Tom Engelhardt on Supersized Politics in the 2012 Election
Frequent Antiwar.com contributor Tom Engelhardt recently spoke to Bill Moyers about the election, drones, and the military-industrial complex.
VERIFIED: Where Wars Do — and Don’t Come From
Where wars DO come from: “It is not civilizations that promote clashes. They occur when old-fashioned leaders look for old-fashioned ways to solve problems by rousing their people to armed confrontation.” –Kenichi Ohmae, The End Of The Nation State, (New York: The Free Press 1995), p. 11. Why of course the people don’t want war. [...]
Why We Fight
It’s no Kony 2012! I’m enough of a cynic to know that no one learns anything from the past, at least Eugene Jarecki can sleep well knowing he was right. While Jarecki’s documentary “Why We Fight” was released in 2005, it (sadly) seems just as fresh as it did seven years ago. Featuring: John McCain, [...]
Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead
In an otherwise OK report on the attorney general’s assassination address, Adam Serwer of Mother Jones quips, “There won’t be any drone strikes in Denver anytime soon.” I say, “Wanna bet?” I mean it. I assume that “Denver” is a synecdoche, so Serwer just needs to clarify “soon” and we can start haggling over the [...]
Beltway Braces for a Very Cratchit Christmas
Today’s Washington Post informs us that “for the holidays, the spies say they’ll scrimp.” [W]ith budget cuts looming, party plans are being pared back for the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA. … Under then-director Leon E. Panetta last year, the CIA brought in shipments of California wine, and served fried oysters, grilled shrimp [...]
The Future Affordability of US National Security
That’s the title of a timely paper by MIT researcher Dr. Cindy Williams [.pdf]. The summary points: 1. The United States currently devotes about 4.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to national defense and another 1.5 percent to broader security efforts, including international affairs, homeland security, veterans’ affairs, and intelligence. 2. What share of [...]
