Dehumanizing the enemy is a key part of modern warfare, bolstered by the modern art of propaganda, often with the blessing of religious leaders. That was why the Christmas Truce of 1914 was so seditious, as Gary G. Kohls explains.
Month: December 2013
The World Unites Behind Mandela
President Obama’s speech at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service got the most attention, but the worldwide praise for the revolutionary leader who fought South Africa’s white supremacy was more significant, says Danny Schechter.
Big-Money Politics Gains Ground
The Right’s “war on government” or perhaps put more accurately, its “war for unbridled corporate power” continues to rack up victories, routing reformers who have tried to block big-money dominance of democracy, writes Michael Winship.
UN Investigator Undercuts NYT on Syria
Exclusive: Amid last summer’s rush to judgment on the Aug. 21 Sarin attack in Syria, the New York Times joined the stampede blaming the Assad regime by pushing a “vector analysis” showing where the rockets supposedly were launched, but now that certainty…
A History of False Fear
It’s always hard to get someone to speak honestly when his or her livelihood depends on not telling the truth. With the military-industrial-surveillance complex, that reality is multiplied by the billions of dollars and the many careers at stake, Joe…
Let’s Not Leave Money on the Table
From Editor Robert Parry: We’ve made headway toward achieving the $10,000 “challenge grant,” but we still have about one-fifth of the way to go. It would be a waste to leave that matching money on the table.
Truman’s True Warning on the CIA
Exclusive: National security secrecy and a benighted sense of “what’s good for the country” can be a dangerous mix for democracy, empowering self-interested or misguided officials to supplant the people’s will, as President Truman warned and ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern…
Mandela, MLK and Jesus
The death of Nelson Mandela offers Christians a chance to reflect on the great protest leader at the center of their religion, the historical Jesus, with his anger at ostentatious wealth and his disdain for social inequality, as Rev. Howard Bess reflects.
Snowden’s Leaks Doom NSA’s Snooping
After long claiming to welcome a robust debate on NSA surveillance, President Obama found the debate more robust and more substantive than he expected, especially after the leaks by Edward Snowden, as Danny Schechter explains.
NYT Replays Its Iraq Fiasco in Syria
Exclusive: Much like the Iraq WMD fiasco in 2002-03, the New York Times has taken sides in the conflict in Syria and is ignoring evidence that undercuts its indictment of the Assad regime as the guilty party in the Aug. 21 Sarin attack outside Damascus,…