Choreographed War and Other Aspects of the World’s Greatest Game
[The following passages are excerpted at TomDispatch from Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow (Nation Books, Open Road Media ebooks).]
The Stadium
Have you ever entered an empty stadium? Try it. Stand in the middle of the field and [...]
How Egypt’s Generals Sidelined Uncle Sam
by Dilip Hiro
Since September 11, 2001, Washington’s policies in the Middle East have proven a grim imperial comedy of errors and increasingly a spectacle of how a superpower is sidelined. In this drama, barely noticed by the American media, Uncle Sam’s keystone ally in the Arab world, Egypt, like [...]
Speaking Truth From the Robotic Heavens
Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background [...]
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 [...]
From IPS News- U.S., Russia, China Hamper ICC’s Reach
- Disasters Poised to Sweep Away Development Gains
- Gaza Under Fire – a Humanitarian Disaster
- Stunting: The Cruel Curse of Malnutrition in Nepal
- Food Insecurity a New Threat for Lebanon’s Syrian Refugees
- From Havana to Bali, Third World Gets the Trade Crumbs
- Creating a Slum Within a Slum
- U.S. Debating “Historic” Support for Off-Grid Electricity in Africa
- Spain: A Precarious Gateway to Europe for Syrian Refugees
- Indigenous Communities Say Education, Funding Key to Fighting HIV/AIDS
