The twin explosions of post-9/11 national security extravagance and Citizens United political spending bonanza have reshaped Washington — not only in its political outlook but physically, with this New Class preferring lavish McMansions to show off their newfound wealth, as…
The Meaning Behind the Sanders Surge
What is most startling about the excited response to Sen. Sanders’s campaign is that millions of Americans seem to be saying that free-market capitalism is failing them and that there must be something better than accepting vast income inequality, as…
Rightists Sell Anti-Government Message
Since Ronald Reagan, the Republicans have rallied many Americans around the notion that “government is the problem.” And, despite disasters for the middle and working classes, right-wing intellectuals like Charles Krauthammer continue to sell the same message, as Lawrence Davidson…
Ted Cruz’s Religious Play
Sen. Ted Cruz known for his brash, boastful and brutal proclamations is remaking himself in the image of the Lord Savior as he appeals to the Republican Religious Right to pave his way to the GOP nomination and the White…
A Look at Ukraine’s Dark Side
Exclusive: Americans have been carefully shielded from the ugly underbelly of Ukraine’s Maidan uprising in 2014 that overthrew the elected president and installed a U.S.-backed, fiercely anti-Russian regime which has unleashed armed neo-Nazis. But a French documentary has dared to…
Still Sabotaging the Iran-Nuke Deal
Since Israel and the influential U.S. neocons never wanted the Iranian nuclear deal, many U.S. politicians including presidential candidates are lining up to sabotage the agreement by finding new excuses to sanction Iran. This trick is a dangerous game, writes…
Risking World War III in Syria
Exclusive: After Saudi-backed Syrian rebels balked at peace talks and the Russian-backed Syrian army cut off Turkish supply lines to jihadists and other Syrian rebels, the U.S. and its Mideast Sunni “allies” appear poised to invade Syria and force “regime…
Campaign 2016, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Lost History, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Behind the North Korean Nuke Crisis
Exclusive: One fallout from the Hillary Clinton-led “regime change” in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi gave up his WMD deterrence is that North Korea keeps building up its nuclear-weapon program. Its leaders don’t want to suffer Gaddafi’s grisly fate, another case…
Campaign 2016, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Giving Peace Very Little Chance
Exclusive: What the next U.S. president can do to bring endless warfare to an end is one of the most important issues of Campaign 2016, but it is getting only a cursory treatment in debates as politicians seem to fear…
Campaign 2016, Foreign Policy, Media, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
How Fox News Undercut Trump
The Republican Establishment, led by powerful media boss Fox News’ Roger Ailes, undercut Donald Trump’s anti-Establishment campaign with some last-minute maneuvers in Iowa, including baiting Trump to boycott a Fox debate, as JP Sottile explains.
The Reality of Robert Gates
Official Washington hails Robert Gates as one of its Wise Men and the former CIA director and defense secretary clearly concurs as he shows in his new book but the reality is far less complimentary, as ex-CIA analyst Melvin A.…
Campaign 2016, Environment, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Hillary Clinton’s ‘Progressive’ Persona
Desperate to blunt Bernie Sanders’s surge of support especially among young Democrats, Hillary Clinton is pitching herself as a “progressive,” but many of her policies were anything but from supporting military coups to favoring corporate interests, writes Jeff Cohen.
Shaking Up the Democratic Party
By demanding a “revolution” to shift power away from Wall Street, Sen. Sanders is attracting millions of young Americans who want fundamental change. He’s also upsetting the Democratic establishment which favors only incremental “reforms” acceptable to corporate interests, as Norman Solomon notes.
Seeking More Cold War with Cuba
The neocons who dominate Official Washington speak most loudly through their flagship newspaper, The Washington Post, almost always seeking confrontation rather than cooperation in addressing the world’s problems, such as Cold War-era hostility toward Cuba, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R.…
Campaign 2016, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Hillary Clinton’s Hawkish Record
Surviving Iowa in a dead heat with Sen. Bernie Sanders, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now hopes her establishment-backed campaign will grind down her opposition and pave the way for her presidential nomination. But many Democrats remain leery of her hawkish foreign policy, writes…
Feeding the Military-Industrial Complex
Exclusive: Because he had commanded Allied forces in World War II, President Eisenhower understood the excesses of the war industry and warned Americans about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, a force that continues to siphon off tens of billions…
Letting US ‘Lead’ Against Islamic State
America’s Mideast “allies” are less eager to take on Islamic State terrorists themselves than to urge the U.S. military to do so, raising questions about whether much of today’s campaign-trail tough-guy/gal talk about Washington taking the lead really means doing…
‘Cut-out’ Anti-Drone Protest Brings Arrests
The U.S. government’s lethal drone program continues to spark protests from anti-war activists, including a novel “blockade” outside upstate New York’s Hancock air base where a dozen protesters arrayed life-size cut-outs of the late anti-war activist Jerry Berrigan and faced…
Campaign 2016, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Hillary Clinton’s Iraq War Albatross
George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion may rank as the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history spreading chaos across the Mideast and now into Europe, yet polls show Democrats nationwide favor nominating Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war and…
The Dangerous Ideology of Religion
Ideology, in the hands of true-believers, tends to reject facts in favor of some grander “truth,” an especially dangerous tendency when mixed with religious conviction and certainty, as Lawrence Davidson explains.