Are the beliefs that nuclear weapons forced the Japanese to surrender and that deterrence keeps the peace little more than received wisdom?
Nuclear Weapons Have Outlived Their Usefulness — if They Ever Had Any
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Climate Change as History’s Deal-Breaker
Even in its relatively early but visibly intensifying stages, climate change threatens to be the singular event in human history, because unlike every other disaster we can imagine (except a full-scale nuclear war or, as has happened in the planet’s past, a large meteorite or asteroid impact), it alone will alter the basis for life on this planet.
Ahead of March Iran Talks, U.S. Urged to Back Possible Israeli Strike
Senators Lindsey Graham and Robert Menendez introduced a joint resolution declaring U.S. support for Israel in the event of an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear programme. “If the Senate moves forward with this [non-binding resolution,] they risk sending the signal to the Iranians that, no matter what was said at Almaty, the U.S. does not have its own house in order to make a deal and is not serious about resolving the nuclear dispute peacefully,” says Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council.
The Forgotten Oscar: “Argo” for Best Propaganda
The lack of vision from Argo’s left-leaning director, Ben Affleck, is disappointing.
After Unprecedented Fight, Hagel Confirmed as Obama’s Pentagon Chief
While Hagel is the only Republican among the top national-security officials, he is widely seen as generally sharing their worldview on key foreign-policy and defence issues – notably, the desirability of maintaining a “light military footprint”, especially in the Middle East; “engaging” actual and potential geo-political foes through diplomacy; using military power only as a last resort; and relying more on multilateral institutions, such as the U.N. and NATO, and regional actors, to address key crisis situations.
Sequestration: Our Military is Due for Downsizing
In fact, sequestration will not “gut” our military. Sequestration will take our military budget back to the level it was in 2007, when we were still fighting two wars.
U.S. Urged to Lean Harder on Bahrain’s Ruling Family
While the Obama administration has continuously urged democratic reforms and dialogue between the Sunni-dominated government and representatives of the Shi’a community in Bahrain, which makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the kingdom’s indigenous population, it has been reluctant to exert serious pressure to achieve those ends.
Obama Administration Reveals Deep Divisions on Syria Policy
Little is known about the current state of U.S. involvement in the two-year Syrian uprising, which may have claimed the lives of over 60,000 Syrians. Senior White House officials have repeatedly expressed concern that increasing the arms supply to the Syrian rebels may result in weapons falling into the “wrong hands”, a concern exacerbated by the influx of foreign fighters in Syria. Yet, revelations over the past week have shown near-unanimous agreement among the president’s top national security advisors for greater military intervention.
The Latin American Exception
The Washington Post recently featured a “staggering” map of 54 highlighted countries that reveals, in the years after 9/11, how the CIA turned just about the whole world into a gulag archipelago. But what’s most striking about the Post’s map is that no part of its wine-dark horror touches Latin America; that is, not one country in what used to be called Washington’s “backyard” participated in rendition or Washington-directed or supported torture and abuse of “terror suspects.”
Dumb and Dumber: A Secret CIA Drone Base, a Blowback World, and Why Washington Has No Learning Curve
Approximately two years ago, the CIA got permission from the Saudi government to build one of its growing empire of drone bases in a distant desert region of that kingdom. The purpose was to pursue an already ongoing air war in neighboring Yemen against al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula.
Yet news outlets didn’t publish this story until almost two years later – not for any lack of awareness, but because these editors, urged on by the CIA and the White House, had done their ‘patriotic duty’ and kept the news from the public.