Corporate media’s Turkey spin: “Attempted coup” bears the marks of an authoritarian power grab orchestrated by Erdoğan
Last week’s events in Turkey leave astute observers with more questions than answers Recip Tayyip Erdoğan has to be the most exotic political figure to come down the pike in who can say how long. “Tinpot” is too good a…
The West escalates with Russia: Make no mistake, a second Cold War is now official NATO policy
NATO’s aggressive posture towards Russia sets a dangerous course for Obama’s successor There have been 22 NATO summits since the first convened in Paris 59 years ago. If you study the chronology, they are more frequent during those times the…
Journal Entry #15
GALÁPAGOS—I can tell you a few facts about these nowhere-else-on-earth islands, but it would be impossible adequately to describe the experience of wandering for a week among them. Providing one pays attention, one leaves at the end of a time…
The two Obamas: An assessment of our capable, but captive president
Obama’s obscuring of the truth about his drone program tarnishes otherwise strong legacy on human rights Not long ago I had the president of our great country down as a conundrum or an enigma or a Hamlet or a hypocrite—or…
Don’t blame Brits for the Brexit: The EU strayed from its roots in post-war unity to become a neoliberal technocracy
There is no understanding the Brexit vote without understanding the ideals and purpose the EU discarded Countless thoughts tumble forward as news of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union sinks in. Among the larger of these is one that…
The Syria dilemma: Dissecting the leaked diplomats memo calling for Obama to get tougher on Assad
Something smells fishy when a hawkish State Dept. memo “leaks” to the Times on the eve of Sec. Clinton’s nomination It has been clear for some time that the Syria conflict was bound to turn into some magnitude of Waterloo…
Journal Entry #14
MOSCOW—“Information wars,” “alternative media,” “the end of the mainstream media”—my mind rattles with such thoughts after half a week here. I’ve been to conferences in Moscow twice in the past six months, and these have been the topics of my…
Reconstructing the Middle East
How Might It Be Done? There is an odd precision attaching to certain key events in the Middle East. Jimmy Carter’s third and final State of the Union address on January 23, 1980, was his “doctrine” speech and set in…
Journal Entry #13
NORFOLK, Conn.—A correspondent and later an editor named David Watts and I had—please note the tense—a friendship that stretched across the sky, it seems to me now. I treasured it and will say a few things about it here. It…
Journal Entry #12
NORFOLK, Conn.—A moment this morning to share the moments of silence and reflection I and surely many others have spent since Dan Berrigan passed away last Saturday, April 30, at an infirmary for aging and ailing Jesuits on the campus…
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