The Soft Power Hoax | Consortiumnews – Link to article U.S. officials love the idea of “soft power,” a concept that applies non-violent means – from propaganda to culture – to induce foreign countries to conform to Washington’s wishes. But the arrogance of the approach has alienated, rather than attracted, many people around the world. A recurrent…
Category: Articles
Operation Rent Seeking
Washington Monthly on Political Books March/April/May 2015 Operation Rent Seeking How the war on terrorism became a business model. In present-day America’s politically polarized atmosphere, it is easy to characterize divisive issues like the war on terrorism, the Wall Street bailout, or the Affordable Care Act as symbols of a clash of ideologies. Ideology is present…
Historical Truth, Nazis and the Corruption of the Federal Judiciary
There was a time when it was permissible to think that the chief purpose of the judicial branch of government was to protect our constitutional rights as a check on runaway legislative majorities or executive overreach. To fulfill that duty, a judge is insulated from partisan maneuvering by a grant of lifetime tenure and a…
The Implications of the Torture Report
The reaction to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program” is as significant as what the study uncovered about the psychology and methods of those who run the Deep State that rules us. After years of the Obama administration’s foot-dragging, obfuscation and threats, the senate Intelligence Committee’s “Study of the…
Can’t We Just Say the Roberts Court Is Corrupt?
Even in the absence of what Justice Roberts narrowly defines as “quid pro quo corruption,” a court that consistently decides all relevant cases on behalf of corporate interests – most recently McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission – undermines its own legitimacy as well as the Constitution. You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! The British journalist….
Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State
Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor,…
Gates Agonistes
Publish Monday Jan 20, 2014 Truthout link to article and comments Spies are inherently suspect people. For the sake of what remains of our democracy, they must be kept on a short leash. That is my conclusion from the furor surrounding former Secretary of Defense and onetime career CIA employee Robert M. Gates’s new book, Duty: Memoirs of…