All Commentaries
War: The Wrong Jobs Program
Our country’s existing jobs program goes by many names: The Permanent War Economy, Military Keynesianism, The Iron Triangle, Perpetual War. The real question it raises is not whether the government should spend. It is whether the government has been spending well.
The Iranian Dilemma: Israel (Part 1)
The alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi consul and the recent IAEA report on its nuclear program are the first two acts in the latest campaign to soften the West up for an attack on Iran.
U.S. to Bomb Iran to Keep Israel From Attacking It?
If Iran developed and built nuclear weapons, both it and Israel would have incentives to use them to strike first in the event of a crisis
U.S. Sends a Message to Iran With Arms Sales to Gulf States
In 2010, the U.S. made its largest single arms sale ever: $60 billion worth to Saudi Arabia.
Nuclear Turkeys
By the time you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, the 12-member congressional supercommittee will have succeeded in meeting its November 23 deadline to approve a plan to shrink the budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Or it will have failed – and produced a turkey instead.
Do Iran’s Objections to the IAEA Report Deserve Consideration?
The mainstream media fails to provide the public with the evidence used to support the IAEA’s latest report about Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran Threat Reduction Act Actually Enhances Threat of War
The march to war with Iran appears to have the support of more than 40 members of the Progressive Caucus who are co-sponsoring the bill.
Iran: No Smoking Gun Found for Ticking Time Bomb
It’s difficult to make the case for attacking Iran based on the new IAEA report.
What the Election of Otto Perez Means for Guatemala
On November 6, Otto Peréz-Molina was voted Guatemala’s next president, making him the first military man to lead the country since 1986, the year the nation became reacquainted with democracy after decades of dictatorship. A prominent military figure in the 1980s and 1990s, he was active during the bloodiest period of the thirty-six year civil conflict that left some 200,000 people dead.
Fear and Loathing in Post-War Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s bloody twenty-six year civil war is over. The Sri Lankan government, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, can rightfully claim a resounding military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.). It would be misleading, however, to call Sri Lanka a post-conflict society. There is no question that the underlying tensions of the conflict remain.