by Nick Turse*
The numbers tell the story: 10 exercises, 55 operations, 481 security cooperation activities.
For years, the U.S. military has publicly insisted that its efforts in Africa are small scale. Its public affairs personnel and commanders have repeatedly claimed no more than a “light footprint” on that continent, including a [...]
America’s New Model for Expeditionary Warfare
by Nick Turse
Lion Forward Teams? Echo Casemate? Juniper Micron?
You could be forgiven if this jumble of words looks like nonsense to you. It isn’t. It’s the language of the U.S. military’s simmering African interventions; the patois that goes with a set of missions carried out in [...]
How Obama Became a Publicist for His Presidency (Rather Than the President)
Like many days, March 3rd saw the delivery of a stern opinion by President Obama. To judge by recent developments in Ukraine, he said, Russia wasputting itself “on the wrong side of history.” This might seem a surprising [...]
The Pentagon’s Latest “Mission Accomplished” Moment
by Nick Turse
via Tom Dispatch
It’s 2053 — 20 years since you needed a computer, tablet, or smart phone to go online. At least, that’s true in the developed world: you know, China, India, Brazil, and even some parts of [...]
Melville Knew Them, We Still Live With Them
by Greg Grandin
via Tom Dispatch
A captain ready to drive himself and all around him to ruin in the hunt for a white whale. It’s a well-known story, and over the years, mad Ahab in Herman Melville’s most famous novel, Moby-Dick, has been used as [...]
Unraveling the Secrets of the Military’s Secret Military
by Nick Turse
via Tom Dispatch
“Dude, I don’t need to play these stupid games. I know what you’re trying to do.” With that, Major Matthew Robert Bockholt hung up on me.
More than a month before, I had called U.S. Special Operations Command [...]
The New York Times and the Enduring “Threat” of Isolationism
via Tom Dispatch
The abiding defect of U.S. foreign policy? It’s isolationism, my friend. Purporting to steer clear of war, isolationism fosters it. Isolationism impedes the spread of democracy. It inhibits trade and therefore prosperity. It allows evildoers to get [...]
by Dilip Hiro
via Tom Dispatch
What if the sole superpower on the planet makes its will known — repeatedly — and finds that no one is listening? Barely a decade ago, that would have seemed like a conundrum from some fantasy Earth in an alternate dimension. Now, it is increasingly a plain description [...]
Don’t Hold Your Breath
by Andrew J. Bacevich
via Tom Dispatch
Sometimes history happens at the moment when no one is looking. On weekends in late August, the president of the United States ought to be playing golf or loafing at Camp David, not making headlines. Yet Barack Obama chose Labor Day weekend [...]
The Startling Size, Scope, and Growth of U.S. Military Operations on the African Continent
by Nick Turse
via Tom Dispatch
They’re involved in Algeria and Angola, Benin and Botswana, Burkina Faso and Burundi, Cameroon and the Cape Verde Islands. And that’s just the ABCs of the situation. Skip to the end of the alphabet [...]
From IPS News- In U.S., Black Preschool Students “Punished More Severely”
- When Not To Go To School
- U.N. Denies Dragging Its Feet on U.S.-Iran Visa Dispute
- Q&A: The Case for Cutting African Poverty in Half
- U.S. Foreign Aid Approach Is Outdated, Experts Say
- Ostracised and Isolated: Muslim Prisoners in the U.S.
- South Sudan Dictates Media Coverage of Conflict
- COLUMN: Gabriel García Márquez, the Story-Teller of the Country of the War Without End
- Civil Society Wants More Influence in New Development Agenda
- U.S. Terror Suspects Face “Terrifying” Justice System
