Leading political prognosticators see the Republicans winning total control of the U.S. Congress this fall, meaning that President Obama’s political agenda would be effectively finished. But will this bleak prospect finally force Democrats to fight back, wonders Beverly Bandler.
Why Europe Shies from Ukraine Showdown
Exclusive: Despite pressure from President Obama to escalate the fight with Russian President Putin over Ukraine, the Europeans are reluctant to stoke the crisis any further because it could consume their fragile recovery and ignite more fires of political discontent, notes…
Consortiumnews’ Spring Fund Goal: $25,000
From Editor Robert Parry: Though it doesn’t feel like spring in much of the United States, we are starting our spring fund drive with a target of $25,000 to keep Consortiumnews.com alive. And we are offering a special thank-you package…
In Case You Missed…
Some of our special stories in February focused on the good and the bad of past U.S. presidents — and on the resurgence of the neocons as they seek new wars in the Middle East and provoked a U.S.-Russia confrontation over…
Tolerating Saudi Arabia’s Intolerance
The U.S. government insists that it abides by principles of international law, democracy and respect for national sovereignty, but its actions often belie its words, with the U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s monarchy a stark example of the hypocrisy, writes…
The Pampered, Delusional Rich
America’s rich, who are consolidating more and more of the nation’s wealth in their own hands and giving less and less back, see themselves as “victims” of class envy, and some billionaires even liken their plight to the Holocaust, a…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
Obama Ensnared in Bush’s Abuses
President Obama’s fateful decision after winning the 2008 election to seek “continuity” rather than “change” and “to look forward, not backward” has trapped him in a web of constitutional abuses that began in the Bush-43 presidency and extended into his…
Israel’s War Against ‘BDS’ Movement
The boycott aimed at Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands emerged as a peaceful way to challenge Israel’s abuse of Palestinians, replacing violent acts that killed civilians. But Israel’s lobby has now made the so-called BDS movement a target of its…
Changing Israel from Without
For decades, one-sided support for Israel distorted U.S. perceptions and policies in the Middle East. Only recently has the pro-Zionist narrative faced significant challenge, including protests against the abuse of Palestinians from Israeli dissidents like Ilan Pappe, who spoke with Dennis J Bernstein.
Russia’s Countermove in Iran
Neocons hoped the Ukraine-Crimea crisis, which they encouraged, would drive a spike into the Obama-Putin collaboration and restore neocon dreams of a U.S. military attack on Iran. But the scheme could instead push Russia and Iran closer together, as ex-CIA analyst Paul…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Media, Obama Administration, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
Debating Secrecy vs. a Free Press
The U.S. government’s campaign against “leakers” has pushed together some odd media bedfellows, with representatives of the mainstream news media joining with more active players who help disseminate government secrets in a conference on the dangers now facing a free…
The War Activists
Having evaded accountability for the Iraq War and other bloody disasters, star neocons William Kristol and Robert Kagan have refashioned their pro-war arguments, dressing them up in humanitarian garb, with glamorous accessories of national greatness, as David Swanson explains.
Crimea and Punishment
U.S. politicians and pundits want the American people to get so upset about Crimea’s decision to split with Ukraine and rejoin Russia that they will support more U.S. military spending and more U.S. interventions around the world, a tragic misreading…
Constitution, Intelligence, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, October Surprise, Politics, Right Wing, Secrecy
Firewall: Inside the Iran-Contra Cover-up
From the Archive: The death of Iran-Contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh on Wednesday at the age of 102 marked the passing of what is now rare in the American Establishment, a person who courageously fought for a truthful historical record,…
Robert Strauss’s Watergate Secret
Special Report: Robert Strauss, who died Wednesday, was a Democratic powerbroker who thrived in the age of Nixon, Reagan and Bush-41. But an enduring Watergate mystery is whether Strauss earned his GOP spurs by secretly helping the Republicans in the spy scandal, reports Robert…
WPost’s Anti-Putin ‘Group Think’
Exclusive: In a stunning display of “group think,” virtually the entire Washington Post editorial section was devoted to denunciations of Russian President Putin, especially his “crazy” belief that the U.S. government often ignores international law and applies “the rule of…
US ‘Exceptionalism’ Boomerangs
Official Washington thinks “American exceptionalism” means the U.S. government can ignore international law when intervening in other countries. But that hypocrisy is now coming back to bite the U.S. with Russia’s annexation of Crimea, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains.
Neocons’ Ukraine-Syria-Iran Gambit
Exclusive: The Ukraine crisis in part stirred up by U.S. neocons has damaged prospects for peace not only on Russia’s borders but in two Middle East hotspots, Syria and Iran, which may have been exactly the point, reports Robert Parry.
Why UK’s Tony Benn Didn’t Bend
Since the Thatcher/Reagan era, “liberals” like Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have scurried toward “safer” political terrain, whether that meant endorsing aggressive wars or embracing deregulation. But some progressives, like UK’s Tony Benn, refused to bend, as Michael Winship recalls.
Europe’s Not So Shiny ‘Recovery’
Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. press explains the overwhelming Crimean vote to leave Ukraine as vote-rigging or coercion, but the reality is that “European aspirations” are not so attractive to people aware of the painful life for many in the EU’s “periphery,” from Spain to…