Author: ConsortiumNews.com

The director of national intelligence has turned a blind eye on torture, secret prisons and international off-the-books kidnappings. By John Kiriakou Special to Consortium News President Donald Trump apparently is weighing the notion of firing Director of National Intelligence Daniel…Read more →

For several reasons, Israel has joined various Arab powers to back a strongman in Libya, explains Giorgio Cafiero. By Giorgio Cafiero Special to Consortium News Since mid-2014, Libya has been mired in civil war, pitting the UN-recognized Government of National…Read more →

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has just shut down half of Robert Mueller’s Russian-interference case, writes Daniel Lazare. By Daniel Lazare Special to Consortium News Don’t look now, but a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has just shut down…Read more →

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer; journalist Aaron Maté and former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel will be among the guests for the premier edition of CN Live!, airing today at 2pm Eastern time. On the…Read more →

Elizabeth Vos reviews the infamous legal case of Marc Dutroux and why it engendered public distrust in the institutions of government.  This is the fourth article in a series that is looking back on the major works of the publication that…Read more →

Jonathan Cook explains why the wave of pro-Zionist preachers taking an interest in Israel is bad news for Palestinians and loaded with ominous historic precedent.   On Monday Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the…Read more →

Consortium News announces the launch on Friday of a weekly webcast news show as a successor to the Vigils for Assange that will also delve into other pressing issues of the day. CN Live! will air every Friday from 2 pm to…Read more →

Craig Murray has a strong hunch about why someone would leak Kim Darroch’s scathing comments about Trump.   By Craig Murray CraigMurray.org.uk The media is full of over-complicated theories as to who might have leaked the diplomatic telegrams of Kim…Read more →

The High Court decided to do nothing about a practice that, in the words of dissenting Justice Elena Kagan, “beats democracy,” writes Marjorie Cohn. By Marjorie Cohn Truthout The Supreme Court has abdicated its responsibility to strike down partisan gerrymandering. This…Read more →

Russia and China are forging stronger ties, gaining ground on the U.S. and rattling Washington, writes Dilip Hiro.  By Dilip Hiro TomDispatch.com President Donald Trump was partly voted into office by Americans who felt that the self-proclaimed greatest power on…Read more →

The presidential hopeful’s record in California undermines her claim to progressive credentials, says Marjorie Cohn. By Marjorie Cohn Truthout Sen. Kamala Harris is rising in the polls after dramatically confronting former Vice President Joe Biden during the Democratic primary debate about…Read more →

The Trump administration’s incessant sanctions wars are curbing the dollar’s global hegemony and speeding the demise of U.S. empire.       By Patrick Lawrence Special to Consortium News The signs are mounting steadily now. As the Trump administration weaponizes…Read more →

The aerial parade of military aircraft was a chilling display of rampant killing machinery, write Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright. By Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright Common Dreams President Donald Trump’s order to the Pentagon to have an aerial parade…Read more →

The Deep State almost always wins. But if Attorney General Barr leans hard on Trump to unfetter investigators, all hell may break lose, because the evidence against those who took serious liberties with the law is staring them all in…Read more →

It’s an epidemic with life-and-death significance for a pivotal portion of Trump’s base, but the president has paid no attention to the way it is afflicting U.S. civilians, writes Rajan Menon. By Rajan Melon TomDispatch.com We hear a lot about suicide when…Read more →

There’s nothing alien or un-American about Trump’s July 4th military hardware parade, writes Caitlin Johnstone.  By Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com “Putin’s America,” tweeted Anand Giridharadas, a pundit who was genetically engineered in a Monsanto laboratory to appeal to NPR listeners on every possible…Read more →

Natalia Veselnitskaya didn’t have “dirt” on Hillary Clinton and when the Russian lawyer met with Trump’s people her focus was not on the 2016 campaign, writes Lucy Komisar. By Lucy Komisar Special to Consortium News A “key event” described in…Read more →

The ex-special counsel has agreed to take questions from a congressional committee and James Howard Kunstler can think of a few he’d like to have answered. By James Howard Kunstler Clusterfuck Nation The playwrights of yore had a neat way…Read more →

There were Egyptian elections before Mohammed Morsi, who underestimated the anti-democratic impulses of Arab tyrannies, and assumed Western governments wouldn’t stand for an overthrow of a democratically-elected president. By As`ad AbuKhalil Special to Consortium News The death of Mohamed Morsi,…Read more →

Daniel Lazare looks into the Times’ overreaction to charges of anti-Semitism.  By Daniel Lazare Special to Consortium News The New York Times was so sorry last month for publishing an allegedly anti-Semitic cartoon showing Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog leading…Read more →

Where male-dominated soccer, politics and the economy thrive in the cult of individualism, the women work in solidarity with each other, like workers of days gone by, says Attilio Moro. By Attilio Moro  in Brussels Special to Consortium News Having lost…Read more →

Justices last week confronted the White House’s false justification for its illegal and racist motive in trying to add the question, writes Marjorie Cohn. By Marjorie Cohn Truthout In a surprise decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the four liberal members…Read more →

There’s nothing new about a U.S. president assuming that Palestinians can be bribed into cooperating with Zionist ambitions, writes Lawrence Davidson. By Lawrence Davidson  TothePointAnalysis.com President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or at least the economic side of it,…Read more →

Donald Trump will ultimately have to remind his national security adviser and secretary of state who is president if there’s to be progress on North Korea, says Ray McGovern.  By Ray McGovern Special to Consortium News There is hope for…Read more →

With Julian Assange facing possible extradition from Britain to the U.S. for publishing classified secrets, Elizabeth Vos reflects on the parallel but divergent case of a notorious Chilean dictator. By Elizabeth Vos Eight months from now one of the most…Read more →

What this story really shows is how the corporate media derails meaningful debates and draws us all into a modern version of bread and circuses, writes Jonathan Cook. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net I really do not wish to write about…Read more →

Ann Wright recalls that a U.S. military warship shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988 and Washington insisted afterwards that it was correct in doing so.  By Ann Wright Code Pink The Iranian military shot down a U.S. spy drone…Read more →

Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is as big a hawk as any member of the Trump administration, says John Kirikaou. By John Kiriakou Special to Consortium News Neoliberal, fake progressive Rep. Adam Schiff (D-C)…Read more →

Caitlin Johnstone says the correct response to North Korea having nuclear retaliatory capability is simple: leave it alone. By Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com Half of the responders to an innovative new survey of 3,000 Americans conducted by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists…Read more →

Giorgio Cafiero gauges the shortcomings of the U.S.-backed “Peace to Prosperity” summit in Bahrain this week. By Giorgio Cafiero Special to Consortium News The U.S.-backed two-day “Peace to Prosperity” summit in Bahrain on Tuesday and Wednesday was designed to advance…Read more →

Sam Husseini takes a look at some some of the candidates who will be getting national TV attention tonight and Thursday.   By Sam Husseini Special to Consortium News Following the rigging of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary process in favor…Read more →

While the media are concentrated on Tory shenanigans, Labour Party members must seize the chance to turn Corbyn’s insurgency into a decisive force, says Craig Murray. By Craig Murray CraigMurray.org.uk Sometimes we do not know when small actions could have…Read more →

Amid a looming succession question concerning the current sultan, Mark Curtis reviews how the Gulf state became, in effect, a giant British military and intelligence base. By Mark Curtis British Foreign Policy Declassified Sixty years ago, Britain won a long-forgotten war in Oman,…Read more →

The American paper of record just provided a major example of the symbiotic relationship between U.S. corporate media and the government, Ben Norton writes for Grayzone.By Ben Norton Grayzone The New York Times has publicly acknowledged that it sent a story to…Read more →

Edward Curtin reviews the movie, “The Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story.” By Edward Curtin Edwardcurtin.com  “He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it.” – George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” The lobby of the temple of time…Read more →

Boris Johnson is the favourite to win the Conservative leadership contest. But has he got what it takes to strike a Brexit deal with the EU?, asks Johanna Ross. By Johanna Ross in Edinburgh, Scotland Special to Consortium News The…Read more →

The agency is trying to get a pass on crimes even before they’re committed and it represents a threat to press freedom. By John Kiriakou Special to Consortium News The CIA has quietly asked the Senate Intelligence Committee to include a…Read more →

Washington’s foreign policy towards Iran is driven by desperation rather than a reasoned understanding of a world in historically significant flux. That can lead only to a continuing succession of failures. By Patrick Lawrence Special to Consortium News The kinetic…Read more →

VIPS says its direct experience with Mike Pompeo leaves them with strong doubt regarding his trustworthiness on issues of consequence to the President and the nation. DATE: June 21, 2019 MEMORANDUM FOR: The President.  FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) SUBJECT: Is…Read more →

Donald Trump pulled back from igniting a potentially disastrous war in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night with just 10 minutes to spare, but the super-hawks he surrounded himself with will probably try again, writes Joe Lauria. By Joe Lauria…Read more →

We need to decolonize our food cultures and our minds of food imperialism, writes Vandana Shiva. By Vandana Shiva Independent Science News Food is not a commodity, it is not “stuff” put together mechanically and artificially in labs and factories.…Read more →

Given the example being made out of Chelsea Manning, silence must be spreading fast, writes Caitlin Johnstone. By Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is now being slammed with $500 fines for every single day that she remains imprisoned in contempt of…Read more →

The Intercept‘s bombshell about Brazilian corruption is being ludicrously spun by the country’s media and military as a “Russian conspiracy,” writes Pepe Escobar By Pepe Escobar in Paris Special to Consortium News It was a leak, not a hack. Yes: Brazilgate,…Read more →

Clarity emerges around the political persecution of Lula, Brazil’s former president. But what is still blurry for many is the actual case against him, writes Vijay Prashad. By Vijay Prashad Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula…Read more →

Annexation would only formalize a situation in which almost two-thirds of Palestinian territory is controlled by Israel and settlers live as Israeli citizens, writes Jonathan Cook. By JonathanCook Jonathan-Cook.net A state of de facto annexation already exists on the ground…Read more →

Marjorie Cohn reports on a more complete U.S. definition of human rights that, as Sanders urges, picks up where FDR left off. Sanders Calls for FDR’s Vision to be Fulfilled By Marjorie Cohn Truthout Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a full-throated…Read more →

Protesters in the Sudan and Algeria have learned from the counter-revolutions and know it is not enough to oust a single tyrant, writes As`ad AbuKhalil. Leaders May Fall But US Maintains Tyrannies  By As`ad AbuKhalil Special to Consortium News The…Read more →

From flimsy false flags in the Gulf to the signing of Assange’s extradition warrant, Craig Murray reviews the abuses of power made  obvious in the past two weeks.  By Craig Murray CraigMurray.org.uk Standing back a little and surveying the events…Read more →

The U.S. is now formally supporting Israel’s efforts at economic pacification, writes Jonathan Cook. By JonathanCook Jonathan-Cook.net The White House’s prolonged financial bullying of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ government-in-waiting, has reached the point where there are now credible warnings…Read more →

Rarely is the U.S. public allowed glimpses of Iraq that make war there seem less inevitable, writes Laura Gottesdiener. By Laura Gottesdiener TomDispatch.com There’s a dark joke going around Baghdad these days. Noof Assi, a 30-year-old Iraqi peace activist and humanitarian…Read more →