It was painful enough to live through the U.S. invasion of Iraq that caused untold devastation and human misery for no justifiable reason. Continue reading
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Category Archives: Analysis
No, Joe, don’t roll out the red carpet for torture enablers
We need political leaders and intelligence community officials who acknowledge that torture is illegal under international law, inhumane, and ineffective.
America’s destructive denialisms
The refusal of tens of millions of Americans to recognize the election results is part of a much larger denialism—of COVID-19, of climate change, and U.S. decline.
The presidential election wasn’t close. Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes, which translates to a margin of 4.5 percent. His Electoral College victory was larger than either of George W. Bush’s. Continue reading
The great divider: COVID-19 reflects global racism, not equality
The notion that the COVID-19 pandemic was ‘the great equalizer’ should be dead and buried by now. If anything, the lethal disease is another terrible reminder of the deep divisions and inequalities in our societies. That said, the treatment of the disease should not be a repeat of the same shameful scenario. Continue reading
Pompeo’s ugly Christian Dominionist dogma infects global relations
The most tarnished legacy of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be his introduction to U.S. foreign policy the racist dogma of the Christian Reconstructionist/Dominionist Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which, along with its sister Presbyterian denominations – the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) – are rife with warnings of a “yellow peril” endangering Western Christian “civilization.” Continue reading
Big Brother in disguise: The rise of a new, technological world order
It had the potential for disaster. Continue reading
When the people rose: How the Intifada changed the political discourse around Palestine
December 8 came and went as if it was an ordinary day. For Palestinian political groups, it was another anniversary to be commemorated, however hastily. It was on this day, thirty-three years ago, that the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising) broke out, and there was nothing ordinary about this historic event. Continue reading
Will Biden’s America stop creating terrorists?
Joe Biden will take command of the White House at a time when the American public is more concerned about battling coronavirus than fighting overseas wars. But America’s wars rage on regardless, and the militarized counterterrorism policy Biden has supported in the past—based on airstrikes, special operations and the use of proxy forces—is precisely what keeps these conflicts raging. Continue reading
Trustbusters target Facebook, but anti-monopoly effort shores up capitalism
Coming on the heels of a Justice Department lawsuit against Google filed in October, social networking giant Facebook is now in the crosshairs of the trustbusters at the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of more than 48 state and territorial governments. Anti-monopoly momentum is picking up as regulators, long regarded as asleep at the wheel, are escalating legal action against companies that have virtually eliminated competition in the digital economy. Continue reading
From TMAP to Warp Speed: How Big Pharma algorithms fast-track unapproved drugs and vaccines
Five of the pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines through the USA’s Operation Warp Speed have paid out a total of nearly $6 billion to settle lawsuits charging them with fraud related to “off-label” marketing of atypical antipsychotics and antidepressants that were mandated through the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP), which evolved into President George W. Bush’s federal “New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.” AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceutical, and Pfizer, which are currently funded with over $7 billion from Operation Warp Speed, financed the nationwide rollout of fraudulent TMAP algorithms in order to bilk Medicaid programs and other public revenues to pay for drugs like Risperdal, Seroquel, Geodon, Paxil, and Wellbutrin, causing serious side-effects, including death. Continue reading
Right-wing generals calling for a military coup: A long history
History books record that there were a mere handful of cases in which generals plotted the overthrow of a far-right regime to institute moderate or leftist government. In the vast majority of cases, however, generals’ putsches are fascist affairs having dire consequences for the rule of law and human rights. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Donald Trump national security adviser, circulated an on-line petition calling for Trump to suspend the U.S. Constitution, declare martial law, and have the Pentagon oversee a “re-vote” of the presidential election, one that would assuredly have Trump “win” over the current President-elect, former Vice President Joe Biden. Continue reading
With rent freezes about to expire, Mnuchin lobbies for more Wall Street bailouts
As millions of Americans stand on the brink of economic annihilation, the money keeps flowing to Wall Street thanks to carefully contrived mechanisms to maintain a dying financial system afloat.
Many prophetic scenes depicted in a series of Mayan codices written in the early days of the Spanish colony, and translated and compiled in El Libro de los Libros del Chilam Balam, describe a world foreign to its original authors. But, one which was barreling down on them and their civilization even as the Mayan high priests recorded their visions for each stop on their cyclical calendar system. Continue reading
Why Jeh Johnson would be a better defense secretary than Michèle Flournoy
President-elect Biden’s choice for secretary of defense has turned out to be one of the most controversial and difficult of his cabinet appointments. The early front-runner, Michèle Flournoy, was originally seen as a shoo-in and was touted as a great breakthrough for women, but her hawkish views have provoked serious concerns. Biden now appears to be also considering two Black Americans promoted by the Congressional Black Caucus: Jeh Johnson and retired General Lloyd Austin. Continue reading
Problematic mercenary firm reconstitutes: the re-arrival of Executive Outcomes is not good news
The reconstitution of Executive Outcomes (E.O.), the South Africa-based mercenary firm that was involved in civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, and Rwanda in the 1990s, is troubling news for not only Africa, but other nations that have seen their fair share of mercenary force destabilization. Amid an outcry over its activities in Africa and other nations, E.O. ceased operations in 1998. The cessation of the firm’s activities came after South Africa passed legislation, the “Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act,” which required mercenary firms like E.O. to have South African government authorization prior to signing contracts with foreign entities. Continue reading
Warp speed ahead: COVID-19 vaccines pave the way for a new frontier in surveillance
Like it or not, the COVID-19 pandemic with its veiled threat of forced vaccinations, contact tracing, and genetically encoded vaccines is propelling humanity at warp speed into a whole new frontier—a surveillance matrix—the likes of which we’ve only previously encountered in science fiction. Continue reading
The rich are cheering Wall Street’s latest records; Americans of modest means are draining 401(k)s
The nation’s woefully inadequate response to the pandemic is jeopardizing millions of retirement futures.
The all-time record highs that Wall Street has registered this week have given some Americans—the nation’s already rich—considerable cause for celebration. Continue reading
CIA partners with Google, Amazon and IBM in latest big tech procurement drive
The military industrial complex is returning to its roots as the CIA turns to big tech to maintain control and rebuild the war economy.
The vaunted “17 intelligence agencies” that comprise the U.S. intel community will be sharing a network of private-sector cloud computing service providers which includes Microsoft, Google, Oracle, IBM, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of a 15-year contract said to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Continue reading
Will the world community condemn the murder of Iran’s nuclear scientist?
Israel used all four years of Trump’s presidency to entrench its systems of occupation and apartheid. Now that Joe Biden has won the U.S. election, the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, likely by Israel with the go-ahead from the US administration, is a desperate attempt to use Trump’s last days in office to sabotage Biden’s chances of successful diplomacy with Iran. Biden, Congress and the world community can’t let that happen. Continue reading
Expansion and mass eviction: Israel ‘takes advantage’ of Trump’s remaining days in office
In a few words, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, summed up the logic behind the ongoing frenzy to expand illegal Jewish settlements in Israel. Continue reading
Trump was no fluke: George W. Bush blazed the trail
His lies and incompetence created epic disasters that may yet sink America.
My friend and former colleague Bruce Bartlett has done a service by reminding us that after four years of the non-stop catastrophe that was the Trump administration, we should not lull ourselves with the illusion that the 45th president was some aberration that fell out of the sky. Continue reading
‘Total reset’ is wishful thinking: The daunting task of reordering US foreign policy
A new term has imposed itself on the conversation regarding the impending presidency of US President-elect Joe Biden: “The Total Reset”. Many headlines have already promised that the Biden presidency is ready to ‘reset’ US foreign policy across the globe, as if the matter is dependent solely on an American desire and decision. Continue reading
Who needs zombies when we have Republicans?
How else would you describe Americans who deny a pandemic that’s killed 250,000 people and the election that repudiated Trump?
The 2017 film “Bushwick” begins like a lot of zombie flicks. Continue reading
Don’t call the cops. especially if your loved ones are old, disabled or have special needs
They shot at him fourteen times. Continue reading
Future of American democracy: On inequality, polarization and violence
In January 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index downgraded the state of democracy in the United States from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy.” Continue reading
End the government’s war on America’s military veterans
The 2020 presidential election may be over, but nothing has really changed. Continue reading
Pompeo committed treacherous sedition with his announcement of Trump’s coup
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo committed an act of treacherous sedition when he commented on a smooth presidential transition at a Tuesday press conference at the Department of State. In answer to a Fox News’s reporter’s question about the transition, Pompeo relied, “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” Continue reading
Western civilization? A good idea
The Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi was asked what he thought about western civilization. His answer? “I think it is a good idea.” Continue reading
Israel’s contribution to the destruction of Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh
Every state makes decisions and enacts policies based on its interests and security perceptions. Some state decisions are more insidious than others in that the secondary effects can be devastating, especially by those states that can project sovereignty outside their own borders. Continue reading
Ending regime change in Bolivia and the world
Less than a year after the United States and the U.S.-backed Organization of American States (OAS) supported a violent military coup to overthrow the government of Bolivia, the Bolivian people have reelected the Movement for Socialism (MAS) and restored it to power. Continue reading
From a wealthy socialite to an Israeli govt censor, Facebook’s new ‘free speech court’ is anything but independent
Freedom of speech on the Internet is all but extinct, and on the eve of the 2020 US elections, a de facto ‘free speech court’ is going to make sure it never comes back. On Facebook at least.
Days away from the most polarized electoral contest in American history, social media companies like Facebook have vowed to censor any voices which they and their partners in the federal government consider inconvenient. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is ready to implement election information strategies that have been in the works for years. Continue reading
The Barrett travesty
Amy Coney Barrett is nothing if not consistent. Time and again, she refused during her confirmation hearings to say a word about any judicial decision or any of the major political issues of the day. The ostensible reason: it would compromise her judicial independence. Continue reading
A Democratic senator proposed a top-shelf national health care system in 1949
A postage stamp cost 3 cents, milk was 84 cents a gallon, a bottle of Coke was a nickle, bread was 14 cents a loaf, and a Democratic Senator from the State of Minnesota proposed a comprehensive national health insurance system that would reduce medical costs for a majority of Americans. The year was 1949 and the senator was Hubert Humphrey, who was later to serve as Vice President and the 1968 Democratic presidential candidate. Continue reading
American militarism marches on: No discussion or media coverage of Washington’s war against the world
Nearly everyone has heard the comment attributed for former Clinton consigliere Rahm Emanuel that one should never let a good crisis go to waste. The implication of the comment is that if there is a major crisis going on the cover it provides permits one to do all sorts of things under the radar that would otherwise be unacceptable. That aphorism is particularly true in the current context as there are multiple crises taking place simultaneously, all of which are being exploited to various degrees by interested parties. Continue reading
