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...
The Arrival of Spring Brings Big Pressure to Ukraine
Spring, normally, brings relief from the bitter cold and struggles of winter. But this year, the coming of spring could start the clock ticking on huge pressure on Ukraine. That pressure could come in several shapes: diplomatic, military and political. The New York...
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Don’t Join ‘Em
2026 marks yet another year Americans find themselves watching Washington and its media surrogates prepare the country for war in the Middle East. Speaking on Iran, President Donald Trump said that “either we reach a deal, or we’ll have to do something very tough.” He...
Iran, Bunker Busters, and Empire First
When it comes to the dangerous misgovernance of our tottering American Republic, there is no more deadly combination imaginable than: The sweeping unchecked powers of the imperial presidency. A $1 trillion per year war machine which is organized mainly for conduct of...
The Coming Air and Missile War With Iran
Reprinted from The Realist Review. President Trump has assembled the largest concentration of U.S. Air and Naval power in the Middle East since Iraq was attacked in 2003. Dan Grazier, a retired Marine officer and senior fellow at the Stimson Center notes that there...
Iran Crisis Exposes the Impotence of America’s Neoliberal War Machine
After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft-carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran. This is the third Atlantic crossing for the Ford’s crew...


