Author: Common Dreams

The Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pledged on October 10 to block all future U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as backlash over OPEC’s decision to cut oil production and push up gas prices continues to grow on Capitol Hill. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who has veto power over foreign arms sales, said in a statement that OPEC’s plan to slash production by two million barrels a day in a bid to prop up oil prices amounts to a “decision to help underwrite Putin’s war.” Russia, an OPEC ally, stands to benefit from higher oil prices...

Although Washington insists that it is not interested in a direct military conflict with Moscow, the latter claims that the United States is, in fact, directly involved. On September 8, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared in Kyiv on an unannounced visit. He carried with him pledges of yet another military and financial package of nearly $3 billion, mostly to Ukraine but also other Eastern European countries. According to a report published by The New York Times last May, U.S. financial support to Ukraine has exceeded $54 billion. Devex’s Funding Platform states that “a relatively small percentage of that...

In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stubbornly insisted on ignoring the principles, practices, and methods identified as necessary for success in war and perfected in this century by the armed forces of the United States. Put simply, by refusing to do things the American way, the Russians are failing badly against a far weaker foe. Granted, American analysts...

Close your eyes and try to envision the two wolves. Imagine yourself as a terrified child. I think that helps bring the myth to life … this myth, said to be Cherokee, of humanity’s two choices. The wolves are engaged in a vicious fight. The wise grandfather explains to the child that the two wolves are inside all of us. One of the wolves is an arrogant narcissist—a jerk, an egocentric idiot. You know, evil. The other is the embodiment of joy and empathy, kindness and love. The trembling child asks in alarm: “Which one wins?” And Grandfather lays...