From Editor Robert Parry: Whenever Official Washington rushes to embrace some misguided “group think,” Consortiumnews.com has been there to ask the tough questions and challenge the “conventional wisdom.” We have been doing this for 18-plus years, but we need your…
In Case You Missed…
Some of our special stories from March focused on the crisis in Ukraine, U.S. hypocrisy over international law, and what the neocons hope to accomplish from more regime change.
Ukraine, Through the US Looking Glass
Exclusive: As the post-coup regime in Ukraine sends troops and paramilitaries to crack down on ethnic Russian protesters in the east, the U.S. news media continues to feed the American public a steady dose of anti-Russian propaganda, often wrapped in…
Rigging the Game Against Palestinians
Official Washington’s neocons are busy spinning the latest U.S. failure to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace as an excuse to extend the Israeli occupation indefinitely by insisting that the Palestinians first pass some ever-receding test of quality self-governance, as ex-CIA analyst…
Mistake in Shutting Down a US News Source
Exclusive: U.S. intelligence, best known for collecting information about people including Americans, did have one agency that gave the public access to its translations of foreign news articles until this year when the sharing was shut down, as ex-intelligence analyst…
What Venezuelan ‘Regime Change’ Could Mean
Exclusive: Venezuela’s socialist government may be next on Official Washington’s list for destabilizing sanctions as violent protests sweep across the oil-rich country. But “regime change” in Caracas also could undermine the entire region’s independence, as Andrés Cala explains.
The Risk of Not Worrying about the Bomb
The nuclear sword of Damocles has been dangling over humanity for so many years that it’s taken for granted, even amid the U.S. State Department’s juvenile jousting over Ukraine. But carelessness could make it more likely to fall with unspeakable…
Human Rights, Intelligence, Media, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
What’s the Matter with John Kerry?
Special Report: As a young warrior and senator, John Kerry stood up to politicians who spread propaganda that misled the public and got people killed. Now, as a 70-year-old Secretary of State, he has become what he once challenged, reports Robert Parry.
Making Money the Measure of Politics
U.S. pundits decry countries like Iran as undemocratic for having a screening process for candidates to high office. But U.S. politicians must pass muster with wealthy donors to be considered serious candidates, a system that the Supreme Court just made worse, says Lawrence Davidson.
Making Iran’s UN Envoy a Wedge Issue
America’s neocons and their allies want an escalating confrontation with Iran, not a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue. So they seek out hot buttons to anger Iran and make President Obama’s job harder, such as blocking Iran’s choice of…
Misunderstanding Jesus’s Execution
From the Archive: Over the centuries as Christianity bent to the interests of the rich and powerful, the story of Jesus’s fateful week in Jerusalem was reshaped to minimize its pivotal event, overturning the Temple’s money tables, a challenge to religious and political power, says Rev.…
Playing Word Games on Iran and Nukes
In the U.S. propaganda war against Iran, a recurring tactic is to play games with words, conflating a nuclear program with a weapons program despite the longstanding judgment of U.S. intelligence that Iran is not working on a bomb, as Gareth Porter reports…
South Africa’s Murder Trial Distraction
Despite South Africa’s transition into a multiracial democracy, profound economic inequality remains, a backdrop to both the high-profile murder trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius and the splintering of Nelson Mandela’s ANC, as Danny Schechter notes.
A Blind Eye to LBJ’s ‘X-File’
Exclusive: President Lyndon Johnson’s legacy is in the news whether his many domestic achievements should outweigh his disastrous escalation of the Vietnam War but no attention is being paid to evidence that LBJ might have ended the war if not for Richard…
‘War-Wise’ Skepticism Prevailed on Syria
Though nearly going to war with Syria last year over a chemical attack, the Obama administration has still not presented a shred of verifiable proof against the Syrian government. And, interest is waning now that suspicions have shifted to Syrian rebels aided by U.S. allies, Nat Parry…
A Peace Ship’s Challenge to Nukes
In the 1950s, as the United States obliterated Pacific islands to test hydrogen bombs, anti-nuclear activists challenged this devastation by trying to sail a ship, The Golden Rule, into the test zone, a protest that helped create political pressure for a…
Greasing Skids for the Comcast Deal
Americans often complain about their cable bills which always seem to be going up. Part of that money, however, goes not for entertainment but to curry favor with Congress and other officials who will judge the Comcast-Time Warner merger, as Michael Winship…
Get a Rare Look into a Dark History
From Editor Robert Parry: Our thank-you gift for donations of $100 or more to our spring fund drive is my book, America’s Stolen Narrative, detailing new evidence on the 1980 Reagan campaign’s secret contacts with Iran, plus a DVD of a “Frontline” documentary that…
Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, October Surprise, Politics, Right Wing, Secrecy
Reagan-Bush Ties to Iran-Hostage Crisis
Exclusive: The Senate wants to block Iran’s new UN ambassador because he was linked to the Iran hostage crisis 35 years ago, but that standard would strip honors from Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, implicated in extending the hostage crisis to win the 1980 election, reports Robert Parry.
Spies, Diplomacy and Double Standards
While Israel demands that the U.S. release spy Jonathan Pollard, it continues to persecute Mordechai Vanunu for exposing the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, raising questions about secrecy, double standards and diplomacy, an issue addressed by ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.