Stuart Lyle Former CIA Director and Army four-star general David Petraeus is not very good at keeping secrets. He shared multiple binders full of top-secret materials with a journalist – and was found out. And he bedded that journalist, the attractive Paula Broadwell, but was unable to keep his infidelity secret either from his wife…
Daniel N. White I’m glad to see the U.S. starting to reestablish normal diplomatic relations with Cuba. If there has been anything productive or beneficial from our 1960-present diplomatic and economic freeze out of Cuba for us, them, or anyone else I fail to see it. A failed policy, it shows how easily the U.S.…
Peter Van Buren (Let’s start our day with a little satire, courtesy of Peter Van Buren, whose site, WeMeantWell.com, is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the convoluted designs of U.S. foreign policy. Used by permission of the author.) April 27, 2015 It is widely reported that the U.S. would like to keep additional…
James Keye The power/economic elite want to know the mood and movements of society just as meteorologists want to examine the measurements of weather systems. But rather than preparing for a tornado or hurricane, the elite wish to prepare for and prevent challenges to their impunity. Massive surveillance is their primary method of prediction. Together…
b. traven and W.J. Astore Are America’s foreign policy leaders mad? It’s a serious question. Consider last week’s dispatch of 300 military trainers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade to Western Ukraine, a country involved in a contentious jousting match with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Or consider this week’s deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group off…
Daniel N. White Two recent events in Austin, Texas are worth noting. The first was Senator Bernie Sanders’ recent appearance at a Democratic Socialists of America sponsored event held at the local IBEW hall. There was extensive promotion of the event by the local AFL-CIO and the turnout was good—close to 600 showed up. Audience…
W.J. Astore Much of our foreign policy is driven by fear–fear that if we don’t act, whether in the Middle East or Africa or elsewhere–the bad people there will thrive, after which they’ll come for us in the good old USA. Most of us will recall George W. Bush’s saying, “We’ll fight them over there…
W.J. Astore Would a war against Iran take “only a few days“? According to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a few days of precision bombing would be enough to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. Oh, there might be a few (thousand) innocent Iranians killed. And perhaps some radiation spread about. But wouldn’t some dead and irradiated…
Nicolas J.S. Davies We read in the news that a revolution in a foreign country has gained control of its capital and most of its territory. The country’s president is forced to flee, while his supporters fight on from their regional base, insisting that the new rulers have no legitimacy. How should the U.S. respond?…
W.J. Astore In the early 1970s, the US counted Iran as a close ally. A big fan of warplanes and weapons, I recall the US selling the F-14 Tomcat, the plane flown by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun,” as well as HAWK surface-to-air missiles and other advanced weaponry to the Shah of Iran. Back then,…
The Contrary Perspective 