No one expected Joe Biden to rein in US empire. But after 100 days, he’s been terrible even on his own terms — failing to reenter the Iran nuclear deal, coddling authoritarian leaders like Mohammed bin Salman, and looking on as countries like India are pummeled by the COVID-19 crisis.
As the US continues its slide toward cold war with China, pressure on Australia to maintain its dominance in the South Pacific has only grown. Ever the dutiful ally of the US, Australia is now earning accusations of imperialism from its Pacific neighbors.
The Pentagon’s 1033 program has allowed over $1.5 billion in military equipment to be given to local police departments. The House votes today on rolling 1033 back — but the Biden administration hasn’t lifted a finger to reduce the military weapons in cops’ hands.
Over two thousand people have died trying to cross from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands so far this year. While the European Union boasts of its humanitarian migrant policy, it has made these islands into a rampart of a murderous border regime.
The current Ukraine-Russia standoff is the most dangerous European war crisis in decades. Rhetorical grandstanding and the buildup of weaponry risk setting off a devastating explosion. Progressive movements must urgently organize for peace and de-escalation.
Following the Vietnam War, global progressive movements sought to refashion the world in the interests of the majority. The failure of this project, and the subsequent triumph of liberal interventionism, explains the arrogance of the US foreign policy elite.
The crimes of the War on Terror are an assault on justice and democracy across the planet. The Belmarsh Tribunal, inspired by the Vietnam War tribunals organized by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre, is demanding accountability for those crimes.
Washington’s long-standing hostility to the International Criminal Court undermines any future war crimes prosecutions over Ukraine. If for no other reason, the US must join the rest of the world in accepting the court’s jurisdiction.
Liberal internationalism is just another shade of US imperialism, dressed up in the language of democracy. But leftists have to do more than criticize: we must develop a viable alternative that prizes international collaboration and demilitarization.
In recent years, New Zealand has massively increased its defense budget and strengthened military ties to the US to ward off what hawks see as Chinese aggression. These moves have only worsened relations between the West and China.
Congress’s latest failure to pull US troops out of Syria may be more significant for demonstrating the growing appetite in both parties to rein in US adventurism overseas.
One of Joe Biden’s top priorities has been convincing a skeptical world to buy into the "rules-based international order.” His backing of the war in Gaza is completely undercutting that effort.
The United States’ 20-plus-year War on Terror has led to disasters throughout the Middle East. But the greatest failure of US counterterrorism operations may be in Africa, where they have destabilized multiple governments and led to a huge spike in violence.
As Britain lost the ability to maintain its empire, the US took on the role of managing the global order. In Someone Else’s Empire, Tom Stevenson shows how American dominance, aided and abetted by Britain, has caused untold suffering across the world.
Defeating Donald Trump will require going beyond rational appeals to economic self-interest.
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
The ICC seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is a major step forward for international law. US officials’ attacks on the ICC are a major step backward for US global standing.
Neocons are taking advantage of the neo-McCarthyism Donald Trump has stoked against pro-Palestinian activists on the left to go after more antiwar voices on the right in his own administration. Such witch hunts never stop at their original targets.
Donald Trump claims he’s ending the “era of endless wars.” But over the course of his first term, he has come closer to starting new wars than ending the wars he inherited.