“Mad Dog” Mattis: Trump’s Least Belligerent Foreign Policy Advisor?

by Derek Davison During a surreal, post-election “campaign rally” in Cincinnati on Thursday night, President-elect Donald Trump announced (or, to be completely accurate, announced that he would be announcing) that he’s selected retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as… Continue Reading

The Myth of Trump’s Alternative Worldview

by John Feffer Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has staked out a foreign policy position quite distinct from his opponent, Hillary Clinton. It is not, however, “isolationist” (contra Jeb Bush and many others) or “less aggressively militaristic” (economist Mark Weisbrot in… Continue Reading

Crimes of the War on Terror

by Rebecca Gordon “The cold was terrible but the screams were worse,” Sara Mendez told the BBC. “The screams of those who were being tortured were the first thing you heard and they made you shiver. That’s why there was… Continue Reading

Kyrgyzstan: Government Report Exposes Scale of Prison Torture

by Anna Lelik When the police wanted to extract a confession out of K.D., they put a plastic bag over his head and injected in a pungent vinegar solution that made his lungs burn. Such tales of abuse in police stations… Continue Reading

Spoiling the Pentagon

by William Astore The word “affluenza” is much in vogue. Lately, it’s been linked to a Texas teenager, Ethan Couch, who in 2013 killed four people in a car accident while driving drunk. During the trial, a defense witness argued… Continue Reading