Middle East

The convergence of the coronavirus, combined with global conflict and climate change has put the goal of ending global poverty by 2030 virtually out of sight.

Once upon a time it was possible to rely on much of the mainstream media to report on developments more or less objectively, relegating opinion pieces to the editorial page. But that was a long time ago. I remember moving to Washington back in 1976 after many years of New York …

Review of The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State by David Vine (University of California Press, 2020). We don’t hear about them very often, but the estimated 800 US military bases around the globe have played an essential role …

By strengthening the presence of warships from non-Black Sea NATO members in the Black Sea, the military bloc is attempting to demonstrate its dominance in the region and the Alliance’s desire to neutralize and pressurize Russia’s influence in the area. Moscow’s Black Sea influence significantly increased after Crimea’s 2014 reunification …

New START is the last remaining Russia/US arms control agreement. Expiring on February 5, 2021 if not renewed, the Trump regime rejected Vladimir Putin’s offer to extend the agreement for another five years with no pre-conditions. On September 28, Politico reported that Trump officials “asked the military to assess how quickly …

” Republicans and Democrats alike fear that the other party will attempt to hijack this election. President Trump is convinced that mail-in ballots are a scam except in Florida, where it’s safe to vote by mail because of its “great Republican governor.” The FBI is worried about foreign hackers continuing to target and exploit vulnerabilities in …

The vast majority of people who experience war directly, first-hand, rather than through Hollywood movies or politicians’ speeches, are the people who live where wars are waged. In wars involving distant wealthy nations on one-side, some 95% of those killed or injured or traumatized, and 100% of those bombed out …

Why American nuclear weapons in Europe no longer make sense. 

Watching the network news on television or reading about current events in the newspapers seemingly transports one to an alternate universe where nothing seems to make sense. The profit driven news cycle in the United States is admittedly a poor mechanism for actually gaining an understanding of what is going …

America is becoming exceptionally exceptional. In some votes at the UN General Assembly — the Assembly of nations — only Israel, or one or two other U.S. allies, vote along with it, and all others either vote against it, or else abstain in order to prevent U.S. retaliation against their …