War

One day, in one life, when the attractions of the sensory world have lost their charm, when we begin to see the truth of the Buddha’s words – that desire is cause of all suffering; when television, video games, sex, drugs and alcohol fail to fill the inner emptiness; when we sit in a pub with a friend and ask aloud, what the point of it all is.

"Let's make sure the U.S. does not continue to fight there via other means—CIA, contractors, airwars, drones."

We waded into conflicts in the Middle East we did not understand, propelled forward by fantasy. And our folly spawned a death spiral of political, social and economic collapse, widespread poverty, massive displacement, misery and radical jihadism.

With an emphasis on the U.S. national security state and its follies, Tom Engelhardt explores nine repeat headlines, each a "surefire" news story guaranteed to appear sometime in the U.S. news stream between June 2015 and the unknown future.

The pact says more about the growing concern with the US ability or commitment to securing the region than any threats posed by Iran.

Now that the International Criminal Court has requested a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest on war crimes, he may become a global outlaw as well.

Iran was the subject of one of the most troubling moments in Hillary's 2008 campaign, when she promised to "totally obliterate" that country if the mullahs ever attacked Israel with a nuclear weapon. Has she changed at all?

Israel's culture minister has vowed to strip the directors of their citizenship over the film, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Much has changed during the last five decades, but deception remains central to the state of perpetual war that funnels mega-billions in profits to the military-industrial complex.

Hospital attacks in Yemen and Kunduz have not been mentioned in any of the U.S. presidential debates or forums so far. We need a full investigation of these crimes, to hold those responsible accountable.