First, the two cops knocked on the wrong door. Then they didn’t identify themselves. Then they shot the Lopez family dog. Then they shot Ismail Lopez in the back of the head. Then they cuffed his corpse. Then the city said Lopez had no civil rights to violate because he was an undocumented migrant. Then they walked. More
America’s commitment to democracy has always been tenuous at best. Our wealth was founded upon the enslavement of Africans and the expropriation of Indigenous land and resources. International power was derived from war and intervention, both military and economic. Even the U.S. system of voting, the crowning glory of our democracy, is badly compromised by an electoral college and gerrymandering. “Leadership” has generally meant bullying friends and enemies alike. More
The relationship between domestic politics and foreign policy is often discussed in international relations. Diplomats and foreign policy experts may demur, saying that the formulation of foreign policy, with all its complexities, cannot be left to those who have not spent a lifetime studying and practicing the art of diplomacy, especially politicians – “some of whom are hacks or ideologues and all of whom are hostage, especially these days, to party’s base.” But American scholar Lisel Hintz sees foreign policy as a “domestic identity contestation domain.” In her study, Hintz focuses on Turkey, but her theory is widely applicable in the age of populism. Her key argument is that national identity debates in domestic politics can spill into foreign policy. More
r. Strangelove is alive and well in the pentagon. Specifically, the U.S. navy, apparently fixated on provoking nuclear World War III with Russia, regardless of president Joe Biden’s duplicitously stated goal of avoiding global incineration. But then, you can’t blame U.S. military sociopaths for not taking Joe “Nuclear Doubletalk” Biden at his word. No sooner does he swear up and down that he will NEVER give a certain weapon to Ukraine, than he turns around and supplies it to them. More
