Today is the day we are supposed to celebrate the unitary executive -- well not exactly, but unfortunately the celebration of Presidents Day has come to mean the iconization of the strong leader who takes the country into wars and takes charge of the economy. But...
photoThe big news yesterday was that after some five hours of intense negotiation on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, an agreement was reached between the major powers on a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria within the next week. According to the...
Reading Dennis Ross and David Ignatius is a good reminder that the neocons live in a different world than the rest of us. They do not conform their analysis to reality, but rather they conform reality to their view of the world. Where most people would be encouraged...
What is the "deep state"? Is it a secret national security apparatus that spies on us and operates "black sites" overseas? Some judicial star chamber ruling in secret? Well, partly. But as Mike Lofgren, author of "The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the...
With the opening of all military combat roles to women, establishment voices like the New York Times are proclaiming that the next fight for equality is to force women to join men in registering for the draft. In what way is it a triumph of rights to have the threat...
According to press reports yesterday, Saudi Arabia is assembling a 150,000 man military force to invade Syria from Turkish soil and fight against Islamist terrorists in that country. But surely the rest of the world knows that for the past five years or more, Saudi...
CIA director John Brennan lost his cool at Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-OR) in a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee today when the Oregon Senator suggested the spy chief should apologize for spying on the Senate. The event in question took place back in 2014. The...
It looks like the neocons and the Beltway military-industrial complex are going to get their way, as President Obama's plan to scale back a few weapons systems has hit a brick wall in Congress. Meanwhile, citing the "Russian threat," the Pentagon announced that it...
Neocon scribblers like Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin are crowing about the demise of non-interventionism with the departure of Rand Paul from the presidential race. We are all neocons now, say Rubin and her allies in the war party. But not so fast! When have they...
Today the Free State Project announced that they have reached the threshold of 20,000 people who have pledged to move to New Hampshire and participate in what they call the greatest political migration project in US history. Is geographic proximity in a relatively...
No matter who occupies the US presidency, it seems the neoconservatives always occupy positions of foreign policy power. A neocon like Robert Kagan, for example, is perfectly comfortable going from a senior position in the GW Bush administration to another senior post...
Anyone wondering why the rest of the world sees the US administration as insane -- or worse -- need only spend a few minutes watching a daily briefing from the White House or especially the US State Department. These are not endeavors by intelligent and rational...
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is being advertised in some circles as the heir to the Ron Paul libertarian movement, yet one look at his foreign policy and it is immediately evident that he is anything but. His advisors are Bill Kristol, John Bolton, James Woolsey, Elliot...
Robert Ford was US Ambassador to Syria when the revolt against Syrian president Assad was launched. He not only was a chief architect of regime change in Syria, but actively worked with rebels to aid their overthrow of the Syrian government. Ford assured us that those...
It is not a conspiracy -- it is out in the open. The permanent government behind the scenes ensures that foreign policy never changes, that endless wars continue to enrich the military-industrial complex, that the population is kept in fear to insure acquiescence,...
The US Senate under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is poised to rush to the floor a bill that would give the president total war authority anywhere on the globe, perhaps even including on US soil. All in the name of fighting ISIS, Congress is about to crown...
With another round of talks in Geneva on the Syria crisis scheduled to take place in just days, the US and Russia still cannot agree on who should represent the opposition at the negotiating table. The US and Saudis have insisted that the political leader of the...
Thanks in part to "mandatory minimum" laws starting in the 1980s, the US has the largest prison population -- per capita and total -- of any country on earth. Including China. Is that because Americans are that much worse than others? No, it is due to a completely...
Most normal people look at the smoldering cemetery that is post-"liberation" Libya, the gruesome graveyard of an almost-"liberated" Syria, the 14 year slow-motion failed regime change in Afghanistan, blood-drenched Iraq, and they are horrified. Washington Post's...
A Saudi-backed opposition committee representing the rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad government in Syria have agreed on a chief negotiator for peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva next week. The rebels will be represented by Mohammed Alloush, political...
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