September 1961. Geneva, Switzerland. A Turkish classmate of mine named Turgut burst into my room, crying, “those bastards just hanged my father!” The “bastards” in question were Turkey’s generals. They had overthrown the civilian government of Adnan Menderes and hanged my friend’s father. Since, then, the mighty Turkish armed forces has tried to overthrow the government about every ten years. Last weekend’s military coup in Turkey was the fifth coup since the 1960’s. Many had believed the...

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams issued a warning to an undisclosed number of masked protesters outside the Republican National Convention: “If you are a member of a group that causes you to have to hide your face, then you probably need a different cause.” Police claim they have received at least a dozen calls related to concerns about the small groups of black-clad “anarchists” with masks. So why is Chief Williams so concerned about the face masks? Too early for Halloween? Nope, facial...

On Friday July 15th, as the national news media were either on vacation or preparing for the opening of the Trump National Convention on Monday the 18th, the long-awaited release of the ‘missing’ 28 pages from the US Senate’s 9/11 report (“DECEMBER 2002: JOINT INQUIRY INTO INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES BEFORE AND AFTER THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001”) occurred. The official title of this document is “PART FOUR – FINDING, DISCUSSION AND NARRATIVE REGARDING CERTAIN SENSITIVE...

Never has the US-led conspiracy against the sovereign state of Syria been so transparent. When recently a Syrian warplane crashed near the Syrian capital of Damascus and its pilot parachuted to safety, he was captured and promptly executed by US-backed “moderate rebels.” In what was clearly an inexcusable war crime, the story began to change almost immediately in order to shift the blame.. Reuters in its article, “Syrian warplane crashes near Damascus, rebels say pilot killed,” would report...

Despite all the articles and analysis in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting, one important fact seems to have been completely overlooked: the shooter validated Ron Paul’s warning that American military intervention in the Mideast causes terrorist attacks. On September 25, 2001, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas addressed the US House of Representatives. Two weeks earlier, a terrorist attack had destroyed four fully-loaded passenger aircraft, completely demolished three buildings at the World...

Relatives of troops killed in the Iraq War have launched an online crowd-funding appeal to pay for possible legal action against Tony Blair. The Iraq War Families Campaign group are trying to raise £50,000 to "bring to justice to those responsible for the war and the deaths of our loved ones". The appeal follows the Chilcot Inquiry, which sharply criticised the decision-making behind the war and said it had been poorly-planned and ended in failure. The appeal had already reached £20,000 by...

News reports about the recently released 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks are typically dismissive: this is nothing new, it’s just circumstantial evidence, and there’s no “smoking gun.” Yet given what the report actually says – and these news accounts are remarkably sparse when it comes to verbatim quotes – it’s hard to fathom what would constitute a smoking gun. To begin with, let’s start with what’s not in these pages: there are numerous redactions. And they are rather...

I have railed for some time against the maniacal idea of the military draft being extended to include women. Make no mistake, I oppose the draft in all forms; and think it is just as reprehensible to force men to serve and die for a cause they may or may not believe in as well. The military should be an all-volunteer army. And if it’s not, then the entire idea of liberty is nothing more than an elaborate hoax foisted on the masses. The only TRUE liberty belongs to those who cannot be...

Opponents of a central bank should take advantage of the post-Brexit vote revival of secessionist sentiments to promote a secession from central banking, or “Fed-exit.” Ending the Federal Reserve's monopoly on money is the key to restoring and maintaining our liberty and prosperity. By manipulating the money supply to fix interest rates, the Federal Reserve engages in price fixing. After all, interest rates are nothing more than the price of money. Like all prices, they communicate information...

In the aftermath of the suspiciously ill-planned and ill-executed coup attempt in Turkey, the government of President Erdogan has shut down the US military base in Incirlik. According to Stars and Stripes, the Turkish government, after putting down the partial military revolt, has closed the airspace over the US base at Incirlik and has even turned off the power to the base. In response, the US has placed troops on base at the "highest force protection level."The Turkish government has said...

When we described the aftermath of Turkey's failed, and painfully disorganized military coup attempt, we asked rhetorically, "Who wins?" To which we answered: "Why Erdogan of course." As he said during a press conference upon his arrival back in Istanbul in the early Saturday morning hours, the coup is an opportunity to "to purge the military." Erdogan also vowed to exact "the highest price" from the perpetrators. Or, to summarize, the military said Erdogan's power consolidation justifies the...

Less than 24 hours before a man mowed down people with a truck in Nice, France, French President Hollande had confirmed that the state of emergency declared in the wake of the Nov. 2015 Paris attacks was going to expire on July 26, without renewal. During his traditional Bastille Day television interview, Hollande said, “We had to prolong the state of emergency until we could be sure that the law gives us the means to counter the terrorist threat effectively.”Last May, France passed a...

The French have a saying, "un malheur n’arrive jamais seul." That translates into "when it rains, it pours." This week, the heavens opened and poured on the nation’s national fete, Bastille Day. The day began with highly embarrassing revelations by a French satirical newspaper that the unpopular president, Francois Hollande, had a staff hairdresser making $11,000 a month at a time of national austerity. This was a genuine "let them eat cake" moment. That same evening, a frightful attack...

Fresh from declaring her support of Oberlin students in claiming the serving of sushi is cultural appropriation, actress Lena Dunham (creator of HBO’s “Girls”), is supporting producer Tami Sagher’s effort to get people to deface the posters for the Jason Bourne movie. The objection is to the inclusion of a gun. So Dunham and Sagher are calling for the work of other artists to be defaced because they disagree with the content. They are doing so without a hint of recognized hypocrisy. Despite...

It’s hardly a secret that the hardships of common people are getting worse by the year. Due to continuous attempts by Washington to redraw the map of the world, in many countries, American intelligence agencies have been particularly active in launching so-called “color revolutions” and staging military conflicts, bringing bitter hunger and poverty upon the heads of millions of people in the Middle East and other regions of the world. Consequently those events have triggered a massive and...

As the horrific carnage in Syria continues, a depressingly familiar chorus is rising from Washington. The new consensus is the same as it was in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan: Bombing isn’t working, so let’s bomb more. A familiar coalition — generals, defense contractors, and politicians, along with think tanks and much of the press — is demanding escalation of our military campaign in Syria. There may be a limit to how many unwinnable wars the United States wants to wage in the Middle East,...