Though the World War II victors promised that the Nuremberg principles would apply not just to the Nazis but to everyone, today’s reality is that international law follows two standards: a lenient one for the West and its friends and a stringent…
Bill Gates v. Photojournalists
Exclusive: Photojournalism, the risky business of capturing images of war and other historic events, is under financial pressure like other aspects of journalism. Some photogs were encouraged when billionaire Bill Gates put himself in the picture in the 1990s, but…
‘Pro-Life’ Government Kills Troy Davis
People around the world were gripped by the grim drama of Troy Davis’s execution by authorities in Georgia, after the state clemency board brushed aside grave doubts about his murder conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed his final appeal.…
Human Rights, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Running from Right-Wing Clowns
By the late 1970s, there was a serious national debate about the blood-soaked Vietnam War, but then came Ronald Reagan rebranding it a “noble cause” and right-wing accusations against critics who “blame America first,” followed by the panicked retreat of…
Afghan Raids Target Taliban Families
As the Afghan War drags on and surviving Taliban commanders prove elusive U.S. forces are targeting friends and families, according to a new study, Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service.
The Dark Legacy of Reaganomics
Exclusive: For half a century from the depths of the Great Depression until the rise of Ronald Reagan the U.S. government invested in building the nation and funding key research. And the country flourished. But Reagan then reversed those priorities. The…
A Death-Row Drama in Georgia
Georgia’s planned execution of Troy Davis, set for Wednesday, is drawing protests from around the world because of grave doubts that he actually committed the murder of an off-duty policeman 22 years ago. Dennis Bernstein explores the case in an…
Turkey-Israel Split Reshapes Mideast
The Arab Spring uprisings and Palestine’s bid for statehood at the United Nations are reshaping the political dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean region, but perhaps nothing is more important than the newly assertive role of Turkey and its split from…
Tea Party Gets the Constitution Wrong
Exclusive: The Tea Partiers love to cite the U.S. Constitution as supporting their contempt for the federal government. But they don’t realize that the Constitution represented the most important assertion of central authority in American history, writes Robert Parry.
Help Empty Our Book Warehouse
From Robert Parry: I’ve carved out enough space in my house for most of the remaining cartons of Secrecy & Privilege and Neck Deep. But there are still about 25 to 30 cartons that don’t fit.
A Christian Reflection on 9/11
The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks stirred up some powerful and painful memories of that day and the 3,000 victims. But the Rev. Howard Bess says his Christian faith has compelled him to think also about the carnage that…
Dick Cheney: Son of the New Deal
Exclusive: Dick Cheney is an inspiration to right-wing Republicans set on dismantling the New Deal and getting rid of as many government jobs as possible. But Cheney’s memoir traces his success in life back to the security created by the…
Cheney’s Unintended Admissions
Exclusive: Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s memoir is filled with accounts about the great and wonderful people who agree with him — and the evil buffoons who don’t. But the book offers some unintentional insights into how the American Republic got…
Answering ‘Why Do They Hate Us?’
After the 9/11 attacks when many Americans wondered “why do they hate us?” they were fed pabulum by President George W. Bush about them “hating our freedoms,” as a frightened (or complicit) U.S. news media didn’t dare contradict. That has…
On Libya, Now They Tell Us
Exclusive: The Washington Post now admits that the key role of Islamists in Libya’s uprising “went largely unnoticed” before Muammar Gaddafi was toppled last month. But Robert Parry asks whose fault was that, since it was the Post and other…
Taliban Narrative in Afghan War
Holdovers from the Bush administration helped sell President Barack Obama on a “surge” for Afghanistan, arguing that a counterinsurgency strategy could still work. However, two years later, the Taliban continues high-profile attacks almost anywhere in the country, reports Gareth Porter.
The Lost Innocence of 9/11
Perhaps it was inevitable in America’s self-absorbed culture that the tragedy of 9/11 would be politicized and counter-politicized, forged into a weapon by ideological forces to wield against their enemies in the never-ending “culture wars.” But Michael Winship laments how that process…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Surrendering Liberties After 9/11
After the 9/11 attacks, many Americans were ready to surrender constitutional liberties for an extra measure of security and the Bush administration was more than willing to accept that deal. But the Independent Institute’s Ivan Eland says the trade-offs haven’t…
CNN Panders to the Tea Party
Exclusive: Mainstream American journalists have long feared the wrath of the well-organized Right, which targets independent-minded reporters with the damaging label “liberal.” So, the career-minded are quick to bend over rightward, as CNN just did in teaming up with the…
Who Are These People?
Exclusive: When President George W. Bush took aim at Iraq in 2002-03, the smart career play in the U.S. news media was to jump on the pro-war bandwagon and cheer on propaganda about WMD and other excuses for war. Belatedly, the New York…