Author: Tom Engelhardt

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It’s one of the stranger phenomena on this planet. By 2023, the U.S. was estimated to spend more money on its “defense budget” than the next 10 countries combined. read more

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Let me start with my own news. At almost 80, I’ve decided not to run for president. I know it’s a shock and, if the presidency were largely a morning or even an afternoon job, I might actually consider it. But 24 hours a day, with crises endlessly multiplying in a world truly on edge (and seemingly read more

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Americans have never liked to think of themselves as part of the West’s imperial history that began with the Roman empire and may now quite literally be ending, as historian and TomDispatch regular Alfred McCoy suggests, in a distinctly un-American moment. The author of a classic read more

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It’s not complicated. This country, as TomDispatch regular and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign Liz Theoharis makes clear today, is simply read more

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These days, whenever you check out the news, it seems to be war, war, war — a focus today for TomDispatch regular Nan Levinson, author of a notable antiwar book, read more

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Living on the Wrong World A Planetary Cease Fire Is Desperately Needed By Tom Engelhardt

On this planet of ours, it almost doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong when it comes to our wars.

Actually, let me correct that thought slightly: it certainly does matter, but what matters so much more is that we humans simply can’t stop fighting them. That is (or at least should be) a stunning and deeply saddening reality. What obvious lessons we seem congenitally read more

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You know we’re in an increasingly extreme world when a young American airman burns himself to death outside the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest Israel’s nightmarish war in Gaza. (“Today, read more

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He’s always there! Right? And you know exactly who I mean. I just Googled him and the latest news at this very second, though undoubtedly not 30 seconds from now, is that he’s asked the New read more

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Consider it strange that the cost in lives, in wounds, in illness — the actual numbers or at least estimates when it comes to Israel’s nightmarish campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s horrifying October 7th assault — are so much a part of the news these days. I mention this only because while you can now sit at home and read or hear about the estimated read more

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Imagine for a moment that I told you Congress was suddenly teetering at the edge of passing a $95-billion bill to give many more Americans reasonable health care. No, it really doesn’t read more