American Christians are fond of appealing to Jesus and God to bless U.S. military missions, with little regard for the contradictions between Christ’s peaceful teachings and Washington’s war policies. Perhaps never was that hypocrisy clearer than in the decision to…
Justifying an Anti-Muslim Terrorist
The massacre of 77 people in Norway by a Muslim-hating extremist has prompted soul-searching among some Christians and Jews, but also has provoked rationalizations from some in Israel and elsewhere who view fear and loathing of Muslims as key to…
Negotiating with Hostage-Takers
One enduring lesson of the Reagan administration is that it makes no sense to negotiate with hostage-takers; they only take more hostages. That is a lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democrats must learn in dealing with the today’s…
More US Soldiers Die in Vain
Exclusive: Adding to the painful death toll in America’s seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, 30 U.S. soldiers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter was shot down. The deaths provoked predictable comments about how they didn’t die in vain, but…
A Dark American Turning Point
The carnage inflicted on Japan on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, marked a dark turning point in American history. Having achieved victory over Nazism in Europe and the strategic defeat of fascist Japan, the United States took the unprecedented…
Spain’s Battle Against ‘Austerity’
Western governments are stepping up their demands for public “austerity” hitting the middle and lower classes, even as extravagance remains the watchword for Wall Street and the rich. In Spain, a determined movement of “indignados” has emerged to challenge this…
‘Dog Days’ for US Economy
The debt-ceiling crisis has revealed that Republicans have found a valuable hostage and Democrats have shown they will pay the ransom. So, the prospects that the federal government will address other problems, like joblessness and a staggering middle class, are…
Halfway to Our Goal
We are almost halfway to our goal of raising $25,000 for our crucial mid-year fund drive. Please help us get the rest of the way there, asks Consortiumnews.com’s editor and founder Robert Parry.
Beyond the Debt Limit Fiasco
The dispiriting battle over the debt ceiling has set many to wondering how America’s profoundly dysfunctional political/media system can and must be overhauled to serve the interests of the broad population, not just the privileged elites and their deluded defenders.…
Obama on the Backs of the Poor
Exclusive: The painful resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis shows that Republicans and the Right know how to play hardball and that the Democrats and President Barack Obama know how to get rolled. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is thinking about…
The GOP War on the Environment
An article of faith on the American Right is that the “free market” can solve pretty much all problems and the government should simply get out of the way. After the debt-limit crisis, the Republicans turn to the environment, writes…
Mocking the Gaza Flotilla
A small flotilla carrying human rights and peace activists to Israel-blockaded Gaza was itself blockaded in Greece after intense diplomatic pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv. But the Israeli news media continues to heap ridicule on the passengers. Two of them,…
Norway’s ‘Christian’ Killer
Christian nationalists, like confessed Norway mass-murderer Anders Breivik, insist that a violent defense of Christendom is needed to shield Western Christianity and its culture from encroachments by Muslims. But Gary G. Kohls writes that such ugly intolerance is an affront to Jesus’s teachings of peace…
Palestine’s Bid for Recognition
With Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going nowhere and Israel still counting on the unqualified support of the United States a diplomatic clash is shaping up at the United Nations in September as Palestinians push for UN recognition of their own state. But…
Wrestling Over the Debt Ceiling
As Republicans threaten to throw the U.S. economy into a new crisis by not raising the debt ceiling, Democrats have given ground time and again, erasing one line in the sand after another. But is this self-inflicted crisis real or…
God, Palin and Politics
Pentecostalism, a non-rational form of Christianity whose adherents believe they speak directly to God and favor apocalyptic prophecies, is adding to the polarization of American politics behind the movement’s champion, Sarah Palin. Rev. Howard Bess explains the emergence of this…
Putting Israel’s Interests First
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch and other neocons are backing the Republican candidate in a special New York congressional race in September to punish President Obama for suggesting that Israel’s 1967 borders be a starting point for peace talks.…
The Big Fat GOP Budget Lie
Exclusive: At every turn of the debt-ceiling battle, Republicans repeat the talking point that Washington doesn’t have a “revenue problem,” but a “spending problem” as if saying so makes it true. But the reality is that today’s debt crisis is…
How the Rich Won the Class War
Over the past several decades, the Right has convinced millions of Americans that Government is the source of all problems, that Corporations must have near-total freedom, and that the Rich must enjoy low taxes. The consequence has been a devastated…
Glimmer of Hope for Afghan Peace
In a little-noticed policy shift, the Obama administration renounced “permanent” U.S. bases in Afghanistan, addressing a central demand of the Taliban. Its leaders have signaled that peace talks are possible if the United States agrees to pull out its troops,…