Turning a Blind Eye to Bahrain's Abuse

By Lawrence Davidson
May 11, 2011

If you want to see how an ostensibly religious regime can be corrupted into something close to fascism, just take a look at contemporary Bahrain.

Read on.

The War Against Taxing the Rich

By Michael Winship
May 10, 2011

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, it used to be said, but in the madcap times we live in, even they're up for grabs.

Read on.

Declaring Victory Over Osama

By Ivan Eland
May 10, 2011

Although the Obama administration has said that the killing of Osama bin Laden is not a V-E or V-J day — which brought a return to normal times after World War II ended — perhaps it should be.

Read on.

Attacks on Israeli Critics Escalate

By Danny Schechter
May 10, 2011

First, it was Helen Thomas.

Read on.

Post-Bin Laden Peace Hopes Dim

By Gareth Porter
May 9, 2011

President Barack Obama and top administration officials have taken advantage of the killing of Osama bin Laden to establish a new narrative suggesting the event will pave the way for negotiations with the Taliban for peace in Afghanistan.

Read on.

US Policy Still Misreads the Middle East

By Lawrence Davidson
May 9, 2011

Last week, I was in Egypt, a country presently moved by an optimism that reflects a high state of political consciousness.

Read on.

The Anti-War Message of Mother's Day

By Gary G. Kohls
May 8, 2011

In 1870 – five years after the American Civil War ended – the disastrous long-term human and economic consequences of the conflict were becoming increasingly apparent, especially to the mothers of the sons and the wives of the husbands who had seen their patriotic men march off to that “inglorious” war and had come home dead or wounded.

Read on.

The Curious Bush/Bin Laden Symbiosis

By Robert Parry
May 7, 2011

Since Osama bin Laden’s killing on May 1, it has become shockingly clear that the terrorist leader did not spend most of the last decade on the run or hiding in caves. He was holed up in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad enjoying the comforts of family life with his twenty-something-year-old latest wife.

Read on.

America's Need for a 'Public Good'

By the Rev. Howard Bess
May 7, 2011

The United States was never meant to be a Christian nation. Instead, the Founders envisioned a secular state in which religion would be pursued with complete freedom, but they also understood the need for the young nation to have a moral compass.

Read on.

Politics of Revenge and Submission

By Phil Rockstroh
May 5, 2011

Osama bin Laden is dead. And so is the U.S. republic. We had to destroy our freedoms in order to save them.

Read on.

What Has Bin Laden's Killing Wrought?

By Ray McGovern
May 5, 2011

As America’s morbid celebrations over the killing of Osama bin Laden begin to fade, we are left with a new landscape of risks – and opportunities – created by his slaying at the hands of a U.S. Special Forces team at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Read on.

From 'Birtherism' to Bin Laden

By Michael Winship
May 4, 2011

This has been the kind of week that makes news junkies wig out in a frenzy of adrenalin and information overload while driving to distraction people who try to write weekly pieces like this one.

Read on.

'Liberating' Iraq, Now Libya

By William Blum
May 3, 2011

On April 9, Condoleezza Rice delivered a talk in San Francisco. Or tried to. The former Secretary of State was interrupted repeatedly by cries from the audience of "war criminal" and "torturer". (For which we can thank Code Pink and World Can't Wait.)

Read on.

A Never-Ending 'War on Terror'

By Ivan Eland
May 3, 2011

The WikiLeaks documents released on Guantanamo prisoners indicate appalling military incompetence in haphazardly patching together sketchy and contradictory information that has allowed many high-risk terror suspects to go free, while low-risk or innocent detainees continue to be incarcerated.

Read on.

'Birtherism' and the US 'News' Media

By Danny Schechter
May 2, 2011

In the aftermath of the resolution of the Great Birther bash-up, even as President Obama tried to lay the issue to rest by producing the document that showed, proved, verified, documented, and validated his birth in one of the great states of our disunion, it was said that its release would only fuel more debate and convince no one.

Read on.

Finishing a Job: Obama Gets Osama

By Robert Parry
May 2, 2011

President Barack Obama touched off American celebrations with his Sunday night announcement that U.S. forces finally had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but that long frustrating hunt might not have been necessary if George W. Bush had rejected neoconservative advice to pivot prematurely from Afghanistan to Iraq in late 2001.

Read on.

The Royal Wedding's Pre-Crime Arrests

By Coleen Rowley
May 1, 2011

Pre-emptive wars and pre-emptive policing have been instituted as a result of the fear planted (and deliberately hyped) in the "war on terror."

Read on.

Forget Hell: A Rebirth of Christianity

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 30, 2011

A few days ago, I received my copy of Time magazine and found that the Rev. Rob Bell, a pastor of a megachurch in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a graduate of my alma mater, Wheaton College, had made the front cover.

Read on.

The Robber Barons Are Back!

By Aerik Vondenburg
April 30, 2011

Since the Gilded Age of the 19th century, the wealthy financiers and "robber baron" industrialists have been effectively purchasing power – and creating further revenue for themselves – by directing money into the coffers of business friendly politicians, who in turn vote for lower taxes, special exemptions, tax loopholes, deregulation, etc.

Read on.

Questioning Obama's Americanism

By Robert Parry
April 29, 2011

Some Americans, especially on the Left, seem to have almost forgotten that Barack Obama is an African-American whose rise to the presidency was one of the most unlikely political stories in U.S. history.

Read on.

Petraeus, a Threat to CIA Analysis

By Ray McGovern
April 28, 2011

The news that President Barack Obama has picked Gen. David Petraeus to be CIA director raises troubling questions, including whether the commander most associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will tolerate objective analysis of those two conflicts.

Read on.

Television Wars: Bombing Serb TV

By Don North
April 27, 2011 (Originally published May 4, 1999)

On April 23, 1999, at 2:06 a.m. Belgrade time, as NATO was preparing for its 50th anniversary celebration in Washington D.C., two cruise missiles struck the Radio Televizija Srbija (SRT) headquarters in Belgrade.

Read on.

Trying 'Shock and Awe' in Libya

By Robert Parry
April 27, 2011

Having laughed off Libyan government peace feelers, Official Washington is now beating the drum for a new round of “shock and awe” bombings and close-combat air strikes to “finish the job” of ousting Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

Read on.

Gaddafi Regime Warns of Wider War

By Morgan Strong
April 26, 2011

The introduction of NATO ground forces into Libya would be met by additional African and Moslem volunteers joining Libyan forces, according to sources close to Col. Muammar Gaddafi, who add that NATO’s targeting of government officials could provoke retaliation against Western leaders.

Read on.

Why Wall Street Wins

By Danny Schechter
April 26, 2011

Two years ago as financial reform was put on the U.S. Congressional agenda, a skeptical Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois spoke of the power of the banks over the country’s legislative process.

Read on.

Republicans Embrace 'Greedy Geezers'

By Robert Parry
April 25, 2011

The Republicans are making a cynical bet that Americans over 55 really are the “greedy geezers” of conservative ideology, people who care only for themselves and not for their children and subsequent generations.

Read on.

How Lobbies Distort US Politics

By Lawrence Davidson
April 23, 2011

The influence of lobbies and special interests is a structural part of the U.S. political system and has been so since the founding of the nation. This being the case, the United States is not really a democracy of individuals. Rather, it is a democracy of competing interest groups or factions.

Read on.

Tea Partiers Run to Big-Money Trough

By Michael Winship
April 23, 2011

Remember that scene in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" when Jimmy Stewart arrives in the capital for the first time?

Read on.

Misunderstanding Jesus's Execution

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 23, 2011

Christians have special celebrations for the key events of Holy Week, but they often overlook one of the most important.

Read on.

News Flash: Iraq War Was About Oil

By Ray McGovern
April 22, 2011

Afghanistan may be the graveyard of empires, but Iraq is home to a graveyard sense of humor. Iraqis wonder aloud whether the U.S. and Britain would have invaded Iraq if its main export had been cabbages instead of oil.

Read on.

NATO Pushes 'Regime Change' in Libya

By Peter Dyer
April 22, 2011

The prospect of regime change in Libya is not so much “mission creep” as it is “mission leap.”

Read on.

Giving War a Chance

By Robert Parry
April 21, 2011

NATO’s one-month intervention in the Libyan civil war has demonstrated that – whether the West likes it or not – Col. Muammar Gaddafi retains significant political support in parts of the country and that a peace deal with him may be the only way to achieve the stated goal of saving civilian lives.

Read on.

US Military Retreats on Manning Abuse

By Kevin Zeese
April 21, 2011

After months of pressure, the Obama administration has finally transferred Pfc. Bradley Manning to a military prison appropriately designed for pre-trial detention in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Read on.

Are Rising Oil and Food Prices a Scam?

By Danny Schechter
April 19, 2011

The global economy and its recovery, and the living standards of millions of plain folks, are now at risk from the sudden rise in oil and commodity prices.

Read on.

Spy vs. Spy: the First Patriots Day

By Robert Parry
April 18-19, 2011

Patriots Day commemorates the start of the American Revolution, the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, and the staggering British retreat to Boston. What’s less known is how the Americans outfoxed the British at one of their own strengths, intelligence.

Read on.

McGovern Reflects on Truth-Telling

By Ray McGovern
April 18, 2011

I’m still smarting from Fox News describing me as “an elderly man” who, it was thought, might have had a sign or might have begun to shout out, and thus had to be “escorted out” of the auditorium while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was speaking at George Washington University on Feb. 15.

Read on.

The Civil War and Founding Principles

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 17, 2011

We Americans are observing the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, North and South.

Read on.

Israel's 'Lobbification' of Congress

By Lawrence Davidson
April 17, 2011

Lobbification is a word I have just coined for the corruptive process that bends politicians to the will of special interests – that is to the will of lobbies.

Read on.

How I View the American Crisis

By Robert Parry
April 17, 2011

Some readers tell me that I devote too much time to the historical context of the American political/media crisis. They say I should focus more on its current manifestations, especially when there are so many to address. And these readers have a point.

Read on.

Twenty Years Ago, a Lost Opportunity

By Robert Parry
April 15, 2011

Twenty years ago, there was a chance to expose some of the darkest secrets of Ronald Reagan’s presidency: how his men had sabotaged President Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign and how the Iran-Contra scandal had really begun.

Read on.

Interstates and States of Grief

By Phil Rockstroh
April 15, 2011

I’m in Atlanta, Georgia, at present, among the scent of pine trees and the reek of Southern denial.

Read on.

Outrage Mounts over Bradley Manning

By Kevin Zeese
April 14, 2011

The eight months of solitary confinement of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning at the Quantico brig has drawn national and international criticism in the last week. Support is growing for him around the world with 500,000 writing President Barack Obama in the last few days and with hundreds of top U.S. legal scholars criticizing his conditions of confinement.

Read on.

Why Pakistan Resists CIA Strikes

By Gareth Porter
April 14, 2011

The Pakistani military's recent demands on the United States to curb drone strikes and reduce the number of U.S. spies operating in Pakistan, which have raised tensions between the two countries to a new high, were a response to U.S. military and intelligence programs that had gone well beyond what the Pakistanis had agreed to in past years.

Read on.

America's 'Great Disappointment'

By Michael Winship
April 13, 2011

I was considering having myself dusted with ash and measured for sackcloth last week, so many are the current predictions of impending apocalypse.

Read on.

Pity the Poor Tea Partier!

By Robert Parry
April 12, 2011

Just think for a moment about the 55-year-old Tea Party activist who today is caught up in the excitement over Rep. Paul Ryan’s “bold” Republican budget. Picture the activist adjusting his tri-corner hat, waving his yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, and thrilled that finally someone is getting serious about dismantling the socialist tyranny of Medicare.

Read on.

Will NATO's War in Libya Save Lives?

By Ivan Eland
April 12, 2011

There are many practical reasons why the U.S. military attack on Libya is a bad idea.

Read on.

Reliving Ghosts of a Free-Market Past

By Lawrence Davidson
April 12, 2011

In Charles Dickens’s 1848 story, A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley roams the earth weighted down by chains symbolizing the wrongs he committed in life.

Read on.

More Twists and Turns in Wisconsin

By Lisa Pease
April 12, 2011

I’m still mulling over the recent Wisconsin election in general and the actions of Waukesha County’s County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus in particular.

Read on.

Why Americans Are So Easily Conned

By Phil Rockstroh
April 11, 2011

The technologies that inflicted upon the world the ongoing tragedies in both the Gulf of Mexico and Japan serve a dangerous addiction, an addiction to blind optimism, a habituation of mind that allows us to dwell within provisional comfort zones but renders vast spaces of the world into death realms.

Read on.

Heeding George Kennan's Sage Advice

By Ray McGovern
April 10, 2011 (Originally published November 3, 2009)

I can’t remember how many times I have said that the U.S. military adventure in Afghanistan is a fool’s errand.

Read on.

Judge Goldstone's Embattled Retreat

By Uri Avnery
April 10, 2011

There is something tragicomic about the persona of Richard Goldstone.

Read on.

Letting a Cuban Terrorist Go Free

By Robert Parry
April 9, 2011

The acquittal of right-wing Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles on charges of lying to immigration officials underscores the U.S. double standard on terrorists, applying delicate legal rules to “ours” and a rough-and-tumble approach to “theirs.”

Read on.

Shutdown Battle Just the Beginning

By Danny Schechter
April 9, 2011

The Capitol Hill battlefield is still for the moment as the Easter holidays approach and the combatants get a break from the heated polemics and overnight bargaining sessions.

Read on.

NYT Demands Libyan War Escalation

By Robert Parry
April 8, 2011

Neocon editors who increasingly dominate the New York Times want President Barack Obama to deploy A-10 and AC-130 aircraft for close-combat attacks against Libyan government forces in urban areas.

Read on.

Strange Twist in Wisconsin Battle

By Lisa Pease
April 8, 2011

A battle for the heart and soul of American democracy is being waged in this country. But it might not be the battle you’re watching.

Read on.

Iraqis Resist Longer US Occupation

By Gareth Porter
April 8, 2011

President Barack Obama has given his approval to a Pentagon plan to station U.S. combat troops in Iraq beyond 2011, provided that Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki officially requests it, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.

Read on.

Eliminating Medicare for the Elderly

By Margaret Flowers, M.D.
April 7, 2011

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, unveiled two proposals this week which if enacted would constitute a mortal threat to our nation’s health – particularly to the health of our seniors and our most vulnerable populations.

Read on.

Rep. Ryan's Free-Market 'Death Panels'

By Robert Parry
April 7, 2011

The consequences of three decades of anti-government Reaganism and free-market extremism are now coming clearly into view, a cruel and brutish America split sharply between a few lucky haves and many desperate have-nots.

Read on.

Military Tribunals May Hide 9/11 Motives

By Ray McGovern
April 6, 2011

The Obama administration’s decision to use a military tribunal rather than a federal criminal court to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others means the real motives behind the 9/11 attacks may remain obscure.

Read on.

Getting Crazier about Bradley Manning

By Kevin Zeese
April 5, 2011

On March 20, Americans, in a vet-led assembly, gathered to support PFC Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking documents to WikiLeaks and who has been held in solitary confinement at the Quantico Marine Base for seven months.

Read on.

WPost Seeks Longer Iraq Occupation

By Robert Parry
April 4, 2011

The neocon editors of the Washington Post, who have pushed the Iraq War since the beginning, are bummed out over the looming reality of America’s strategic defeat after eight years of fighting.

Read on.

How King's Murder Scars the Present

By Danny Schechter
April 4, 2011

Before he went over that mountain top in April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. said he had already seen the other side, as he spent his last days on earth fighting for the garbage men of Memphis while speaking out about the twin evils of war and poverty.

Read on.

Analyzing Goldstone's Gaza Retreat

By Lawrence Davidson
April 4, 2011

It will be recalled that after the September 2009 issuance of the Goldstone Report suggesting that Israel might be guilty of war crimes, Judge Richard Goldstone was barred from attending his grandson’s bar mitzvah. That is how much resentment was produced by the critical report that bears his name.

Read on.

Libyan War Recalls Afghan Pitfalls

By Robert Parry
April 2, 2011

The historical parallel most unnerving the Obama administration about the Libyan conflict is not Vietnam or Iraq, but Afghanistan in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration eagerly armed Islamic fundamentalists as a proxy force against Soviet troops only to see these “freedom fighters” morph into the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Read on.

'Free-Marketeers' Target Labor Unions

By Michael Winship
April 2, 2011

There’s a joke making the rounds and it goes like this: Big Business, a Tea Partier and Organized Labor are sitting around a table. A dozen cookies arrive on a plate. Big Business takes eleven of them and says to the Tea Partier, "Pssst! That union guy is trying to steal your cookie!"

Read on.

Surreal Rhetoric on Libya

By Lawrence Davidson
April 1, 2011

Spokespersons for NATO, European politicians, members of the Obama administration, and the President himself have been out and about seeking to articulate justifications for the ongoing intervention in Libya. For better or worse, their public statements do not always make sense.

Read on.

The Looming Government Shutdown

By Danny Schechter
April 1, 2011

Forget Libya. The real bombing is not underway there. Pay less attention to Pakistan. The drone attacks there pale in comparison.

Read on.

A Wave of Wackiness Sweeps America

By Don Monkerud
April 1, 2011

Guns in churches, schools and bars. Immigrants expelled to solve financial problems. Morality praised as the key national issue.

Read on.

A Two-Decade Detour into Empire

By Robert Parry
March 31, 2011

Twenty years ago, in spring 1991, the United States was at a crossroads that would decide the near-term fate of American democracy, but that reality wasn’t apparent to many. What was clear was that the U.S. empire was resurgent.

Read on.

Into the Shifting Sands of Libya

By Ivan Eland
March 30, 2011

Things are bad when a president who says he wants out of Iraq and claims American soldiers will soon start to withdraw from Afghanistan succumbs to international and domestic pressure to do the heavy lifting in yet another civil war — this time in Libya.

Read on.

Warriors of the Mainstream Media

By Robert Parry
March 29, 2011

The New York Times and the Washington Post both believe that the United States should have begun bombing Libya before the United Nations Security Council approved the mission – a sign that the two preeminent American newspapers continue their slide into neoconservatism.

Read on.

Afghan War Hawks Strike Again

By Gareth Porter
March 29, 2011

The announcement by U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy in congressional testimony that the United States would continue to carry out "counter-terrorism operations" from "joint bases" in Afghanistan well beyond 2014 signaled that President Barack Obama has given up the negotiating flexibility he would need to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban leadership.

Read on.

Hidden Words of Nuclear Disaster

By Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell
March 28, 2011

Tsunami is a Japanese word – one sign of the island nation’s intimate relationship with the destructive forces of the ocean that surrounds it.

Read on.

Obama Lacks Clarity on Afghan War

By Ray McGovern
March 28, 2011

“Let me be clear,” President Barack Obama is fond of saying – and his desire was on full display two years ago when he announced a “comprehensive, new strategy” for the war in Afghanistan.

Read on.

America's Escape from Knowing

By Phil Rockstroh
March 28, 2011

In Berlin, Germany, in early 1939, at Friedrichstrasse railway station, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, my grandmother placed my mother and her older sister, with a few family valuables sown into their clothing, on a Kindertransport bound for Great Britain.

Read on.

The US Muzzling of Muslim Inmates

By Sherwood Ross
March 27, 2011

If you think the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) couldn't possibly make its prisons more inhumane no matter how hard it tried, you are wrong. It has created CMUs, or Communications Management Units, where the “management” part consists of denying inmates virtually all communication with their families and the outside world.

Read on.

Israel's Right Lashes Out at Critics

By Lawrence Davidson
March 26, 2011

Richard Falk, the United Nations Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, told the world organization’s Human Rights Council that the "continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation."

Read on.

The Value of NPR

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
March 26, 2011

Like Jake LaMotta and his brother Joey in the bloody boxing classic Raging Bull, we are gluttons for punishment. So here we are again, third week in a row, defending NPR against the bare-knuckled assault of its critics.

Read on.

'Theater of the Absurd' Comes to Life

By Danny Schechter
March 26, 2011

It's been a long time since I sat in a college literature class and learned about the theater of the absurd, the work of great writers like Beckett, Ionesco, Genet and Camus, among others.

Read on.

Torture and Bradley Manning

By Marjorie Cohn
March 25, 2011

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is facing court-martial for leaking military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, is being held in solitary confinement in Quantico brig in Virginia.

Read on.

The Neocons Regroup on Libyan War

By Robert Parry
March 25, 2011

American neoconservatives worried that the pro-democracy wave sweeping the Middle East might take out only "moderate" Arab dictators, but the neocons now see hope that uprisings will topple "enemy" regimes in Libya and Syria.

Read on.

How Auto Ad Dollars Dictate Coverage

By Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler
March 24, 2011

Last week, Detroit News auto critic, Scott Burgess, resigned after a “Chrysler dealer complained about his review of the Chrysler 200 — the centerpiece of the company’s 'Imported from Detroit' advertising campaign."

Read on.

The Race for Solar Energy from Space

By William John Cox
March 23, 2011

The failure of the General Electric nuclear reactors in Japan to safely shut down after the 9.0 Tahoku earthquake – on the heels of last year’s catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the deadly methane gas explosion in Massey’s West Virginia coal mine – underscores the grave dangers to human society posed by current energy production methods.

Read on.

Taking On the Teachers

By Lawrence Davidson
March 23, 2011

The Florida state legislature has passed Bill 736, and Gov. Rick Scott has signed it. So this effort to "reform" teaching practices in the Florida public schools is now law.

Read on.

Ignoring Peace Talks in Libya

By Marjorie Cohn
March 22, 2011

Since Saturday night, the United States, France, and Britain have been bombing Libya with cruise missiles, B-2 stealth bombers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets, and Harrier attack jets. There is no reliable estimate of the number of civilians killed.

Read on.

America 'Trapped' by False Narratives

By Robert Parry
March 22, 2011

On a state visit to Chile on Monday, President Barack Obama deflected questions about U.S. support for the late Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship by warning against the risks of becoming “trapped by our history.” But a clear and present danger to the United States is that it is being trapped instead by false and misleading narratives.

Read on.

War's Corruption of Christianity

By Gary G. Kohls
March 22, 2011

There is no question that the Christian church of the first three centuries regarded itself as a nonviolent community. It makes perfect sense. Jesus clearly taught and modeled the nonviolent love of friend and enemy, and his earliest followers tried to do so.

Read on.

A World in Denial about Nuclear Power

By Danny Schechter
March 21, 2011

What will it take for our world to recognize the dangers that nuclear scientists and even Albert Einstein were warning about at the “dawn” of the nuclear age?

Read on.

Protecting Libyan Civilians, Not Others

By Robert Parry
March 20, 2011

Even if you think that the incipient Libyan civil war was an unfolding humanitarian tragedy that justified some international intervention, it is hard not to take note of the endless double standards and selective outrage that pervade U.S. foreign policy.

Read on.

The Hypocrisy of the Libyan Conflict

By Lawrence Davidson
March 20, 2011

Whether you believe that the United Nations resolution authorizing extensive intervention in the Libyan civil war is justified or not, and whether you believe that the admittedly eccentric 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi over a complex and fractious tribal society has been cruel, there is one thing that all objective observers should be able to agree on.

Read on.

Understating Afghan Civilian Deaths

By Gareth Porter and Shah Noori
March 19, 2011

The number of civilians killed in U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids in Afghanistan last year was probably several times higher than the figure of 80 people cited in the U.N. report published last week, an IPS investigation has revealed.

Read on.

Through the US Media Lens Darkly

By Robert Parry
March 18, 2011

As Americans turn to their news media to make sense of the upheavals in the Middle East, it’s worth remembering that the bias of the mainstream U.S. press corps is most powerful when covering a Washington-designated villain, especially if he happens to be Muslim.

Read on.

Learning Nuke Dangers the Hard Way

By Lawrence S. Wittner
March 17, 2011

Although people can be educated in a variety of ways, experience is a particularly effective teacher. Consider the Japanese who today are certainly learning how dangerous nuclear power can be.

Read on.

Aristide's Right to Return to Haiti

By Nat Parry
March 17, 2011

The United States government, in violation of international human rights treaties, is trying to prevent the return to Haiti of twice-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was deposed in a U.S.-backed coup d’etat in 2004.

Read on.

Al Jazeera Shows the Way

By Danny Schechter
March 17, 2011

When I arrived in the capital of Qatar, as one of the guest participants in the 6th annual Al Jazeera Forum focused on the Arab world in transition, it was clear the mood had changed.

Read on.

Why the Jokes about Japan's Tragedy

By Phil Rockstroh
March 17, 2011

A number of years back, Pauline Kael took Steven Spielberg to task for his depiction of rural Georgia circa 1909 in his movie, “The Color Purple,” averring that Spielberg's only field of reference seemed to be images culled from cinematic history, rendering his movie tone deaf regarding the rhythms and cadences of life during the era.

Read on.

The Invasion of Bahrain

By Craig Murray
March 16, 2011

The hideous King of Bahrain has called in troops from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait to attack pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain.

Read on.

The Return of Nukespeak

By Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell
March 16, 2011

George Orwell argued that controlling language offered the ultimate tool for getting people to accept the unacceptable – such as the catastrophic risks of operating nuclear power plants.

Read on.

Punishing the Truth-Tellers

By Robert Parry
March 15, 2011

It appears the most serious offense you can commit in Washington these days is telling the truth. You get a pass on torture, aggressive war, killing civilians, lying, destroying evidence and such, but don’t dare give honest information to the American people.

Read on.

Not-So-Fool-Proof Nuclear Power

By Jesse Laird
March 15, 2011

The ecological crisis posed by the exploding and leaking nuclear power plants in Japan following the massive earthquake and tsunami there presents an opportunity for Americans to rethink nuclear power.

Read on.

At War with Community Responsibility

By Lawrence Davidson
March 14, 2011

I live in a university town just west of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both the town and the university share the same name, hence West Chester University. WCU is a publicly owned institution and part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

Read on.

Inside America's 'Adjustment Bureau'

By Robert Parry
March 14, 2011

Today’s American political crisis has many facets, but a key one is narrative – how the history and ideals of the United States are understood by the public. The strategic importance of narrative is why the Right has invested so much in building media to redirect and control the national storylines.

Read on.

The Budget Battle's Moral Dimension

By the Rev. Howard Bess
March 12, 2011

Government budgets are as much moral statements as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The language is different, but the essence is the same. Budgets reveal the values of the nation.

Read on.

Bradley Manning's Kafkaesque World

By Kevin Zeese
March 12, 2011

Bradley Manning’s appeal of the refusal to relax his conditions of confinement makes a strong case that he has been a model prisoner who is being unjustly abused. He also explains how his inhumane treatment violates his due process rights and constitutes cruel and certainly unusual punishment.

Read on.

In Defense of NPR

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
March 11, 2011

Come on now: Let’s take a breath and put this NPR fracas into perspective.

Read on.

How the US Press Corps Lost Its Way

By Robert Parry
March 11, 2011

The eulogies for Washington Post columnist David Broder and the chaos surrounding National Public Radio have coincided as an unintended commentary on what went wrong with the U.S. news media.

Read on.

Ex-CIA Analyst Decries Manning Abuse

By David C. MacMichael
March 10, 2011

I write to you in your capacity as the commander-in-chief of the armed services of the United States to express my concern, indeed my outrage, at the way in which the prosecution of U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning is being conducted.

Read on.

Manning's Abuse Reveals US Hypocrisy

By Kevin Zeese
March 9, 2011

Reports that Bradley Manning is being held nude every night at the Quantico Brig, then forced to stand naked in the hallway while he waits for his clothes, shows the inconsistency of the treatment of Manning with basic American values of due process, fair trial and human dignity.

Read on.

How Two Elections Changed America

By Robert Parry
March 9, 2011 (Originally published November 4, 2009)

Two clandestine operations during hard-fought presidential elections of the past half century shaped the modern American political era, but they remain little known to the general public and mostly ignored by historians. One unfolded in the weeks before Election 1968 and the other over a full year before Election 1980.

Read on.

Kissinger Backs Israel on Pollard Case

By Lawrence Davidson
March 9, 2011

The gods protect us, Henry Kissinger is back!

Read on.

Misjudgments Led to Hijacking Tragedy

By Ivan Eland
March 8, 2011

The killing of four Americans by Somali pirates was tragic. No excuse exists for murder. But at the risk of seeming harsh, I believe there is much contributory negligence to go around.

Read on.

CNBC Advocates Unbridled Capitalism

By Robert Parry
March 7, 2011

CNBC, the top U.S. business news channel, is running propaganda ads in support of unbridled capitalism, including a 1979 clip of right-wing economist Milton Friedman besting talk show host Phil Donahue in a debate over the merits of greed.

Read on.

The Other Side of the 'Marshall Plan'

By William Blum
March 7, 2011

Amidst all the stirring political upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East, the name "Marshall Plan" keeps being repeated by political figures and media around the world as the key to rebuilding the economies of those societies to complement the political advances, which hopefully will be somewhat progressive.

Read on.

How the NFL Can Solve 18-Game Impasse

By Robert Parry
March 6, 2011

Okay, I know we don’t write much about sports, but I had a thought about how to resolve one of the sticking points in the NFL negotiations with the players’ union – the issue of expanding the regular season schedule to 18 from 16 games.

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'Class Warfare' Finds America

By Danny Schechter
March 6, 2011

The term “class war” has been extricated from the archives of another era, while divisions over the future of the economy have become a battleground in which the adversaries yell at each other, but rarely engage in any discourse with each other in a shared language.

Read on.

Power v. Truth, a Sad Mismatch

By Jonathan Schwarz
March 5, 2011

Last week, I made another of my doomed attempts to use politeness and rationality to get people with power to correct false statements.

Read on.

The 'Christian Nation' Flashpoint

By the Rev. Howard Bess
March 5, 2011

Many big issues fill our daily news – political upheaval in the Middle East, budget-cutting in Washington, and a challenge to public unions in Wisconsin – but there is another dark storm cloud on the horizon, the renewed battle over the issue of church and state.

Read on.

Criminalizing the Truth-Tellers

By Lawrence Davidson
March 5, 2011

There is no doubt that Julian Assange, the head of the WikiLeaks organization, and Bradley Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked U.S. classified documents, are being singled out and made examples of by the Obama administration.

Read on.

Wackos of the World Unite!

By Michael Winship
March 5, 2011

"Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."

Read on.

Bush's Interrogators Stressed Nudity

By Robert Parry
March 4, 2011 (Originally published September 12, 2009)

The CIA shared with George W. Bush’s Justice Department the details of how an interrogation strategy – with an emphasis on forced nudity and physical abuse – could train prisoners in “learned helplessness” and demonstrate “the complete control of Americans.”

Read on.

Army's Mafia Abuse of Pvt. Manning

By Ray McGovern
March 4, 2011

Is the U.S. Army stooping to Mafia-style tactics in seeking to imprison 23-year-old Private Bradley Manning for the rest of his life, essentially making him an example for other U.S. soldiers who might be tempted to put conscience and commitment to truth ahead of military discipline and going by the book?

Read on.

Mubarak, the Bag Man

By Morgan Strong
March 3, 2011

The mysterious fortune of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak got an early boost from millions of dollars in cash bribes delivered by CIA-connected arms merchants in the late 1970s, according to two participants.

Read on.

US Austerity Marks Race to the Bottom

By Kevin Zeese
March 3, 2011

The race to the bottom has picked up its pace.

Read on.

Ray McGovern Hails Dropped Charge

By Robert Parry
March 2, 2011

A disorderly conduct charge against former CIA analyst Ray McGovern – for standing silently with his back to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – was dropped on Wednesday in what McGovern called a victory for the constitutional right to dissent against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read on.

How to Read Gates's Shift on the Wars

By Ray McGovern
March 2, 2011

In Establishment Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates enjoys a charmed life based on a charming persona. The Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) is always ready with fulsome praise for his “candor” and “leadership” – and even for his belated recognition that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were nuts.

Read on.

WikiLeaks Shames the Old News Media

By Kevin Zeese
March 1, 2011

If there were ever a doubt about whether the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is “a real journalist,” recent events should erase all those doubts. Indeed, they should put him at the forefront of a movement to democratize journalism and empower people.

Read on.

Kicking the Vietnam Syndrome

By Robert Parry
February 28, 2011

Twenty years ago, with a resounding victory in a 100-hour ground war against Iraqi troops in Kuwait, the first Bush administration completed the restoration of a powerful public consensus, a renewed national commitment that the United States should act as the world’s imperial policeman.

Read on.

Ten Reasons Why Wall Street Skated

By Danny Schechter
February 28, 2011

Hats off to writer Matt Taibbi for staying on the Wall Street crime beat, asking in his most recent report in Rolling Stone: “Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?”

Read on.

Gates Agrees, Bush's Wars Were Nuts

By Robert Parry
February 27, 2011

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates told West Point cadets that you’d have to be crazy to commit U.S. troops to wars like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, media commentators quickly detected a slap at his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, who oversaw those conflicts.

Read on.

America's Radical 'Conservatism'

By Lawrence Davidson
February 26, 2011

If you have the stomach to listen to the likes of Glenn Beck or track the antics of people like Sarah Palin, you might get the idea that today’s American political conservatives are a bunch of radicals and extremists. And, as we will see, you would be correct.

Read on.

Professor Maguire Criticizes UN Veto

By Daniel C. Maguire
February 26, 2011

Dear Dr. Rice, A criticism and a comment: "Settlement" is, as you know, a euphemism for expropriation of Palestinian property.

Read on.

America, a Land of No Prophets

By the Rev. Howard Bess
February 26, 2011

In today’s English language, a prophet is someone who has the power to predict the future, but that is not the role of the prophets that we find in the Bible.

Read on.

Recruiting America to War on Itself

By Michael Winship
February 25, 2011

"More cheese, less sleaze!" That was the funniest group chant at Tuesday’s rally of several hundred union and other progressive activists outside the Manhattan headquarters of Fox News.

Read on.

Political Upheaval and Women's Rights

By William John Cox
February 25, 2011

As the youth-led Freedom Movement of 2011 spreads rapidly across the Middle East, one can only wonder what would be happening in Iraq today if the U.S. had not invaded eight years ago.

Read on.

Budget Crisis? Duh, Tax the Rich!

By Robert Parry
February 24, 2011

A great tragedy of the United States is that the answer to many of the country’s domestic problems is obvious, even simple, but can’t be done because of a dominating political/media dynamic that rules that solution out.

Read on.

Wisconsin's Right-Wing Radical

By Lisa Pease
February 23, 2011

It’s not just Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recent efforts to strip public employees of their right to collectively bargain that have citizens of his state outraged. Walker is nothing short of a radical hell-bent on privatizing the public sector of Wisconsin.

Read on.

Standing Up to War and Hillary Clinton

By Ray McGovern
February 23, 2011

It was not until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked to the George Washington University podium last week to enthusiastic applause that I decided I had to dissociate myself from the obsequious adulation of a person responsible for so much death, suffering and destruction.

Read on.

US Endless-War Budget Rolls On

By Sherwood Ross
February 23, 2011

Under President Barack Obama's new budget for fiscal year 2012, the Great American War Machine just rolls on and on.

Read on.

Which Way on America's Road to Ruin?

By Don Monkerud
February 22, 2011

America remains on the "road to ruin," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declared as she honored the legacy of Ronald Reagan.

Read on.

Madoff Fingers Wall Street,, Sort of

By Danny Schechter
February 21, 2011

Thank you Bernie for breaking your silence, even if you are still clinging to that cover-up mode you adopted since your guilty plea took all the blame for your crimes on yourself.

Read on.

Multiple 'Realities' in the Middle East

By Lawrence Davidson
February 20, 2011

The inspiring moments when President Obama appeared before the cameras, and thus the world, to declare that the dictator Hosni Mubarak must step down and the people of Egypt must be given the inalienable right to self-determination are now in the past.

Read on.

The GOP's Mixed Emotions on Anger

By Nat Parry
February 20, 2011

The national Republican leadership embraced anger during the first two years of Barack Obama’s term with rank-and-file Republicans even brandishing guns at rallies. But anger is suddenly a bad thing again, at least when expressed by public employees defending their collective bargaining rights.

Read on.

Egypt's Lessons of Peace

By Rev. Howard Bess
February 19, 2011

The uprising in Egypt has to be added to the truly world-changing events that I have witnessed in my life. The others I would call “the big three”: World War II, the American civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War.

Read on.

Tea Party Crazy Sweeps America

By Michael Winship
February 18, 2011

Forced at gunpoint this weekend to clean out a lot of old paper files in anticipation of some home improvements, I ran across some articles and obituaries I had saved following the death, a little more than five and a half years ago, of the late, great Ann Richards, former governor of Texas.

Read on.

Battling 'Neoliberalism' in Wisconsin

By Daniel C. Maguire
February 18, 2011

It has been well noted that the protest in Madison, Wisconsin, is not about the budget but about union-busting, but that is a symptom, not the root of the problem.

Read on.

Colin Powell's Disgraceful Lies

By David Swanson
February 18, 2011

In the wake of WMD-liar Curveball's videotaped confession, Colin Powell is demanding to know why nobody warned him about Curveball's unreliability. The trouble is, they did.

Read on.

Ray McGovern Bloodied at Clinton Talk

By Robert Parry
February 17, 2011

Sometimes the hypocrisy is just overwhelming. So, it probably shouldn’t surprise us that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would deliver a speech hailing the peaceful protests that changed Egypt while 71-year-old Ray McGovern was roughed up and dragged away for standing quietly in protest of her support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read on.

The Back Story on Iran's Clashes

By Robert Parry
February 17, 2011

Iranian parliamentarians presented an ugly scene on Tuesday with raucous chants calling for the executions of two opposition leaders – and the U.S. news media was quick to denounce the Iranian government – but there is a complex history that Americans aren’t getting.

Read on.

Tear Down This Reagan Mythology

By Ivan Eland
February 16, 2011

A visit to the remote Reagan ranch in the mountains near Santa Barbara, California, on the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth set me thinking about Reagan’s foreign policy record.

Read on.

How Egypt's Revolt Challenges Israel

By Lawrence Davidson
February 16, 2011

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently traveled to Israel and Jordan to assure these two "partners" of the steadfast nature of U.S. loyalty.

Read on.

Short-Counting the Taliban

By Gareth Porter
February 15, 2011

Despite evidence that the Taliban insurgency had grown significantly in 2010, the U.S. intelligence
community failed to revise its estimate for Taliban forces as part of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan in December.

Read on.

Recalling the Slaughter of Innocents

By Ray McGovern
February 14, 2011

Twenty years ago, as Americans were celebrating Valentine’s Day, Iraqi husbands and fathers in the Amiriyah section of Baghdad were peeling the remains of their wives and children off the walls and floor of a large neighborhood bomb shelter.

Read on.

Now, Egypt Faces 'the Hard Part'

By Danny Schechter
February 14, 2011

On the long morning after, protesters returned to Tahrir Square to clean it up and savor their victory. There were even some initial scuffles with the military that may be over-anxious to assert control and show it is in charge.

Read on.

Bush Confronts an Outraged World

By Lawrence Davidson
February 14, 2011

One of the really progressive acts that followed the end of World War II was the establishment of the principle of universal jurisdiction (UJ), a legal process that allows states that are signatories to various international treaties and conventions (such as the Geneva conventions) to prosecute alleged violators of these treaties, even when these violations are committed outside the country’s usual jurisdiction.

Read on.

The CIA's Man in Egypt

By Scott Horton
February 12, 2011

With Mubarak’s departure, the focus now falls on his chosen successor, Omar Suleiman.

Read on.

Egypt's Conflicting Narratives

By Michael Winship
February 11, 2011

"The culture of democracy is still far away."

Read on.

Hard Lessons from the HuffPost Sale

By Robert Parry
February 11, 2011

U.S. progressive media has had a tough few weeks. First, Keith Olbermann, the pioneer for liberal programming during MSNBC’s evening hours, was sent packing. Then, Arianna Huffington allowed AOL to subsume her Huffington Post into AOL’s right-of-center content for the price tag of $315 million.

Read on.

The Obama-Was-Anti-Business Myth

By Kevin Zeese
February 10, 2011

The unrelenting narrative from the corporate media – that Obama must mend fences with American business – is disconnected from the reality of Obama’s policies and appointments.

Read on.

What a 'Liberal Media' Might Look Like

By Lisa Pease
February 9, 2011

I’m surprised that otherwise intelligent people continue to believe the myth that the media is “liberal.” I think it’s worth discussing what a liberal media would look like if we had one, so we can better understand that we don’t have one.

Read on.

America's Stay-at-Home Ex-President

By Ray McGovern
February 8, 2011

As the news broke on Saturday that former President George W. Bush had abruptly canceled his scheduled appearance this week in Geneva to avoid the risk of arrest on a torture complaint, my first thought was — how humiliating, not only for Bush but, by extension, for all Americans.

Read on.

US Spurned Taliban Peace Feelers

By Gareth Porter
February 8, 2011

The central justification of the U.S.-NATO war against the Afghan Taliban - that the Taliban would allow al Qaeda to return to Afghanistan - has been challenged by new historical evidence of offers by the Taliban leadership to reconcile with the Hamid Karzai government after the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001.

Read on.

The Many Obstacles to Revolution

By William Blum
February 8, 2011

In July 1975, I went to Portugal because in April of the previous year a bloodless military coup had brought down the U.S.-supported 48-year fascist regime of Portugal.

Read on.

Mubarak's Dangerous 'Groupthink'

By Lawrence Davidson
February 7, 2011

Through his stubbornness Hosni Mubarak has managed to transform himself from a 30-year "loyal ally" into an 82-year-old liability.

Read on.

Egyptian Blogger Describes Clashes

By Dennis Bernstein
February 6, 2011

To call the ongoing people’s revolts in Tunisia and Egypt FaceBook revolutions is certainly overstating the case.

Read on.

NYT's Keller Disparages Assange

By Coleen Rowley
February 6, 2011

How unseemly for New York Times executive editor Bill Keller to look down so disdainfully at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, with a nasty ad hominem portrayal in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, “Dealing With Assange and the WikiLeaks Secrets.”

Read on.

Ronald Reagan, Enabler of Atrocities

By Robert Parry
February 6, 2011

When you’re listening to the many tributes to President Ronald Reagan, often for his talent making Americans feel better about themselves, you might want to spend a minute thinking about the many atrocities in Latin America and elsewhere that Reagan aided, covered up or shrugged off in his inimitable "aw shucks" manner.

Read on.

Egypt Is Test of Obama's Promises

By Kevin Zeese
February 5, 2011

Egypt is an alarm that signals the urgent need for change in U.S. foreign policy. It provides President Obama an opportunity to transform a foreign policy that has often had the opposite effect than was sought and is undermining U.S. economic and national security.

Read on.

Mideast Payback Worries Washington

By Michael Winship
February 4, 2011

Almost seven years have passed since I spent some time in the Middle East. The closest I get to the opinions of "the Arab street" these days is the fellow who runs the delicatessen a block away from me.

Read on.

Reagan's Epoch Shatters in Egypt

By Robert Parry
February 4, 2011

The political crisis sweeping the Middle East is another part of Ronald Reagan’s dark legacy that is shattering into chaos even as the United States prepares to lavishly celebrate his 100th birthday.

Read on.

Olbermann's Disturbing Departure

By Franklin L. Johnson
February 3, 2011

On Friday evening, Jan. 21, after reading a short story by James Thurber, titled The Scotty Who Knew Too Much, Keith Olbermann abruptly closed his program by informing his viewers it would be his last. This out-of-the-blue exit will go down in broadcast history as one of the most bizarre.

Read on.

Israel Frets Over Egyptian Uprising

By Lawrence Davidson
February 3, 2011

I watched Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk about the ongoing events in Egypt. In essence, he said that if the demonstrations against the 30-year-old dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak succeeded the world could get an Iranian-style regime in Egypt and that would be the end of democracy.

Read on.

The Hope of 'Groundhog Day'

By Winslow Myers
February 1, 2011

Groundhog Day brings to mind various associations, including the fervent hope of this snow-buried Bostonian that Punxsutawney Phil will not see his shadow this year and spring will come early. This may be the one good thing about global warming.

Read on.

Lebanon Marks Another US Reversal

By Ivan Eland
February 1, 2011

With the rise of a Hezbollah-backed government in Lebanon, hand-wringing seems to be the order of the day in the American and Israeli governments.

Read on.

Reagan's Bargain, Charlie Wilson's War

By Peter W. Dickson
February 1, 2011

What’s left out of a movie about history often interests only a few experts in the field. However, the release of one that chronicles the successful sub rosa American effort to bleed the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s may prove to be an exception.

Read on.

US-Israeli Strategy Crashes in Egypt

By Gareth Porter
February 1, 2011

The death throes of the Mubarak regime in Egypt signal a new level of crisis for a U.S. Middle East strategy that has shown itself over and over again in recent years to be based on nothing more than the illusion of power.

Read on.

Assailing Assange on '60 Minutes'

By David Swanson
January 31, 2011

The reason people in Tunisia, Egypt, and other parts of the world have been influenced to some extent by the work of WikiLeaks is that they have read or heard about the material that WikiLeaks has helped to make public.

Read on.

The Unpredictability of Uprisings

By Lawrence Davidson
January 31, 2011

If the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt tell us anything, it is that predicting the beginning of mass unrest is very difficult. Indeed, it is probably easier to predict the stock market.

Read on.

How Food Prices Feed Egyptian Revolt

By Danny Schechter
January 30, 2011

This is an upstairs/downstairs story that takes us from the peak of a Western mountaintop for the wealthy to spreading mass despair in the valleys of the Third World poor.

Read on.

US Cynicism Explodes in Egypt

By Jeff Cohen
January 29, 2011

In the last year of his life, Martin Luther King Jr. questioned U.S. military interventions against progressive movements in the Third World by invoking a JFK quote: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

Read on.

Reagan's 'Tear Down This Wall' Myth

By Robert Parry
January 29, 2011

As the United States celebrates Ronald Reagan’s centennial birthday, the defining proof of his greatness as president will be represented by two sequential film clips – Reagan in Berlin ordering Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” followed by scenes of the Berlin Wall coming down.

Read on.

America's History of Intolerance

By Robert Higgs
January 29, 2011

“Live and let live” would appear to be a simple, sensible guide to social life, but obviously many Americans reject this creed with a vengeance.

Read on.

Reagan-Bush Legacy of Political Abuse

By Michael Winship
January 28, 2011

The Detroit Tigers are retiring the great baseball manager Sparky Anderson's number 11 this season. "It's a wonderful gesture," Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg wrote. "I just wish Sparky could see it."

Read on.

Ronald Reagan's 30-Year Time Bombs

By Robert Parry
January 28, 2011

The time element of “30 years” keeps slipping into American official reports and news stories about the origins of crises – the latest in “The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report” – but rarely is the relevance of the three-decade span explained, and there is a reason.

Read on.

New Hope in Russian Nuke Proposals

By Ivan Eland
January 27, 2011

U.S.-Russian relations are on the upswing – with the new treaty reducing deployed long-range strategic missiles (New START), an agreement on nuclear cooperation, and an arrangement to transport supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan through Russia. But there is much more to be done.

Read on.

More Republican Misconduct Ignored

By Don Monkerud
January 26, 2011

Tea Partiers, Republicans, and protectors of public morality are right about corruption in government.

Read on.

One-State Solution to Israel/Palestine?

By Lawrence Davidson
January 26, 2011

When Yasir Arafat took over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969, he changed it from a tool of the Egyptian government to a dynamic united front seeking national liberation for the Palestinian people.

Read on.

Chas Freeman's Defeat, a Neocon Win

By David Swanson
January 25, 2011

Whistleblowing takes many forms but almost always involves the disillusionment of an insider with the nature of what he or she is inside.

Read on.

WPost Still Talks Tough on Iran

By Robert Parry
January 25, 2011

Just as some Republicans view tax cuts as the answer to all domestic problems, the Washington Post’s neoconservative editors see “regime change” in hostile Muslim nations as the only acceptable option, ignoring the slippage in U.S. influence in the Middle East that has resulted from following that approach in Iraq and elsewhere.

Read on.

Excusing Torture at 'Justice'

By Ray McGovern
January 24, 2011

On Sunday, I attended an informal talk given in a parish hall by the Justice Department’s Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. His topic: “The way his work for justice is defined by his faith.”

Read on.

Letting the Wall St. Banksters Walk

By Danny Schechter
January 24, 2011

All over Europe and in much of the rest of the world, a new fictional hero has engaged the fascination of millions of readers. His name is Mikael Blomkvist, and he’s the protagonist of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy.

Read on.

Ted Koppel's Timid Take on Iran-gate

By Robert Parry
January 24, 2011

Ted Koppel, whose broadcasting career got a big boost from the Iranian-hostage crisis in 1980, doesn’t seem aware that the long-running cover-up of how Republicans sabotaged President Jimmy Carter’s negotiations has collapsed – or Koppel may simply prefer to stick with the safer version of the story.

Read on.

Ukraine's Assault on a Free Press

By David Marks
January 23, 2011

In Ukraine, where media diversity is often defined by which powerful oligarch controls which TV station, one network, TVi -- known for its independent investigative style -- is under intense legal pressure, with its owner not part of Ukraine's power circles.

Read on.

The Disappearance of Keith Olbermann

By Robert Parry
January 22, 2011

Keith Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC should be another wake-up call to American progressives about the fragile foothold that liberal-oriented fare now has for only a few hours on one corporate cable network.

Read on.

The Roots of US Religious Tolerance

By the Rev. Howard Bess
January 21, 2011

Most people do not realize the meaning of being a Baptist. Theologically, we cover the full spectrum from right to left. We are scattered politically throughout Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers and None of the Above. Our hallmark is freedom.

Read on.

Another MLK Holiday Is Safely Past

By Gary Kohls
January 21, 2011

“Now That He Is Safely Dead” is the poignant poem that was written by black poet/musician Carl Wendell Hines soon after Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965.

Read on.

Obama Submits to Israel Lobby

By Lawrence Davidson
January 21, 2011

According to Laura Rozen, a journalist specializing in foreign policy matters and writing in Politico, the Obama administration is seeking "new ideas from outside experts on how to advance the [Israeli-Palestinian] peace process."

Read on.

US Courts Help Corporations Win

By Michael Winship
January 20, 2011

Joe Berlinger's back is against the wall. Last week the independent filmmaker, already facing crushing debt from legal bills, was dealt a major blow in his continuing fight against the third largest company in America, Chevron.

Read on.

Remembering Zorro's Vietnam Legacy

By Don North
January 20, 2011

Barry Zorthian, who died last month at the age of 90, was one of the last surviving U.S government officials who shaped America’s role in the Vietnam War, a man who also stood at the shadowy intersection between press management and psychological warfare.

Read on.

Behind the WikiLeaks' Leak

By Charles Pena
January 19, 2011

The continuing WikiLeaks controversy has focused needed attention on a number of important issues: whether, for example, Julian Assange was justified in releasing classified information in order to make government more accountable, whether the release of the information put U.S. intelligence sources and methods at risk, and whether the legitimate need for secrecy in certain government activities occasionally provides cover for government activities that public officials would have trouble justifying if they took place in the open.

Read on.

China's Hu Arrives to Look Around

By Danny Schechter
January 18, 2011

On the eve of the Chinese President’s visit to the United States, and the intense speculation about his intentions — and ours — I found myself in a dark room at the Anthology Film Archive in the East Village watching a spectacular documentary by Chinese filmmaker Zhao Liang called “Petition.”

Read on.

Getting Out of Iraq Before More Strife

By Ivan Eland
January 18, 2011

The American media continues to tout the reduced violence in Iraq without foreseeing the long-term potential for a resumption of severe ethno-sectarian violence and the absence of mechanisms — à la Sudan — to defuse it.

Read on.

Eisenhower's Understated Warning

By Gareth Porter
January 17, 2011

Fifty years after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Jan. 17, 1961, speech on the “military-industrial complex,” the threat he identified has morphed into a far more powerful and sinister force than Eisenhower could have imagined. It has become a “Permanent War State,” with the power to keep the United States at war continuously for the indefinite future.

Read on.

Twisting MLK's Message of Peace

By William Loren Katz
January 17, 2011

On Jan. 13, the Pentagon commemorated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with an address by Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel, who insisted that today’s wars are not out of line with the iconic Nobel Peace Prize winner’s teachings.

Read on.

Troubled History of the Hariri Probe

By Robert Parry
January 17, 2011

A United Nations-backed tribunal, which has conducted a long and troubled investigation into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, issued a sealed indictment on Monday amid expectations that members of Hezbollah will be blamed.

Read on.

Reversing the Erosion of Civil Liberties

By Coleen Rowley
January 17, 2011

Who has not yet awoken to the fact that we have been sailing since the 9/11 attacks into a perfect storm?

Read on.

The Israeli Right's Move to Repress

By Lawrence Davidson
January 16, 2011

Zeev Sternhell is an Israeli historian and a recognized expert on Fascism. He is also an occasional contributor to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Read on.

Eisenhower's Neglected Warning

By Melvin A. Goodman
January 16, 2011

On Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued his prophetic warning about the military-industrial complex, anticipating the increased political, economic, military and even cultural influence of the Pentagon and its allies.

Read on.

A Nation Approaching Spiritual Death

By Gary Kohls
January 16, 2011

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Read on.

The 9/11 'Truth' Parlor Game

By Robert Parry
January 15, 2011

It seems that I have upset some folks on the Left again, this time by mentioning – deep inside a story about Sarah Palin’s proclaimed victimhood over the Tucson massacre fallout – that groups like the 9/11 “truthers” also have contributed to America’s crazed political environment.

Read on.

Can Individual Action Save the Planet?

By Don Monkerud
January 15, 2011

Recent figures indicate that 2010 tied 2005 as the hottest year on record. Indeed, nine of the ten warmest years occurred since 2001 as climate chaos creates havoc around the world.

Read on.

The Violence of Deformed Christianity

By the Rev. Howard Bess
January 14, 2011

What happened in Tucson is not new to American life. It happens every day across the country. Indeed, murders using guns are so common that little note is taken until a high-profile person is the target or the numbers of dead are shockingly high.

Read on.

Troubling Signs of Incipient Fascism

By Danny Schechter
January 14, 2011

Fascism is one of those words that sounds like it belongs in the past, conjuring up, as it does, marching jack boots in the streets, charismatic demagogues like Italy’s Mussolini or Spain’s Franco and armed crackdowns on dissent and freedom of expression.

Read on.

An American Suicide Terrorist?

By William John Cox
January 14, 2011

Jared Loughner acted as a domestic suicide terrorist in the political “battleground” of American politics. His YouTube postings and “good-bye” phone messages are ominously reminiscent of the traditional farewell videos of Islamist martyrs.

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Is Obama Right to Quiet Debate?

By Lawrence Davidson
January 13, 2011

There are two groups responsible for last Saturday’s tragedy in Tucson Arizona.

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Palin Depicts Herself as Tucson Victim

By Robert Parry
January 12, 2011

It didn’t take long after the Tucson massacre for the American Right to retreat to its favorite default position: victimhood.

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Finding a Path Out of Afghanistan

By Ivan Eland
January 12, 2011

If actions speak louder than words, the U.S. military has seemed to confirm the pessimistic findings of the National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which the military had recently pooh-poohed.

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Another Betrayal of Helen Thomas

By Danny Schechter
January 11, 2011

The Society of Professional Journalists [SPJ] is preparing to jump on the "kick Helen Thomas when she is down" campaign by retiring a lifetime achievement award that honors this great American journalist.

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The Lingering Stain of Guantanamo

By Ray McGovern
January 11, 2011

Today begins the tenth year of an abomination — the prison camp our country created at Guantanamo.

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How WikiLeaks Unhinged Washington

By Linda Lewis and Coleen Rowley
January 11, 2011

As Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano recently admitted, the notion of "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" is so totally passé.

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Rep. King's Show Trial for Muslims

By Lawrence Davidson
January 11, 2011

It is just about certain that the new Republican House will hold hearings on the "radicalization of the American Muslim Community." The hearings will be called by Peter King, the Republican representative from New York who is now the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

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The Right's Talkers Shift the Blame

By Rory O'Connor
January 10, 2011

“It is our right and our duty to criticize the people who have put the fate of our country in peril,” Rush Limbaugh said this week on his syndicated radio show.

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How Hate Speech Shapes the Right

By Michael Winship
January 10, 2011

The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov had a rule: if you show a gun in the first act, by the time the curtain falls, it has to go off.

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Sarah Palin's Belated Remorse

By Dennis Bernstein
January 10, 2011

As far as we know, the often tearful, new House Speaker John Boehner hasn’t shed a tear over the near-fatal wounding of his Arizona colleague Gabrielle Giffords, but the folksy Sarah Palin sounded a solemn note as she went to her Facebook page to mourn the close-range shooting of the just-reelected Democratic congresswoman.

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Dangerous Right-Wing 'Victimhood'

By Robert Parry
January 10, 2011

The full story of the bloody Tucson, Arizona, rampage that killed six and grievously wounded a U.S. congresswoman has yet to be pieced together, but the tragedy reminds us of the risk to democracy from both violent political rhetoric and reckless exaggerations about “victimhood.”

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The Coming Christian Divide

By the Rev. Howard Bess
January 8, 2011

Five years ago, we became aware that something significant was happening among Christian churches. Young people were leaving churches in huge numbers, most with no intention to ever return.

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The Power of False Narrative

By Robert Parry
January 7, 2011

As the House of Representatives was engaged in its reading of an abridged version of the U.S. Constitution – leaving out parts like the sections on slavery that would make the Founders look bad – I was reminded again of the power of false narrative, especially at a time when the American Right dominates the U.S. media landscape.

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Preparing for More Reagan Mythology

By William Blum
January 7, 2011

Feb. 6 will mark the centenary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. The conservatives have wasted no time in starting the show.

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Republicans Give Aid to 'Terrorists'

By Lawrence Davidson
January 6, 2011

Here is an interesting piece of news from the Washington Post: "A group of prominent U.S. Republicans" went to Paris last month to attend a rally of the French Committee for a Democratic Iran. This organization just happens to be intimately connected with the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK).

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Hating the Government Until You Need It

By Michael Winship
January 6, 2011

We probably should have stayed in New Orleans.

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Justice Scalia's 'Originalist' Hypocrisy

By Robert Parry
January 5, 2011

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia unintentionally revealed the hypocrisy of the Right’s rhetoric about “originalist” interpretations of the U.S. Constitution with his comments about how the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection under the law” doesn’t mean equal rights for women.

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Republicans Aim Info-War at Obama

By Robert Parry
January 4, 2011

Finally, Congress appears ready to hold some high-profile hearings – except they won’t be about the most important scandals of the past decade, like how the United States was misled into the Iraq invasion, how the Afghan War was bungled, how torture became a U.S. practice, or how bank deregulation and Wall Street greed nearly destroyed the economy.

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Should US Extend Nuclear Umbrella?

By Ivan Eland
January 4, 2011

The hawks are at it again.

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Obama Should Read WikiLeaks Docs

By Ray McGovern
January 3, 2011

Perhaps President Barack Obama should give himself a waiver on the ban prohibiting U.S. government employees from downloading classified cables released by WikiLeaks, so he can better understand the futility of his Afghan War strategy.

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The Danger of Pro-Israel Extremism

By Lawrence Davidson
January 2, 2011

When we think of the great struggles of our day we almost always think in terms of movements and groups. There are Communists and Fascists, Capitalists and Socialists, Jews and Muslims, Zionists and Christian Fundamentalists, Democrats and Republicans, Western Civilization and its rivals, ad nauseum.

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