America’s War for the Greater Middle East (Continued)
One way of understanding the ongoing bloodbath pitting Israel against Hamas is to see it as just the latest chapter in an existential struggle dating back to the founding of…
Imperialism
The Pentagon Proclaims Failure in its War on Terror in Africa
America’s Global War on Terror has seen its share of stalemates, disasters, and outright defeats. During 20-plus years of armed interventions, the United States has watched its efforts implode in…
Good Times for the Military-Industrial Complex
The New York Times headline said it all: “Middle East War Adds to Surge in International Arms Sales.” The conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and beyond may be causing immense and unconscionable human suffering, but…
Why the Anti-Imperialism Movement Should Never be Confused with Inter-Power Rivalry
The anti-imperialism movement is a very important movement with a very noble role—that of protecting the majority of the world’s people as well as its environment from the highly aggressive…
A Major Empire Falls Unnoticed
One of modern history’s major empires is falling apart right now, right before our eyes. Yet precious few in the media have reported on this extraordinary event, much less offered…
Three Cautions for the Anti-Imperialism Movement
The anti-imperialism movement has always been a very noble effort and at the same time it is an effort that is essential at a very basic level in present day…
The United States in the World: Making Sense of the Past Forty Years (1981-2023)
The United States of America has been the pre-eminent country on Earth for over 40 years.[1] There are many competing analyses of these developments, different understandings, etc., and with all…
While Searching Worldwide for Terrorists, Uncle Sam Should Also Look in a Mirror
In the 1980s the Sandinista government in Nicaragua was attracting wide attention with achieving very significant improvements in health, education and small peasant based farming cooperatives. Some of the development…
Imagining a Progressive Pentagon
A progressive Pentagon? Talk about an oxymoron! The Pentagon continues to grow and surge with ever larger budgets, ever more expansive missions (for example, a Space Force to dominate the heavens and yet more bases in…
“The Greatest Fighting Force in Human History” – The Perpetual Wars You Aren’t Supposed to Notice
In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,”…
Building for War: The US Imperium’s Top End Spend
The AUSMIN 2023 talks held between the US Secretaries of State and Defense and their Australian counterparts, confirmed the increasing, unaccountable militarisation of the Australian north and its preparation for…
The 1823 Monroe Doctrine and its First Consequences for Global Politics: The Making the U.S. to be a Global Empire
The Doctrine (1823) The doctrine was presented by the 5-th U.S. President James Monroe (1817−1825) in 1823 as an official warning to (West) European powers that any European policy of…
Everyday Imperialism and Working Class Politics
Imperialism has entered a new phase of its expansion to everyday lives of people and the planet. In this new phase of its growth, the grandiose of imperialism permeates everyday…
The End Stage of American Empire
All around us things are falling apart. Collectively, Americans are experiencing national and imperial decline. Can America save itself? Is this country, as presently constituted, even worth saving? For me,…
Seven Reasons Why the Present Phase of Imperialism is the Most Dangerous Ever
Imperialism has always been extremely harmful and dangerous, bringing immense distress, death and destruction. However there are at least seven reasons due to which the present phase of imperialism has…
The Wars We Don’t (Care to) See – Aggression Made Easy
by Norman Solomon and David Barsamian [The following is excerpted and adapted from David Barsamian’s recent interview with Norman Solomon at AlternativeRadio.org.] David Barsamian: American Justice Robert Jackson was the chief…
Imperialism is Inherently Incompatible with Peace, Environment Protection and Happiness
Do most people in the USA desire world peace? Like all normal human beings they certainly do, preferring a world of peace and stability to a world of wars and…
We STILL Don’t Get It: It is an Empire, Folks!
In mid-March 2023, David Swanson published a very interesting article: “Iraq and 15 Lessons We Never Learned.” There were some things in there I agreed with, some I disagreed with,…
America’s Wars
Over 300 wars! As documented in the Wikipedia timeline of U.S. wars, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations and in the Wikipedia list of wars involving the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States the United States of America…
The Monroe Doctrine Is Soaked in Blood
The Monroe Doctrine was first discussed under that name as justification for the U.S. war on Mexico that moved the western US border south, swallowing up the present-day states of…
No Peaceful Multipolar World Anytime Soon: Underestimating US Power is Dangerous
“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” Sun Tzu “But it turns out there isn’t really any military threat by the…
The 2002 Bush Doctrine and the Pandora Box of the Preemptive War
Originally, the Bush Doctrine was a political phrase with the aim to describe the US foreign policy goals during the 43rd US President George W. Bush (Bush Junior), 2001−2009. The…
A Hall of Shame of U.S. Weapons Sales
Here’s a seldom commented-upon reality of this century and this moment: the United States remains the number-one arms-exporting nation on the planet. Between 2017 and 2021, it grabbed 39% of the total…
The Secret Wars of the US Imperium
To get to where they are, imperial powers will deceive, dissimulate and distort. The US imperium, that most awesome of devilish powers, has tentacled itself across the globe, often unbeknownst…
What U.S. Africa Command Doesn’t Want You to Know
What’s the U.S. military doing in Africa? It’s an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, straight-jacketed in secrecy, and hogtied by red tape. Or at least it would be if it…
Why Foreign Military Bases of USA Should be Reduced Significantly
Soon after the Second World War ended, the British government with its vast colonial empire made significant territorial concessions to the USA which could facilitate the rapid spread of USA…
Washington Wants a New Cold War—But That’s a Bad Idea
As China unleashed live-fire military exercises off the coast of Taiwan, simulating a real “reunification by force” operation in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ceremonial visit to the island last…
U.S.-Led Holy War to Conquer Russia and China Declared by Pompeo
On June 24th, at the think tank, the Hudson Institute, U.S. President Trump’s CIA chief and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, delivered a 5,000+-word speech, suggesting that America has an…
Geopolitical Update: U.S. Tact To Make Inroads In Asia
The U.S. sought to bolster its support in Asia by reassuring nations they do not need to join a coalition against China, drawing a stark contrast with Beijing’s threats to…
Why Does the United States Have a Military Base in Ghana?
An interview with Kwesi Pratt Jr., a journalist and leader of the Socialist Movement of Ghana. In April 2018, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said that Ghana has “not…
Who needs a hegemon?
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the US has been able to exert tremendous influence on other nations through its military and economic power.…
War as Terrorism
Anyone who grew up in my generation of 1980s kids remembers G.I. Joe action figures — those green-uniformed plastic soldiers you could use to stage battles in the sandbox in your backyard…
The Rise of NATO in Africa
Anxiety about the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) toward the Russian border is one of the causes of the current war in Ukraine. But this is not…
Five Reasons Why Washington Can’t Break Its War Addiction
Why has the United States already become so heavily invested in the Russia-Ukraine war? And why has it so regularly gotten involved, in some fashion, in so many other wars…
The Civilian Deaths You Haven’t Heard About
Casualties of America's Never-Ending Global War on Terror Madogaz Musa Abdullah still remembers the phone call. But what came next was a blur. He drove for hours, deep into the…
American Militarism, A Persistent Malady
Putin Changed the Subject, But Confronting Martin Luther King’s "Giant Triplets" Is More Urgent Than Ever I recently participated in a commemoration of Martin Luther King’s address “Beyond Vietnam —…
America’s Concealed Past, Condemned Future
Regular readers of Countercurrents may recall a recent article I wrote entitled, “Japan’s Concealed Past, Condemned Future” ( https://countercurrents.org/2022/04/japans-concealed-past-condemned-future/). In that article I argued that because the Japanese people had…
Starting from Idlib, Syria: A Trail of Tears and Bombs
One of the many qualifications for the role of president of the United States is to never miss an opportunity to praise the greatness and courage of our men and…
Will the Pentagon Budget Ever Shrink?
What Would It Take for Military Spending in America to Go Down? A Thought Experiment on the Military-Industrial Complex I have a question for you: What would it take in…
There’s Gambling Going On Here!!!
Remember Captain Renault ( Claude Rains) in Casablanca when he had them close Rick's Cafe Americain. Rick (Humphrey Bogart) runs to him and says " Why are ya shutting me…
The Altruistic USA always needs an enemy
Since the Korean war, the USA could not pass a reasonable long time without at least one enemy, if not more, around the globe. It constantly finds a foe on…
America’s Disastrous 60-Year War
Three Generations of Conspicuous Destruction by the Military-Industrial Complex In my lifetime of nearly 60 years, America has waged five major wars, winning one decisively, then throwing that victory away,…
A Very Long War – From Vietnam to Afghanistan with Detours Along the Way
In the long and storied history of the United States Army, many young officers have served in many war zones. Few, I suspect, were as sublimely ignorant as I was…
Hey, Hey, USA! How Many Bombs Did You Drop Today?
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies August 2020 U.S. drone strike in Kabul killed 10 Afghan civilians. Credit: Getty Images The Pentagon has finally published its first Airpower…
The War on Terror Is a Success — for Terror
Terrorist Groups Have Doubled Since the Passage of the 2001 AUMF It began more than two decades ago. On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush declared a “war on…
No USA Christmas Charity for Afghans, Venezuelans, Cubans, Syrians, Iranians, North Koreans
This Christmas season, as always, CIA controlled mainstream media is filled with unctuous images of the hungry homeless in America being charitably served food by private citizens and institutions. It…
America’s Underperforming Military
Professional sports is a cutthroat business. Succeed and the people running the show reap rich rewards. Fail to meet expectations and you get handed your walking papers. American-style war in…
U.S. Drastically Undercounted Civilian Deaths Due To Airstrike, Finds Investigation
The U.S. military drastically undercounted civilian deaths caused by airstrikes in the Middle East since 2014, according to a New York Times investigation published Saturday. The New York Times reviewed a hidden…
Defending Japanese Imperialism
Common knowledge informs us that the surrender of Imperial Japan on August 15, 1945 brought an end to the Japanese empire and Japan’s occupation of all areas and countries that…
Are We Forever Captives of America’s Forever Wars?
As August ended, American troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan almost 20 years after they first arrived. On the formal date of withdrawal, however, President Biden insisted that “over-the-horizon capabilities” (airpower and Special Operations…
AUKUS & Quad In Context: Australia Violates All Indo-Pacific countries
Australia has formed the anti-China AUKUS (Australia, UK and US) and Quad (Australia, India, US and Japan) Alliances to contain a supposedly aggressive China. In reality a US lackey, nuclear…
US President Joe Biden: Representing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
“I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 of March 6, 2014, with respect to Ukraine…
American Express Goes on a Buying Spree in Argentina’s Congress
I was told that a man by the name of John Doe passed through the offices of Argentine congressmen. He wasn’t carrying heavy bags of cash, but only had an…
Arming Against China: The US Global Posture Review
Get the Marines ready. Store the supplies. Marshal the allies. The United States is getting ready for war (the preferable term in Washington is policing) in the Indo-Pacific region, and…
Imperialist alliance fuels arms race in Indo-Pacific
At the G7 Summit last June, Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison, representing the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia respectively, met in private talks. The subject was how to…
U.S. Terrorism 101: The Bert Sacks Story
Since the annual U.S. Veterans Day holiday honoring military veterans was just observed on November 11, it seems more than appropriate to suggest the creation of a U.S. Victims Day,…
The Pentagon as Pentagod: America’s Abyss of Weapons and Warmaking
Who is America’s god? The Christian god of the beatitudes, the one who healed the sick, helped the poor, and preached love of neighbor? Not in these (dis)United States. In…
How Would Americans Feel if Bombed & Invaded by Their Veterans Like 13 Smaller Countries Were?
If Americans could only imagine what it was like for the citizens of thirteen much smaller nations to have been bombed and invaded by the American veterans who are celebrated…
Was the Afghan War a Schell Game?
I waited almost three months for some acknowledgement, but it never came. Not a bottle of champagne. Not a congratulatory note. Not an email of acknowledgement. Not one media request. Authors…
How the Western Leaders Destroyed the Muslim World: We, the People and Revival of Colonization
The Arab word’s a veritable mess. The cosmic leadership deficit, the absence of legitimate institutions, the lack of transparency, disrespect for human rights, abysmal regard for gender equality, and too…
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