A March 29 article on America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine in The New York Times by Adam Entous “reveals that America was woven into the war far more intimately and broadly than previously understood.” “Understood” is a euphemism. It means the American…

OK, the title is a bit crude and is deliberately mocking in tone. But it has to be because there is a deeply-entrenched, almost sacred presumption embedded in the nation’s foreign policy catechism that “allies”, “alliances” and “coalitions of the willing”…

The BBC’s news verification service, Verify, digitally reconstructed a residential tower block in Mandalay earlier this week to show how it had collapsed in a huge earthquake on March 28 in Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia largely cut off from the outside…

Reprinted with permission from The Realist Review. They say that “History is written by the victors.” Fortunately, we know that that is not always true. History is written by those who can assert the most appealing narrative. Those who offer the most charismatic…

President Trump was elected in part because he promised to reduce prices and not drag the country into foreign wars. Sadly, President Trump has adopted a tariff policy that will raise prices and abandoned his “America First” foreign policy in favor of a return…

There is still reason for optimism that the Trump administration can bring the war in Ukraine to a diplomatic end. But insubstantial promises of a fast, smooth sailing solution have splintered against the solidity of reality. Campaign promises of a day became…

Originally appeared at TomDispatch. In September 2007, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and historian William Astore emailed me out of the blue. He’d been reading articles at TomDispatch, the website I set up soon after the 9/11 attacks to deal with this…

The eyes of a new generation were opened in an episode that seemed like dark science fiction for those of a certain age, and an unyielding nightmare regardless: a genocide streaming into smartphones around the world in real time. Many American eyes were opened…

The phrase "civil war" is one of the most dominant terms used by Israeli politicians today. What began as a mere warning from Israeli President Isaac Herzog is now an accepted possibility for much of Israel's mainstream political society. “(Israeli Prime…

Reprinted with permission from The Realist Review. Asked about the state of the war in Ukraine during a press gaggle last night on Air Force One, President Trump responded that the war is “a horrible thing that never should have started.” That war is horrible…

Five countries in Central America, together with the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, have a free trade agreement with Washington, but this didn’t protect them from the punitive tariffs announced on President Trump’s “Liberation Day.” A minimum 10 per…

In March, U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter directly to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, informing him that Iran has two months to negotiate a nuclear deal with the U.S. and that, if he refuses to do so, the risk of military action against…

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza in late January 2025 was paraded by Western media as a diplomatic breakthrough that might finally curb the bloodshed – a potential turning point for peace in the region. But within weeks, the grim reality became…

"No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of [the Constitution's] provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government." ~ Ex Parte Milligan, Supreme Court of the United States…

President Trump should avoid a snare of his own making and extricate the United States from the war between Russia and Ukraine. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly indicated that he expected the war between Ukraine and Russia to…

“You know, it's not a complicated formula,” U.S. President Donald Trump said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That's all there is.” So, negotiations should be successful because Iran neither has, nor are they pursuing, a nuclear weapon. The United States…

Millions of people around the world were at the edge of their seats over the weekend, waiting to hear whether Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff’s indirect talks with the Iranian foreign minister would ratchet down tensions or would break down and bring on…

If Chinese soldiers are fighting in the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, that is not the big story. The big story is the effect the claim could have on the possibility of peace. Ukraine has not yet even proven the month’s old claim of the presence of North…

It's difficult to describe how deranged reality has become On Monday, the leaders of the two governments most responsible for a seemingly endless stream of horror – the US and Israel – sat down for a press briefing in the Oval Office, casually discussing…

Reprinted with permission from The Realist Review. Only three months into his second term, Donald Trump’s national security team looks to be seriously divided. As I reported late last year as the administration was taking shape, Commerce Secretary Howard…