The protests that erupted in the streets of Iran at the end of December and beginning of January were the largest since the protests of 2009. They were ignited by an economic crisis and the collapse of the Iranian rial that led to a cost-of-living crisis. As the...
Reprinted from TomDispatch: What constitutes national security and how is it best achieved? Does massive military spending really make a country more secure, and what perils to democracy and liberty are posed by vast military establishments? Questions like those are...
While the sheer pomposity, Trumpian megalomania, and painfully paradoxical context surrounding the so-called “Board of Peace” (BoP) might tempt some to dismiss it as mere spectacle or farce, its criminal, inhumane, and hegemonic nature makes it far too dangerous to...
Among the critical issues facing our country today, nuclear arms control is seldom top of mind for most people, understandably, given our myriad political, social and economic crises. Recent books and films such as Annie Jacobsen’s 2004 non-fiction tome Nuclear War: A...
One of the most persistent myths in Western political thought is the idea that the United States and its European allies are principled opponents of fascism and totalitarianism. This doctrine, which many Washington elites believe at an almost religious level, has...
For the past month, Americans have been wondering whether President Trump will attack Iran, or whether the massive military build-up in the Middle East is just another bluff. President Trump claims that the decision is his alone to make. Thus far, President Trump has...
Donald Trump has promoted the idea – amplified by much of the international media – that protesters inside Iran are calling for U.S. military intervention and the overthrow of their government. At the same time, Trump is threatening Iran with major military action,...
“Tariffs,” President Donald Trump is fond of reminding us, “is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.” It’s the most beautiful word “because tariffs are going to make us rich as hell. It’s going to bring our countries businesses back that left us.” And...
The history of American power is, in many ways, the history of reinventing rules – or designing new ones – to fit US strategic interests. This may sound harsh, but it is a necessary realization, particularly in light of US President Donald Trump’s latest political...
U.S. policy toward Iran is frequently sold as a reaction to urgent threats. In practice, it behaves more like a system: narrative escalation, economic coercion, covert pressure, and then the steady normalization of “military options.” The pattern repeats because it is...
