The Costs of Violence

by Noam Chomsky [This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomsky’s new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1 can be found by clicking here.] In brief, the Global War on Terror sledgehammer strategy has spread… Continue Reading

Inside the Devastation of America’s Drone Wars

by Pratap Chatterjee In a trio of recent action-packed movies, good guys watch terrorists mingling with innocent women and children via real-time video feeds from halfway across the world. A clock ticks and we, the audience, are let in on… Continue Reading

America’s Post-Democratic Military

by William Astore In the decades since the draft ended in 1973, a strange new military has emerged in the United States. Think of it, if you will, as a post-democratic force that prides itself on its warrior ethos rather… Continue Reading

Failed States and States of Failure

by Tom Engelhardt One of the charms of the future is its powerful element of unpredictability, its ability to ambush us in lovely ways or bite us unexpectedly in the ass. Most of the futures I imagined as a boy… Continue Reading

The Origin of the New Species of Drone Operator 

by David Isenberg Back in April I wrote about growing involvement of private contractors in unmanned aerial systems.  Only half tongue-in-cheek I wrote: Yes, it’s PDCs—strange visitors from planets SAIC, BAE, CACI and others in galaxy Androneda—who came to Earth… Continue Reading