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The Making of a Nation’s Decline
Jun 16, 2017 President Trump is giving America's tottering domestic and global systems the push that will send them over the edge.
Mosul on My Mind
May 16, 2017 Iraq’s military (and the U.S. Air Force), claims to be avoiding destruction in Mosul, but large parts of the city are likely to be left in ruins.
The Honeymoon of the Generals
Apr 25, 2017 Trump has lifted restraints on field commanders and let the military send more personnel to the Middle East.
Demobilizing America: A Nation Made by War and a Citizenry Unmade by It
Apr 4, 2017 For over 15 years, the U.S. has been fighting failed or failing wars—efforts that seem only to spread the terrorism they’re supposed to eradicate.
President Blowback: How the Invasion of Iraq Came Home
Mar 17, 2017 If you want to know where Donald Trump came from, don’t look to reality TV or Twitter. Look someplace far more improbable: Iraq.The World After Me: Eternal ‘Wartime’ in America
Jul 27, 2016 In this era, everything that further militarizes American foreign policy, puts the national security state in command and assures the continued demobilization of a scared and rattled citizenry creates yet more uprooted souls, more children without childhoods, more refugees.
Obama’s Mission Accomplished Moment?
Jan 14, 2012 When it came to rolling out a new 10-year plan for the future of the U.S. military recently, President Obama was at the top of his game.
Debacle! How Two Wars in the Greater Middle East Revealed the Weakness of the Global Superpower
Jan 4, 2012 It was to be the war that would establish empire as an American fact. It would result in a thousand-year Pax Americana. It was to be “mission accomplished” all the way. And then, of course, it wasn’t. And then, almost nine dismal years later, it was over (sorta).
An All-American Nightmare: This Is What Defeat Looks Like
Nov 9, 2011 How about a moment of silence for the passing of the American Dream -- Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent nuclear arsenal, dumb and even dumber decisions, a bloody civil war, dead Americans, crony corporations, a trillion or more taxpayer dollars flushed down the toilet. You know, George W. Bush's dream.
The Afghanistan Speech Obama Should Give (but Won’t)
Nov 20, 2009 President Obama will undoubtedly address the American people on whatever decision he makes about the war in Afghanistan. Every sign indicates that it will not sound like this.American Exceptionalism Meets Team Jesus
Sep 18, 2007 There's a lot of talk about religious fundamentalism these days, but how much do we really know about the brand of Christian fundamentalism that has developed in America since, and in response to, the Enlightenment? Author James Carroll holds forth on the subject in this interview with TomDispatch editor Tom Engelhardt.
The Two Phenomena Transforming the Climate Conversation
Jan 27, 2020 We finally see a spark of global acknowledgement about the urgency of the crisis, thanks to Greta Thunberg and Australia's fires.
Humanity Is Committing Collective Suicide
Apr 28, 2019 Even for an old man like me, it’s a terrifying thing to watch humanity make a decision to commit self-harm on a mass scale.
The American War Machine Is Out of Control
Apr 15, 2019 From Somalia to Syria, U.S. wars are off the charts. With the 2020 election around the corner, there might be yet another war on the horizon.
Solving the Border and China Problems in One Swell Foop
Mar 5, 2019 We have two intractable issues, one intractable president and an intractable world, but what if that weren’t so?
The U.S. Is Paying for What It Did to Russia in Afghanistan
Jan 27, 2019 Trump is right: Russia’s Afghan misadventure is a remarkably logical place to start when considering the present U.S. debacle there.
A Planet Boiling With Unintended Consequences
Mar 4, 2018 To get a picture of “blowback” in action, just do an internet search for such phrases as “warmest years,” “rising sea levels” and “future climate refugees."
Send In the Clowns
Jan 27, 2018 If you’re still convinced that James Mattis, H.R. McMaster and James Kelly are the “adults” in the Trumpian playroom, check out Afghanistan and think again.
Seeing Our Wars for the First Time
Jan 6, 2018 More than a decade and a half after an American president spoke of 60 or more countries as potential targets, we finally have a visual representation of the true extent of the war on terror.
Start Caring in 2018
Dec 23, 2017 It’s up to us to protest, resist, change, communicate and convince, to fight for life rather than its destruction in the age of Trump.