Now that Donald Trump has established himself as the worst president in the history of the United States, George W. Bush can breathe a sigh of relief. After all, it was Bush the Younger who used the 9/11 attacks to engage in decades of illegal and unneeded warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan at great cost to American national security. And it was Bush the Younger who established the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) that did nothing to strengthen national security. More
THIS WEEK IN
Will TSA Looting End Before Hell Freezes Over?
For more than a decade, TSA agents have plundered passengers at airport security checkpoints on the flimsiest or most shameless pretexts. If you get stopped at an airport security checkpoint with $100 or more in cash, TSA agents can fleece you. Since it was created almost 25 years ago, TSA has often been criticized for targeting antiwar activists, Green Party members, or prominent leftists. TSA even has a secret watchlist for people who are “publicly notorious” – especially if they are notorious for criticizing TSA. Such targeting is especially painful when it leads to cleaning out your wallet or your purse. More
A Great Leap into Reality: Venezuela Today
Today, among numerous Venezuela solidarity activists and fellow travelers in the Global North, Alex Saab’s extradition to the United States last week has become a similar symbolic breaking point. For them, the case is definitive proof that the Bolivarian Process has crossed an unforgivable line. Yet it is both revealing and bizarre that the measuring stick of the Venezuelan revolution could become a single figure. In fact, their outsized reaction can only be understood if we consider that the #FreeAlexSaab campaign constituted much of these activists’ only practical engagement with Venezuela, and many mistakenly believed Saab (though objectively more like Meng Wanzhou than Che Guevara) to be an emblematic 21st-century revolutionary. More
The Nakba Was Not a Setback. It Was a Blueprint. And It Never Ended.
I was seven years old in Amman, Jordan, when the Naksa broke through our television screen. I had just finished second grade. I didn’t yet have the words — occupation, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing — but I had my grandparents’ stories. The forced departure of 1948. The iron key to a house they never saw More
Israel’s Barbaric Ecocide in Lebanon and Gaza
Return of the Yellow Monster of the Diné: Uranium Mining on the Big Rez
“Their Chaos is Our Peace”: Fighting Zionist Repression in Texas and Beyond
The NYPD Reminds Us That Police Don’t Protect People, Only Power
Israel Isn’t Driving the Iran War, US Imperial Decline Is
The State of the US Left w/ Arun Gupta
Journalist Arun Gupta returns to CounterPunch Radio to discuss the state of the left, antiwar politics, and much more. Arun talks to host Eric Draitser and provides his analysis of the No Kings movement and how leftists should understand it, as well as a retrospective of the antiwar movements around Iraq and Vietnam. He explores the importance of physical community and organization using the example of New York’s Lower East Side, where he resides. The conversation also touches on the Left’s historic role in countering the hegemonic view of global affairs. A devoted leftist, Marxist, investigative journalist, chef, and food tour guide, Arun Gupta always brings incisive analysis and thoughtful critique to CounterPunch.
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The Most Botched Imperial War w/ Gilbert Achcar
On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Erik Wallenberg and Joshua Frank sit down with Gilbert Achcar to discuss Israel, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, and the most botched US war ever.
Gilbert Achcar is Emeritus Professor at SOAS, University of London. He is the author of many books, most recently, The Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective.
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The Collective Power of Music w/ Sean Adams
On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, host Tori Tsui talks to Sean Adams, founder of Drowned in Sound. Tori and Sean talk about Spotify, AI, militarism, capitalism, independent music, how we can harness music’s power for social change, and much more.
Founded in 2000 by Sean Adams, the UK-based Drowned in Sound has evolved from a music website into a podcast and newsletter-focused platform covering indie, electronic, and alternative music, featuring news, reviews, interviews, and community forums.
Tori Tsui is an environmental activist, author, and climate advisor originally from Hong Kong. She is a senior advisor for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and a campaigner for the Stop Rosebank coalition. Her work has been featured in British Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and Elle. She lives in Bristol, UK.
Be sure to check out Tori’s new book, It’s Not Just You: How to Navigate Eco-Anxiety and the Climate Crisis, just out from The New Press.
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