This week Charles Goyette talks with Ron Paul on their weekly podcast about the increasing authoritarianism of the nation-state. From mandating people’s decisions about medical treatment and insurance, to the clandestine gathering of private phone calls, and its...
President Obama, who is in Japan today, has announced that the U.S. defense treaty with Japan applies to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Japan and China are in dispute over who has sovereignty over the largely uninhabited island chain in the East China Sea, but Obama's...
In yet another definitive piece for the New Yorker titled What We Left Behind, Dexter Filkins writes about Iraq today, especially Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who the United States helped install. Many Americans blame Iraqis for killing their fellow citizens simply...
After seven years of formal separation, the Palestinian parties of Fatah and Hamas have agreed to come together and form a unity government. Since the U.S. and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group instead of a political party, they both vehemently oppose the...
Over at The Diplomat, Shannon Tiezzi worries that Obama’s trip to Asia this week "will increase perceptions in Beijing that the U.S. seeks to contain China’s rise." It's difficult to counter that perception because it happens to be correct. Obama is visiting Japan,...
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. has decided to "partially resume military aid to Egypt": The United States has decided to resume delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt, the Pentagon announced late Tuesday, backtracking on a decision officials made last...
"...it would be good to know under what circumstances the White House thinks it can kill Americans without a trial." If Rip Van Winkle awoke just yesterday, he might be dumbfounded at the above sentence. To Americans in the Obama-era, it is an all too relatable...
At least 35 people were killed in Yemen over the weekend in a series of U.S. drone strikes. As usual, government authorities claim those targeted and killed were al-Qaeda members. At least three civilians were confirmed to have been killed, but the true number is...
According to Stephen Aftergood at Secrecy News, a new intelligence directive forbids any official from talking with the media and threatens "termination of employment" or "criminal prosecution" for any violators. The Director of National Intelligence has forbidden...
Spencer Ackerman has a great piece up at the Guardian exploring what is likely to happen to the government's legal justification for holding people under indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay once the U.S.'s combat operations in Afghanistan are over in December. The...
