American Politics and the World… Post #148: Bannon’s Coup 31 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 Stephen K. Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has been elevated to the Principals Committee of the National Security Council, the top tier of national-security policymakers.* It is the first…
American Politics and the World… Post #143: Donald Trump’s Fake News Conference 12 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 The media waited with baited breath for Donald Trump’s first news conference in 167 days. But I’m sure many journalists knew what was coming: a show, orchestrated by The Apprentice…
American Politics and the World… Post #141: Can Donald Trump Be Contained? 5 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 There’s just no getting around it: the president-elect of the United States is a pathological liar. He is also a terribly insecure individual who is desperate for attention and spiteful…
BLOG… Post #121: Unintended Consequences and the Warfare State 7 Jul 201627 Feb 2017 “The danger is, as ever with these things, unintended consequences.” So wrote Prime Minister Tony Blair to President George W. Bush in 2002, as Bush prepared to invade Iraq (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/06/full-text-annotated-tony-blairs-2002-iraq-memo-to-george-bush). …
BLOG… Post #114: The Panama Papers and the 1% 15 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 One of the many tools at the disposal of multinational corporations (MNCs) for maximizing profits and undermining state sovereignty is moving operations to low-tax countries. Global companies do not simply…
BLOG… Post #108: Dark Spots, Light Spots, and Apple’s Protest 23 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 How’s this for bad choices? A recent study by a Harvard group contended with the position of US intelligence agencies that tracking possible terrorists was becoming more difficult because…
American Politics and the World… Post #94: Manipulating Reality: Facebook Is Listening to You 7 Oct 201527 Feb 2017 One thing our generation has become all too used to is how reality can be manipulated to create the appearance of something else entirely. Invading another country is defensive, rigged…
BLOG… Post #88: Consorting with the Devil 19 Aug 201527 Feb 2017 Throughout the Cold War, and doubtless right down to the present, professional people with skills relevant to “national security” have been secretly recruited to work for the Central Intelligence Agency…
BLOG… Post #59 – What Works: Engaging Cuba 17 Dec 201427 Feb 2017 President Obama has finally reversed what he called the “failed policy” of isolating Cuba, announcing today (December 17) the start of normal relations. “These 50 years [without official relations] have…
American Politics and the World… Post #57 – The Torture Report 9 Dec 201427 Feb 2017 George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are back in the news, defending all the true patriots who brought the United States into the “Global War on Terror” after 9/11. Determined…
BLOG… Post #31 – What Works? The Courage to Blow the Whistle 26 Jun 201427 Feb 2017 American heroes come in many forms, and historically, one of them is acting selflessly in the public interest and in defiance of established authority. Daniel Ellsberg did just that in…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 