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"The first modern propaganda agency was the British Ministry of Information a century ago, which secretly defined its task as “to direct the thought of most of the world” - primarily progressive American intellectuals, who had to be mobilized to come to the aid of Britain during World War I." - Noam Chomsky, from article "Destroying the Commons" in Tom Dispatch

#Noam Chomsky #Destroying the Commons #Tom Dispatch #Propaganda #British Ministry of Information #World War I #Military #Thought control

Okay, here's what this old man remembers nearly a quarter of a century later. I was living in New York City (as I still am) when, on Septemb

Final Note from Tom: Yes, I began TomDispatch 24-and-a-half years ago and, today, I’m finally putting up my own last piece, at least as the editor-in-chief of this site. Very soon, the superlative Nick Turse will be running TomDispatch under the auspices of The Intercept (though I’ll undoubtedly continue to lend a hand). It’s been a long run. I only wish I could say that, so many years later, this world was a better place… Sigh, no such luck. (Anything but, in fact).

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I searched the blog for >Tom Dispatch< and 12 pages of links came up. I hope the archive is saved and maintained because it's a very significant collection of writing.

The wars on Afghanistan and Iraq had overwhelming public support. There were few exceptions in the media for supporting the wars. It wasn't simply the overwhelming support but an unabashed coarseness in the rhetoric that was so daunting for people who opposed the wars or even who raised questions about them.

The writing at Tom Dispatch is exceptional. It was thoughtful and made you think without feeling like someone was yelling at you.

#tom engelhardt #tom dispatch #internet #moonbats #crazies at the nation

For writers, the future has long been a tricky terrain. While the past can prove unsettling and the present uncomfortable, the future seems

Ending the American Dream by 2029?

Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog in Trump's U.S.A.

BY ALFRED MCCOY

Excerpt:

“Not only did the U.S. have the largest economy and military budget, but until recently, it was the world’s leading donor for public health and poverty eradication, sparing many millions of the world’s poor from the worst kinds of hunger and disease. All of those significant improvements in the human condition had complex causes, but the fundamental fact remains that they were products, direct or indirect, of Washington’s world order.

“Then came President Donald Trump. From the first day of his second term in office in January 2025, he set out to tear down the U.S. global order and transform America’s place in the world. With billionaire Elon Musk serving as his in-house wrecking ball, he quickly demolished the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), slashing more than 80% of American nutritional and medical aid in ways expected, by 2030, to lead to a staggering 14 million extra deaths globally (including more than 4.5 million children). The misery now being inflicted on poor people crowded into cesspool camps from the Congo to Bangladesh defies description. In addition, by shutting down Voice of America broadcasts along with those USAID programs, the U.S. has committed what one former NATO official called “soft power suicide,” clearing the way, as political scientist Joseph Nye put it, for China “to fill the vacuum that Trump is creating.”

“Throughout the Cold War and its aftermath, a key U.S. force multiplier was its global network of alliances — the Rio Pact for the Americas, five key bilateral pacts along the Pacific-island chain from Japan to Australia, and, above all, the extraordinarily effective NATO alliance for Europe. In 11 short months, Trump has already ruptured all the alliances that assured America’s security for some 75 years. On April 2nd (or what he called “liberation day”), the president also slapped punitive tariffs on imports from loyal allies, ranging from 20% for the European Union to 24% for Japan.”

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#alfred mccoy #tom dispatch #trump vast destruction of usa