Early Saturday, the United States joined Israel in launching a major strike on Iran, with President Donald Trump announcing that “major combat operations” were underway. The first thing Americans should notice is not the fireworks on cable news, but the emptiness...
Trump Lied About Being for Peace – Just Like Every President Before Him
Reprinted with permission from The Screeching Kettle at Substack. Three years ago, Donald Trump referred to himself as “the candidate who delivers peace.” This weekend, his administration bombed Iran. While it may seem unusual, the historical record suggests...
Trump’s Contrasting Regime-Change Strategies in Iran and Venezuela
President Donald Trump has made it clear that the new U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran is aimed at nothing less than the overthrow of the country’s clerical regime. Such an ambitious objective should not come as a surprise. Both the powerful Israel lobby and most of...
How To Bring Peace to Ukraine
There is always an urgency to put an end to war. But there is a growing urgency to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. That urgency was expressed in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim that the Trump administration had set a June deadline for negotiating an...
The Fatal Costs of the Philippines-Taiwan War Scenario
In August 2025, President Marcos Jr. said that “a war over Taiwan will drag the Philippines, kicking and screaming into the conflict." Pushing for preparation, the government has boosted US-Philippine military cooperation, military modernization, joint military...
ICE Brings the War Home
Originally appeared at TomDispatch Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pulled over several cars in Eagle County, Colorado. They took the people away in handcuffs, according to a witness, and left the cars idling at the side of the road. When...
True Support for Iranians Means Saying No to War
I spent nearly two years in the prison for my political activism in Iran. I fled to Turkey and arrived in Chicago as a refugee. I started rebuilding my life from scratch. I was young and I risked everything for freedom. I also know what war does to countries like mine...
The Price of Perfect Nihilism
When President Donald Trump first announced that he had ordered the Pentagon to attack fishing boats and speedboats on the high seas which he said carried dangerous drugs destined for willing buyers in the United States, many of us who monitor the government for its...
Watching Uncle Sam From Seoul
Since Trump’s election, Seoul's analysts asked questions. Commentators voiced unease – and “Liberation Day” proved their concerns well founded as the U.S. imposed a series of dynamic tariffs driven by social media and personal sentiment. Yet the depth of ties between...
The Architectures of Ruin – How Sanctions Kill in Venezuela and Beyond
The collapse of Venezuela is often narrated in the West as a simple morality play – a cautionary tale of socialist overreach and the inevitable rot of authoritarianism. Francisco Rodríguez’s “The Collapse of Venezuela” dismantles this caricature, showing with...


