Military Industrial Complex

Olympic Lessons for an Imperial America

David Coates | Posted 05.30.2012

Read More: Hubris, London, Imperial State, Finance, United Kingdom, Imperial Decline, Manufacturing, Industrial Policy, Empire, Military-Industrial Complex, Olympics, 2012 London Olympics, Culture News
David Coates

As American eyes turn to London, it will be worth remembering that this will be London's second post-World War II Olympic Games, not the first, and that there are also medals to be won by comparing the condition of the UK during the last time the Games were held in London with its condition now.

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Milo Minderbinder in Afghanistan: Part 2

David Isenberg | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Security Contractors, Afghanistan Contractors, Private Military Contractors, Military Industrial Complex, Books News
David Isenberg

Here is another excerpt from the recently published book Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban (Prometheus Books, 2012). The f...

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Requiem for Reform?

Christopher Holshek | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Department of Homeland Security, Rachel Maddow Drift, Project on National Security Reform, Politics, Congress, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Department of Defense, Rachel Maddow, National Security, Homeland Security, Rachel Maddow Show, Fareed Zakaria, Defense Budget, Government Reform, Books News
Christopher Holshek

Maddow succeeds in explaining, in a charmingly non-wonkish way, how we got ourselves to our current state of affairs -- the unhealthy distortion of our time-honored yet taken-for-granted civil-military relationship.

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Robots R' Us: Drones Reported on 63 Bases on the USA

Danny Schechter | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: Max Keiser, Dwight Eisenhower, Bases, Military Industrial Complex, David Swanson, Medea Benjamin, Politics News
Danny Schechter

New York, New York: It's easy to understand why presidents, politicians and the military love robots. They don't talk back. They follow orders. You p...

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The F-22: Final Delivery for a Flying Disaster

William Hartung | Posted 05.03.2012

Read More: F-22, Fighter Jet, Pentagon, Lockheed Martin, F-35, Military Industrial Complex, F22, Military Spending, F-22 Raptor, Air Force Jets, Politics News
William Hartung

Wednesday Lockheed Martin delivered the last of 187 F-22 Raptor fighter jets to the U.S. Air Force. The roll out prompted executives to describe the plane as "the baddest bird on the planet" and "an icon of American power." The facts suggest otherwise.

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Defense Department's New Definition of 'Commercial Item' Will Save Money

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 05.02.2012

Read More: Government Spending, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Government Contracting, Military Industrial Complex, Politics News
Project On Government Oversight

The Department of Defense is taking a major step in stopping the waste of taxpayer dollars. The legislative proposal is a huge improvement over the current definition, a broadly worded definition open to abuse.

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Momentarily Confused Congress Declares War on War

James Napoli | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: War on Christmas, Congress, Military, Military Industrial Complex, War on Drugs, War on Terrorism, War, Comedy News
James Napoli

During a heated debate about American military involvement in several of the world's hot spots, an as-yet unidentified member of Congress blurted out a suggestion that the United States lead the world into a new era of enlightenment by declaring a war on war.

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The Shame of Nations: A New Record Is Set on Spending for War

Lawrence Wittner | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Taxes, Russia, Military Industrial Complex, U.S. Military, Military Spending, War, Defense Spending, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Defense Budget, China, World News
Lawrence Wittner

What is the explanation for the fact that the United States -- today's military giant -- is currently engaged in at least two wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and appears to be on the verge of a third (with Iran)?

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A Hidden Benefit of Afghanistan: Peace

Deepak Chopra | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Military Industrial Complex, Afghanistan War, 9/11, September 11, War History, War in Afghanistan, President Obama, Politics News
Deepak Chopra

If the pain of failure in Afghanistan and Iraq is to having any lasting benefit, let it be a reluctant move in the direction of peace.

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Do You Really Think Your Vote Counts?

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: Ted Stevens, Corporate America, Small Business, President Obama, America, Bailout, Corporate Taxes, American Small Business League, Bank Industry, Military-Industrial Complex, President Eisenhower, Senate, Oil Company Taxes, Government Corruption, Small Business News
Lloyd Chapman

Today, it doesn't really matter who the President is or who is in Congress because big corporations run our government.

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Paul Ryan's Profligate Pentagon Plan

Ben Freeman | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Defense Spending, Military Industrial Complex, Pentagon Budget, Budget, Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan Budget, Paul Ryan Budget Proposal, Federal Government Budget, Taxpayer Concerns, Politics News
Ben Freeman

If Paul Ryan, Congress and the president continue to let the Pentagon spend with impunity, the only things that will be hollow are taxpayer wallets.

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Why I Still Like Ike

William Astore | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Humility, Military, Dwight Eisenhower, American Exceptionalism, Military Industrial Complex, National Monuments, Dwight D. Eisenhower, D-Day, Eisenhower Memorial, Frank Gehry, Dwight Eisenhower Presidency, Dwight Eisenhower Legacy, Politics News
William Astore

As important as Ike's deeds were to our country, in some way his words were (and are) even more important, especially in this time of constant war and bloated budgets for "defense" and our burgeoning trade in deadly weaponry.

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Ike's Nightmare

Derrick Crowe | Posted 03.18.2012

Read More: Eisenhower, Debt, Contractors, Lockheed Martin, Robert Stevens, Budget, War Profiteers, War, Militarism, Robert Greenwald, Deficit, Military Industrial Complex, Military, Spending, War Costs, Military-Industrial Complex, Derrick Crowe, Video, Brave New Foundation, "Military?Industrial Complex, Politics News
Derrick Crowe

Fifty-one years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued his final, prescient warning about the rising power of the military industrial complex. Eisenhower was right to be worried. We're living in his nightmare.

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Privatizing the War on Terror: America's Military Contractors

John W. Whitehead | Posted 03.18.2012

Read More: Department of Defense, Military Industrial Complex, Private Contractors, Blackwater, Afghanistan, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Taliban, Iraq, State Department, Politics News
John W. Whitehead

America's troops may be returning home from Iraq, but we're far from done paying the costs of war. In fact, at the same time that Obama is reducing the number of troops in Iraq, he's replacing them with military contractors at far greater expense to the taxpayer.

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New Year, Same Old Pentagon: Three Takeaways from Panetta's National Security Strategy Presser

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 03.14.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Military Industrial Complex, Private Contractors, Pentagon Budget, Leon Panetta, Politics News
Project On Government Oversight

Nothing changes on New Year's Day, including the Pentagon's budget strategy.

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A Momentum of Cynicism

Robert Koehler | Posted 03.13.2012

Read More: Lockheed Martin, Military Industrial Complex, Raytheon, Guantanamo, US Arms Sales, Iraq, Murat Kurnaz, Barack Obama, Sunnis, Nouri Al Maliki, Shiites, World News
Robert Koehler

The sale of arms to Iraq, $11 billion worth of almost everything, is going to move forward even though it makes little sense from multiple points of view, including U.S. geopolitical interests.

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Arms Dealer Obama Will Win by Default

Robert Scheer | Posted 03.05.2012

Read More: Robert Scheer, Arms Deal, F-15, Economy, War, Iran, Obama, Campaign, Democrats, Saudi Arabia, Election, Military, Barack Obama, Oil, Iraq, Wall Street, Military-Industrial Complex, Republicans, Obama Reelection, Elections 2012, 2012 Election, Politics News
Robert Scheer

Not only has Obama been a savior of the banking conglomerates that so generously financed his campaign, but he also has proved to be equally as solicitous of the needs of the military-industrial complex.

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The Big Lie Marches On

Robert Koehler | Posted 02.20.2012

Read More: Propaganda, Iraq War, American Militarism, Military Industrial Complex, American Empire, President Barack Obama, Politics News
Robert Koehler

The war is over, sort of, but the Big Lie marches on: that democracy is flowering in Iraq, that America is stronger and more secure than ever, that doing what's right is the prime motivator of all our military action.

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There Goes the Republic

Robert Scheer | Posted 02.14.2012

Read More: Robert Scheer, Pentagon, Law, Congress, Bush, Money, Terrorism, Economy, Defense Authorization, War, Obama, Media, Government, House, White House?S Health Care Summit, History, Senate, Military, Ndaa, Security, Military-Industrial Complex, Torture, Politics News
Robert Scheer

The defense authorization bill that will soon become law is not only a disaster in the making for civil liberty but a blow to effective anti-terrorist police work.

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Fighting One Percent Wars

William J. Astore | Posted 02.07.2012

Read More: Military, The One Percent, Military Industrial Complex, Afghanistan, We Are the 99 Percent, Wars Abroad, Iraq, Drones, Politics News
William J. Astore

Here's an American fact: the 99 percent are far too remote from our wars of choice and those who fight them. To reclaim the latter, we must end the former. And that's a war of necessity that has to be fought -- and won.

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World's Largest Weapons Exporters

Howard Steven Friedman | Posted 02.05.2012

Read More: Boeing, Russia, Lockheed Martin, Military Industrial Complex, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Raytheon, United States, General Dynamics, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, United States Military, Northrop Grumman, Dwight Eisenhower, Military, Germany, South Korea, Slidepollajax, Japan, Iraq, Kuwait, China, World News
Howard Steven Friedman

Not surprisingly, the United States is by far the largest arms exporter, with Russia being the only country with more than half the value of military exports.

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Pacific Standard Time At LACMA: The Untold Story

Harris Silver | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Suburbs, Military Industrial Complex, Moca, Nuclear Missiles, Mulholland Drive, Malibu, Peterson Automotive Museum, Lacma, Culture, Nuclear War, Infrastructure, Pst, Sci-Arc, Case Study Houses, Highways, Art and Architecture Magazine, The Case Study House Program, Bel Air, 10, California Design 1930-1965: ?Living in a Modern Way?, Charles and Ray Eames, KB Homes, La, Museum Exhibit, Harris Silver, Los Angeles, Eames House, Art, Levittown, Wwii, John Entenza, Freeways, Missile Site, President Eisenhower, Getty, 405, Pacfic Standard TIme, Culture News
Harris Silver

Pacific Standard Time is a sprawling cultural initiative with 68 major museum shows and 125 gallery exhibitions including California Design 1930-1965: 'Living in a Modern Way.'

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Pouring More Money Into the Military Is Not a Solution

Danielle Brian | Posted 01.18.2012

Read More: Defense Spending, V-22 Osprey, Military Industrial Complex, Defense Cuts, Leon Panetta, Joint Strike Fighter, Panetta Budget Cuts, Panetta Defense Cuts, Politics News
Danielle Brian

The "cuts" Panetta fears so much are not reductions in actual military spending, they're reductions in what the DoD has planned to spend. So why is he evoking Cold War warnings and trying to create hysteria?

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New Report Reveals Shocking Amount Spent On Weapons After 9/11

Mother Jones | Adam Weinstein | Posted 01.02.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Dod, Defense, Department of Defense, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Military Spending, Defense Spending, Defense Cuts, Pentagon Spending, Politics News

Capitol Hill conservatives and Pentagon brass fighting cuts to defense spending have argued that the military is limping off the battlefield with decr...

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Memo to Occupy Protesters: Don't Make The Mistakes We Made in the 60s

Joan E. Dowlin | Posted 12.28.2011

Read More: Occupy Oakland, Lsd, Dr. Martin Luther King, Timothy Leary, Peace Movement, Military Industrial Complex, Occupy Philadelphia, Woodstock, Vietnam War, 9/11, Lbj, Occupy Wall Street, Defense Spending, Politics News
Joan E. Dowlin

Somehow the hippie movement lost its unity and credibility when it became about flower children making love and tripping out instead of what we can do together to end war and create social justice.

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