Last year Congress allocated $45 billion more to military although America’s not won a war of faintest significance since 1945
Look, what matters to the American military-industrial complex isn’t either the truth or saving your taxpayer dollars but keeping those weapons programmes going and the money flowing. What matters, above all, is keeping America’s economy on a permanent wartime footing both by buying endless new (and old) weapons systems for...
US’ permanent war economy chokes democracy via its warriors, militarism that kill civil liberties
My name is Bill Astore and I’m a card-carrying member of the military-industrial complex (MIC). Sure, I hung up my military uniform for the last time in 2005. Since 2007, I’ve been writing articles for TomDispatch focused largely on critiquing that same MIC and America’s permanent war economy. I’ve written...
Why do US presidents traffic classified documents out of White House upon leaving office?
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both facing special counsel investigations into their retention of classified documents after leaving office. The materials discovered in locations controlled by Biden reportedly relate to his time as vice president under Barack Obama and Trump’s are from his tenure as president. Democrats have sought...
Crystal Palace Olise’s stunning stoppage time free-kick a was a welcome twist Man United rebuild
If you’re feeling a strange pang in your stomach, a shiver down your spine or bile in the back of your throat while watching Manchester United these days, you are not alone. They’re feelings that arrive upon a realisation that is the antithesis of everything you were told by your...
Guantanamo: While Trump vowed ‘we gonna load it up with some bad dudes’ there’s slim hope Biden will close it
All told, although President Barack Obama’s administration poured far more energy into the effort to close Gitmo than his predecessor George W. Bush’s administration had, Obama failed during his terms in office to do so. In his last year, Obama continued to push hard with the rallying cry, “Let’s go...
Guantanamo Bay: Will America’s forever prison finally close on President Joe Biden’s watch?
As of December 8, 2022, Guantánamo Bay detention facility – a prison offshore of American justice and built for those detained in this country’s never-ending Global War on Terror – has been open for nearly 21 years (or, to be precise, 7,627 days). Thirteen years ago, I published a book,...
India’s caste barrier: Some premier institutions are admitting more students from marginalised groups
Some premier institutes in India are doing a little better when it comes to access to education for all castes. At the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, a group of 38 labs, 18 per cent of researchers (combining senior staff grades) were Dalits and 4 per cent Adivasis, according...
Ethiopia’s Oromo insurgency fuelled by under-representation at highest levels of government
Complicating matters in Ethiopia’s multiple conflicts is the involvement of the Fano, an Amhara militia, in the south, where Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) is on the offensive. Fano claims to be defending Amhara civilians and interests and has launched several attacks into Oromia. “In my village alone, 37 civilians were...
How Erik Ten Hag’s strict code of conduct railroaded Man United back to a football phenomenon
When Erik ten Hag arrived at Manchester United in May, the new manager was asked by one of the coaching staff how he would like to be addressed. Ten Hag thought about the question for a moment. “Well,” he said. “You know I’m the boss, and I know I’m the...
Will Brazil President Lula da Silva deliver on promise of net-zero deforestation in Amazon Forest?
Expectations were high this week as Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, took office. Lula campaigned on promises to help the world fight climate change by protecting the Amazon rainforest, which sequesters a large portion of global carbon emissions. Under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Brazilian...
