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5 days ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
Question: What member of Trump’s cabinet has four major posts, but only one job? Answer: Marco RubioMarco Rubio is the uber-mensch of the Trump administration. He is the secretary of state, the acting national security adviser, the acting director of (what’s left) of the Agency for International Development, and the acting director of the National Archives.
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1 week ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
The Washington Post’s senior national security columnist, David Ignatius, is the mainstream media’s leading apologist for the Central intelligence Agency, American foreign policy, and Israel. Last week, Ignatius described the politicization of U.S. intelligence by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
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2 weeks ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
The conventional wisdom regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is universally accepted by retired generals and ambassadors; bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate; too many political scientists, and of course the ever obedient mainstream media.
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2 weeks ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
“In the past four months, the Pentagon has sent thousands of active-duty combat troops and armored Stryker combat vehicles to the southwestern border to confront what President Trump declared was an ‘invasion’ of migrants, drug cartels and smugglers.
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3 weeks ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
Donald Trump’s first official travel overseas in both his first and second presidential terms centered on the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. These trips have secured great wealth and investment for the Trump family enterprises that now include a meme cryptocurrency that allows crypto investors in the Gulf to enrich Donald Trump.
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1 month ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Melvin A. Goodman
The United States is a national security state. Over the past half-century, it has unnecessarily conducted “forever wars” in Vietnam (1960s-1970s), Iraq (2000s-the present), Afghanistan (2000s-2020), and now possibly in Yemen. Not one of these costly ventures has advanced our national security, and — with the exception of Yemen — have been costly in terms of blood and resources. Even the Yemen war is getting costly.
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1 month ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
The mainstream media have examined the governance of Donald Trump over the first term and the hundred days of the second term, using the familiar techniques of bureaucratic politics and the use of mostly anonymous sources. In this way, the media have examined the politics, policies, and fulsome propaganda of the Trump’s presidency.
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1 month ago | 
lankaweb.com | Melvin A. Goodman
Melvin GoodmanThe USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group off the coast of Hawai’i. Official U.S. Navy photo by: PH2 Gabriel WilsonThe United States is a national security state. Over the past half-century, it has unnecessarily conducted forever wars” in Vietnam (1960s-1970s), Iraq (2000s-the present), Afghanistan (2000s-2020), and now possibly in Yemen. Not one of these costly ventures has advanced our national security, and—with the exception of Yemen—have been costly in terms of blood and resources.
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1 month ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
The United States is a national security state. Over the past half-century, it has unnecessarily conducted “forever wars” in Vietnam (1960s-1970s), Iraq (2000s-the present), Afghanistan (2000s-2020), and now possibly in Yemen. Not one of these costly ventures has advanced our national security, and—with the exception of Yemen—have been costly in terms of blood and resources. Even the Yemen war is getting costly as well.
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1 month ago | 
counterpunch.org | Melvin A. Goodman
There is no more important or prestigious cabinet position than the secretary of state. The first secretaries included such luminaries as Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay. All became presidents or almost reached the presidency. In contemporary times, secretaries of state included Henry Stimson, George Marshall, Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, and John Kerry.
