The request by a U.S. Army captain to a federal court for a declaratory judgment about his constitutional duties regarding going to war is the latest reminder of the unsatisfactory situation in which the United States is engaged in military operations in multiple overseas locales without any authorization other than a couple of outdated and obsolete Congressional resolutions whose relevance is questionable …
Bruce Reidel – The Man Who Would Be King in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, America’s oldest ally in the Middle East, is in the midst of the most profound changes in decades. The leadership is going through an unprecedented generational change and has adopted an aggressive foreign policy. The driver of change is the king’s favorite son, Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman. MBS, as he’s often called, is …
Kristen Breitweiser – 9/11 Commission Didn’t Clear Saudis
Americans are not used to reading investigative pieces of journalism. We like to tweet and text in small bites. But here’s the thing. Sometimes, the most important things can’t be explained in 15 bites or less. Sometimes, it takes more space and time. And so I ask everyone who is reading this blog to please read it in its entirety …
Gareth Porter – The Classified ’28 Pages’: A Diversion From Real US-Saudi Issues
The controversy surrounding the infamous “28 pages” on the possible Saudi connection with the terrorists that were excised from the joint Congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is at fever pitch. But that controversy is a distraction from the real problems that Saudi Arabia’s policies pose to the United States and the entire Middle East region. The political pressure to …
Paul Rosenberg – Gutless Democrats Fear Fights: Why Triangulating Neoliberal Clintonites Back Big Business Over People
As the Democratic primary heated up to the boiling point, one particular line of attack on Bernie Sanders had the distinctively Karl Rove-ian stench of attacking Sanders’ strength. Vox [3], Slate [4] and AEI [5] all bought the spin and struck the same theme: “If Bernie Sanders cares about poor people, how come he doesn’t want to trade with them?” But even more than Rove, we can catch …
Jay Janson – Hillary Destroyed Gaddafi And Libya’s Free Health Care And Education Sanders Wants For USA
It would seem Sanders fighting for Americans to have free health care and free education would have tempered his words about a Gaddafi who saw to his people receiving for many years what Bernie wants for Americas. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and the pro status quo Republican candidates opposing her are perhaps already an anachronism, i.e., persons with practices that belongs …
While Clinton Backed 2011 Trade Deal, Sanders Foresaw Panama Papers Fiasco
‘Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade US taxes,’ Sanders told Congress in 2011. Who could have predicted that the global tax evasion by the world’s ultra-rich, made public this week with the release of the Panama Papers, was ushered in with the help of a free trade agreement? Turns out, Sen. Bernie Sanders …
Dean Baker – A Trade Deal for the 21st Century: An Alternative to the TPP
It looks like the major media outlets are doing their full court press to lay the groundwork for the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In recent weeks the news and opinion pages have been filled with articles and columns on the wonders of trade and why all good people should support trade deals like the TPP. In fact, some …
GMO crops in US threaten to exterminate monarch butterflies
Monarch butterflies depend on milkweed as a food source and habitat, but crops like Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy and corn are killing off these plants. While the monarch butterfly population made a comeback this year, the past two decades have been a major struggle for the vanishing species, and GMO crops in the United States along the migration route are …
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – ‘Monsanto Rider’ Would Shield Chemical Giant From Liability for Injuries Caused by PCBs in Public Schools
The New York Times reported last month that Congressional Republicans have clandestinely inserted a provision into the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reauthorization bill that will give Monsanto permanent immunity from liability for injuries caused by its toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The long awaited and grievously needed bill is now in the Conference Committee for reconciliation with a companion Senate bill. The so-called “Monsanto Rider” …










