Why Using the Right Names for Things Matters
August 13, 2021
Jonathan Katz spoke with Emma Green at The Atlantic about the resistance he encountered to using accurate language while writing a piece about Haiti and possible U.S. intervention there for an unnamed publication. Katz ended up taking the piece elsewhere, and Foreign Policy would later publish it. Here is the relevant exchange: Green: You wrote […]
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The Bad Faith Hawkish Credibility Argument Just Won’t Die
August 12, 2021
If there’s one thing hawks enjoy, it is creating doubt about U.S. reliability: Mr. Biden “knows from long experience that America’s actions abroad matter, but he is willingly ignoring the far-reaching consequences of America’s withdrawal in Afghanistan,” said Bradley Bowman, an Afghanistan veteran and senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on […]
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Conflicts of Interest: American Leaders Weaponize the ‘Chinese Boogeyman’ for Political Gain
August 11, 2021
On COI #147, Dave DeCamp – News Editor at Antiwar.com – returns to the show to discuss how American pols increasingly use China as a political weapon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently warned that the US must pass a massive infrastructure spending bill or risk ‘losing’ to China. He also warned that Beijing is […]
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End the Illegal US Military Presence in Syria
August 11, 2021
While testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a top Biden administration Pentagon official confirmed today that the illegal US military presence in Syria would continue: The Biden administration is committed to retaining US military presence in northeast Syria. This is consistent with reporting from last month that said that US forces would be staying […]
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Scott Horton & Abby Hall Blanco vs. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: ‘Is the Global War on Islamic Fundamentalists Worth Supporting’ (video)
August 10, 2021
At this year’s Freedom Fest, in Rapid City, South Dakota, Scott Horton, Abby Hall Blanco and Ayaan Hirsi Ali debated whether the wars in the Middle East post 9/11 have been justified to stop the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. In the affirmative was Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an author and activist for NATO’s continued presence in […]
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Pegasus and the Global Surveillance Business
August 10, 2021
We have just learned about a powerful spyware known as Pegasus, manufactured and leased by the Israeli company NSO Group and capable of extracting just about every kind of data stored in a smart phone. The Pegasus Project, a consortium of 17 organizations and individuals, mostly journalists, has acquired a leaked list of 50,000 individuals […]
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Why Do We Fight? Don’t Ask
August 10, 2021
Derek Davison commented on the three U.S. strikes in Somalia that have taken place in the last few weeks, and noted that there is hardly anyone asking why the US is engaged in hostilities in Somalia in 2021: There’s no questioning why al-Shabab, whose current ambitions don’t extend beyond Somalia and whose reach extends no […]
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Conflicts of Interest: Afghan Capitals Fall to Taliban as Pentagon Threatens to Ramp Up Bombing
August 9, 2021
On COI #146, Kyle and Will break down Twitter’s latest attempt to root out what it calls ‘misinformation,’ with the platform announcing a new partnership with Reuters and the Associated Press to ‘fact check’ information on the site. The two newswires are among the most respectable in western media, but have poor track records reporting […]
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RIP: Mark Perry, an Extraordinary Journalist in Extraordinary Times
August 8, 2021
Our colleague and friend Mark Perry passed away today after a battle with lung cancer, his son Cal Perry announced on Twitter earlier this morning. It is devastating news to so many because Perry had been a staple in Washington foreign policy/military journalism and activism circles for decades and had fostered quite a collection of […]
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Tales of the American Empire: American Military Cities in Germany
August 6, 2021
Soon after World War II ended, the US military began building massive military bases in Europe and shipped families to Europe to accompany servicemen. These bases grew into American cities that are great fun, but very costly and reduce the readiness of units. Should war occur in Europe, military units there will remain dysfunctional for […]
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