Another Demand for Proof That Alleged Russian Hacking Aided Trump Campaign

By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity / Common Dreams Jan 19, 2017 More than 20 U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic veterans call on President Obama to release the evidence or admit that validation is lacking. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

The DNC Email Leaks: The Gift That Keeps On Feeding Distrust

John Kiriakou / Truthdig Jul 28, 2016 The worst of the many offenses revealed in the latest WikiLeaks case is that Bernie Sanders was undemocratically deprived of fair play in the Democratic primary. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

5 Questions That Are Unlikely to Be Asked During the 2016 Presidential Election

By Peter Van Buren / TomDispatch Mar 18, 2016 In October 2012, I considered five critical foreign policy questions that were not being discussed by then-candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Sadly, those questions remain as pertinent and unraised today as they were four years ago. Unlike then, however, answers may be at hand, and believe me, that's not good news. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Minimum Wage, Minimum Chance: On Being Nickel-and-Dimed in 2016

By Peter Van Buren / TomDispatch Feb 16, 2016 When presidential candidate Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality, and when other candidates speak about the minimum wage and food stamps, what are they really talking about? Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

You Won’t Like It, but Here’s the Answer on Islamic State

By Peter Van Buren / TomDispatch Jan 20, 2016 Some advice for your presidential candidate of choice -- whoever he or she might be. Just don't expect it to necessarily be an easy sell to all Americans. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Washington to Whomever: Please Fight Islamic State for Us

By Peter Van Buren / TomDispatch Dec 10, 2015 The United States will send in planes, advisers and special-ops guys if the Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Sunnis and/or Shiites will please step in soon and get America off the hook. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

What If They Gave a War and Everyone Came?

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Oct 24, 2015 What if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq in 2003? How would things be different in the Middle East today? Let's take a big-picture tour of the Middle East and try to answer those questions. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

U.S.-Iranian Relations Emerge From a 30-Year Cold War

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jul 29, 2015 Don't sweat the details of the July nuclear accord between the United States and Iran. What matters is that the calculus of power in the Middle East just changed in significant ways. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Five Things That Won’t Work in Iraq

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jun 25, 2015 It’s the American Way to believe with all our hearts that every problem is ours to solve and every problem must have a solution, which simply must be found. As a result, the indispensable nation faces a new round of calls for ideas on what “we” should do next in Iraq. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

The Iranian Ascendancy

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Apr 13, 2015 In a classic tale of unintended consequences, just about every time Washington has committed another blunder in the Middle East, Iran has stepped in to take advantage. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

Four Months Into Iraq War 3.0, the Cracks Are Showing

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Nov 10, 2014 What happens to a war in the absence of coherent state policy? Washington’s Iraq War 3.0, Operation Inherent Resolve, is what happens. As the mission enters its fourth month it may be time to ask, in all seriousness: What could possibly go right? Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Seven Worst-Case Scenarios in the Battle With Islamic State

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Oct 17, 2014 The U.S. is again at war in the Middle East, bombing freely across Iraq and Syria and searching desperately for some non-American boots to put on the ground. Here are seven worst-case scenarios in a part of the world where the worst case has regularly been the best that’s on offer. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )