreign policy neophytes to drive a … Continue reading “Russia and China – Two Against One”

Throwing Good Money After Bad in Ukraine?

Reprinted from Consortium News. As U.S. House members grapple with whether to give $60 billion more to Ukraine, they must also grapple with the checkered nature of the intelligence they’ve been fed. On July 13, 2023, President Joe Biden announced Russian President Vladimir Putin “has already lost the war.” That was six days after C.I.A. … Continue reading “Throwing Good Money After Bad in Ukraine?”

Dan Ellsberg’s Parting Plea: Don’t Wait

Sam Adams Associates for Integrity honored the late Dan Ellsberg with our annual award for fearless integrity on April 11, 2023. It was clear that Dan summoned much of his remaining strength to leave an unambiguous message to people of conscience as to why they should blow the whistle on government lies, as he did, … Continue reading “Dan Ellsberg’s Parting Plea: Don’t Wait”

Daniel Ellsberg’s First Leak Helped Prevent War With China

Those unaware of Dan Ellsberg’s 2002 Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers may think the leak of the Pentagon Papers was Dan’s first unauthorized disclosure. Not so. Arguably, his first such leak, in March 1968, was even more consequential. After the Viet Cong shocked most observers by mounting a countrywide offensive in … Continue reading “Daniel Ellsberg’s First Leak Helped Prevent War With China”

The Banality of Biden’s ‘Exceptional’ Elite Advisers

Danger: President Joe Biden’s sophomores running U.S. foreign policy today live in a dream world on the verge of becoming a nightmare. The nightmare – military confrontation with both Russia and China – now looms. It is scary enough that Biden seems to be out of it. Scarier still is the reality that his advisers … Continue reading “The Banality of Biden’s ‘Exceptional’ Elite Advisers”

Epitaph for a ‘Cake Walk’: An Iraq Case Study

NOTE: The following is “back-story” to yesterday’s post, which I was tempted to title “All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Attack on Iraq and Now Want to Forget.” I do encourage you to give that posting a look before reading what follows. The attack was launched 20 years ago today. In late February … Continue reading “Epitaph for a ‘Cake Walk’: An Iraq Case Study”

Iraq 20 Years: The Uses and Abuses of National Intelligence Estimates

A New York Times Magazine article in July 2020 focused on then Secretary of State Powell and his U.N. speech of Feb. 5, 2003 and the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) upon which it is largely based. A lot of the detail in the article may have been new to many readers, but not to Veteran … Continue reading “Iraq 20 Years: The Uses and Abuses of National Intelligence Estimates”