Daniel Ellsberg

April 28, 2017

Statement by Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower: “Obama having opened the legal campaign against the press by going after the roots of investigative reporting on national security — the sources — Trump is going to go after the gatherers/gardeners themselves (and their bosses, publishers). To switch the metaphor, an indictment of Assange is a ‘first […]

William Astore

April 27, 2017

Did you know the U.S. has built nearly 70,000 nuclear weapons since 1945? Did you know the U.S. Air Force lost a B-52 and two hydrogen bombs in an accident over North Carolina in 1961, and that one of those H-bombs was a single safety-switch away from exploding with a blast equivalent to three or […]

Peter Van Buren

April 27, 2017

National Bird, a documentary film about America’s drone wars by filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck, airs May 1 at 10 pm on most local PBS stations as part of the Independent Lens series (check local listings, some stations have different schedules). I had a chance to see the film in advance, and here’s why you should watch […]

Daniel McAdams

April 26, 2017

Here’s a perfect example of how convoluted our Middle East policy is: our Turkish NATO allies attacked our Kurdish anti-ISIS ground forces in Iraq and Syria this week, killing as many as 70 fighters. The Kurdish YPG fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” who are leading the US fight against […]

Daniel McAdams

April 25, 2017

President Trump has yet to provide any credible evidence that the gas attack in Syria earlier this month was carried out by Assad, and in the meantime very serious questions about the veracity of White House claims are arising from very credible experts. Yet the Administration seems ever more determined now that it has done […]

William Astore

April 25, 2017

As the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office approaches, we can already see the novice commander-in-chief’s approach to military action. The approach is to empower “his” generals. And the results? A triumph of image over substance. “Spin it to win it” is the byword for Trump’s military “strategy.” A few examples: The disastrous […]

Daniel McAdams

April 25, 2017

President Trump’s about-face on Syria has left many of his supporters reeling. Repeatedly on the campaign trail – and over the past several years – he has mocked President Obama’s decision to get involved in a "regime change" project in Syria. He correctly warned Obama back in 2013 that if you attack Syria, "very bad […]

Peter Van Buren

April 25, 2017

History is a funny thing, because we forget it so easily, and so quickly. That forgetting is usually based on the political needs of the moment, and politicians and the media count on us being that way so they can manipulate us. Works nearly every time, too. One of the latest versions of this is […]

Peter Van Buren

April 24, 2017

People speak of Afghanistan as “our generation’s” Vietnam, a quagmire, a war that goes on simply because it has been going on. The Afghan war is dragging into being our generation’s, and soon the next generation’s Vietnam as well, over a decade and a half old. There are troops deploying now that were two years […]

L. Reichard White

April 24, 2017

“Another east Mosul resident, Jasim Mohammed Ali, said his son and six grandsons were killed … Ali said that during the [coalition bomb] attack in the modest Aden neighborhood [in Mosul, Iraq], his grandsons were crushed by rubble in their bedroom as he cowered next door with his 17-year-old son, who was also killed. His […]