From schoolbooks to popular culture, Americans have been fed a steady diet of propaganda that has led them to support reactionary policies around the globe even while fancying themselves advocates of human progress, as historian William Blum explains.
Tag: William Blum
Pan Am 103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?
From the Archive: With the death of Ali al-Megrahi over the weekend, the Western press was again filled with references to him as the “Lockerbie bomber,” even though the New York Times finally conceded how dubious his conviction was. At…
What’s Happening in Syria?
It’s difficult to know what’s happening in Syria not only because of the confusing violence but because the Western news media has lost nearly all credibility when it comes to reporting on Muslim countries, at least those on America’s and…
In Case You Missed…
Some of our special stories in February explained how the U.S. public is getting misled to war on Iran, how key Republicans are waging war on women and the environment, how the Right has distorted the Founders and the U.S.…
Maligning Pvt. Manning
Classified documents allegedly leaked by Pvt. Bradley Manning have revealed the grim sometimes criminal truth about the U.S. government’s actions, and Manning has said that was his intent. But his own lawyers have portrayed him as a misfit, not a…
What Israel Really Fears about Iran
Israel does not really see Iran as an “existential threat,” at least not in the sense that Iran would fire a hypothetical nuclear bomb at Israel. Rather, Israel fears that an Iranian bomb would tilt the strategic balance, since Israel…
Prepping Americans for an Iran War
As the American/Israeli war drums beat more loudly over Iran, the U.S. public is being told that this time the warnings about nuclear weapons are right, that no one should listen to Iranian denials, that ratcheting up tensions toward war is…
Pan Am 103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?
From the Archive: As U.S. policymakers and pundits celebrate the brutal murder of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, his torture and execution are being justified by glib references to his purported role in the Pan Am 103 bombing in 1988. But…
Real-World Motives for Libya War
The West has buffered the war in Libya with layers of propaganda, including Orwellian claims about “protecting civilians” even as NATO warplanes kill civilians. The obvious real goal was “regime change,” the removal of Muammar Gaddafi, but historian William Blum…
The Other Side of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall became the iconic symbol of the Cold War, supposedly proving the superiority of capitalism over communism. However, there is another, little understood side to the story regarding why the wall was erected a half century ago, writes historian…