PATRICK LAWRENCE: Cold War Escapades in the Pacific
There is a lot to read into this moment, but one thing’s clear. The U.S. doesn’t know what time it is. First came the Defense Department’s formal request to Congress for a $20 billion check to upgrade its presence across the Pacific. That…
A Circle in the Darkness: Post-War Europe
Diana Johnstone’s newly-published memoir offers an incisive, gritty, politically alert, and expansive account of post-war Europe, reports Patrick Lawrence in this interview with the author. Diana Johnstone first sojourned in Paris during the early postwar years, as France and the…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Impeachment Pantomime
The political theatrics that begin Wednesday raise several questions. For starters, will Joe Biden be investigated for mounting evidence of corruption? And why is the corporate media turning the CIA “whistleblower” into a phantom in plain sight? Now that “Russiagate” has…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: In Venezuela, US Forgets What Century It Is
Destabilizing other nations in gross violation of international law will no longer go unopposed, writes Patrick Lawrence. The Venezuela crisis worsens by the day. Early last week the U.S. sanctioned PdVSA, the state-owned oil company, by sequestering income from U.S. sales…
Seeing the unseen in Ukraine: Why is America sending arms?
Unnoticed by the West, ceasefire talks continue, even as the Pentagon ships weapons to a corrupt Ukrainian regime It is difficult to see into the running Ukraine crisis, just as it is in the Syrian case. This has long been…
When Putin Talks, It Is Worth Listening
On foreign-policy questions, many Russians stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their leader. Vladimir Putin gave another of his end-of-year press conferences last week—nationally televised events consisting of an always-curious combination of Q&A, opinionating, offhand banter, observations on a wide range of domestic…
Trump Talks to Putin, and Suddenly Ukraine’s in Play
Fighting erupted in Ukraine after many months of uneasy but consistent calm after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the U.S. and Russian presidents, finally spoke for the first time last weekend by telephone. Instantly, the Trump White House is faced…
As Ties With Russia Grow Hostile, Three Dangers to Watch For
Now that Washington’s efforts to resolve the Syria crisis jointly with Moscow are a complete debacle, what else can get worse before President Obama cedes the White House to his successor? The answer could not be grimmer: U.S.–Russian relations across…
War in the media age: Hysteria over Trump’s supposed Russian ties made headlines, but the “story” is remarkably flimsy
A case study in how a co-opted press manufactures foreign policy consent From one week to the next, I note with mounting anxiety the media’s habit of using innuendo, loaded suggestion, assemblages of proximate facts, implication short of assertion and omission…
Bravate di Guerra Fredda nel Pacifico
This Italian translation appeared on Sakeritalia. Prima è arrivata al Congresso la richiesta formale [in inglese] da parte del Dipartimento della Difesa per un assegno di 20 miliardi di dollari per aumentare la propria presenza in tutto il Pacifico. Un mese dopo la…