Why Brexit Panics Eastern Europe
Reading Time: 5 minutes Big-power rivalries and home-grown dysfunction raise fears along eastern periphery of the European Union.
The UK Is Trumped: Departs from the EU, Deeply Divided
Reading Time: 5 minutes The “Brexit” campaign (British+Exit from the EU) achieved a previously unimaginable upset. The “Leave” vote won even after a politician’s murder temporarily silenced the slurs and immigrant-bashing.
Heb-Don’t Believe the Hype About France’s Charlie Hebdo Rally
Reading Time: 4 minutes France’s record-breaking rally to demonstrate national unity after the Charlie Hebdo attacks masked a disturbing reality about divisions that could get much worse. WhoWhatWhy’s Kait Bolongaro reports from Paris.
What Venezuela’s UN Seat Illuminates About US Hypocrisy
Reading Time: 4 minutes Venezuela’s ascendancy to the UN Security Council is prompting a fusillade of criticism from the U.S. That’s predictable enough. But the media coverage of Venezuela’s human rights record reveals an interesting aspect of America—selective national blindness about the very same record at home.
An Enduring Mystery About Bush 41’s WWII Escape from Death
Reading Time: 5 minutes George H.W. Bush has made jumping out of aircraft to celebrate his birthdays a habit, a nod to his image as a WW II naval aviator and hero. Here’s a look at the fog surrounding his first jump, made 70 years ago after Japanese fire struck his aircraft over the Pacific.
ClassicWHO: Why Petraeus Takedown May Have Been an Inside Job
Reading Time: 11 minutes In this repost of a story we first ran last year, Douglas Lucas and Russ Baker examined exclusively obtained documents that suggest CIA Director David Petraeus may have been given a push to start his fall from grace. A relevant story now, given where the general has landed on his feet.
A Rumination on the Bilderberg Group
Reading Time: 5 minutes Are the Bilderbergers an evil cabal ruling the world? Or just business as usual?
Where Congress Won’t Tread in Benghazi Hearings
Reading Time: 4 minutes The noisy fight over Secretary of State John Kerry’s testimony about the Benghazi attack tells us the one thing we know about the 2012 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stephens and three others: we’re no closer to the truth. And that’s not likely to change, even with a fifth Congressional probe on the way.
Jailbreak: The U.S. Paid $11 Million for an Afghan Prison with Cracked Walls
Reading Time: 5 minutes The U.S. watchdog in charge of overseeing the billions of dollars the U.S. is spending to rebuild Afghanistan finds an $11 million prison with broken walls, no fence and a trail of graft. WhoWhatWhy takes a look at what that tells us about our $103 billion investment in Afghanistan.
What Would Afghan Spending Buy at Home?
Reading Time: 2 minutes President Obama continues to draw down US troops in Afghanistan. But wait til you see how much will get spent on military-related activities in that country afterwards. And wait til you see how that stacks up against costs of programs back home.
More Fighting Words from Britain’s David Davis: Interview, Part 2
Reading Time: 10 minutes UK Member of Parliament David Davis has emerged as one of Britain’s top critics of government encroachment on liberty and privacy. In the second half of an interview with WhoWhatWhy’s Russ Baker, Davis talks about how he defied his party leadership to help stop Britain from fighting in Syria; the value and vulnerability of whistleblowers; and how government legal aid cuts are putting ordinary citizens at the mercy of the state.
Why You Need to Know Britain’s David Davis
Reading Time: 9 minutes UK legislator David Davis has emerged as one of Britain’s top critics of government surveillance. Davis talks to Russ Baker about going to America to get the ammunition he needed to fight back home, and how he turned his phone bill into a weapon. An intriguing conversation with an intriguing man.
Part 3: Climate Changes, Washington Freezes
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the third installment of our three-part look at underreported aspects of Climate Chaos, we cover a Washington conference which revealed terrifying new dimensions of the problem…but couldn’t quite get around to causes and cures.
Part 2: Denying Climate Change….
Reading Time: 7 minutes Washington won’t act to slow the chaos of climate change, even as the Navy prepares to patrol an open Arctic Ocean and the oil industry pushes to be able to start drilling in newly ice-free Arctic waters.
Part two of a three-part WhoWhatWhy investigation.
King’s Vietnam
Reading Time: 1 minute Martin Luther King’s decision to speak out against the Vietnam War led countless followers to do the same. There are those who believe that’s what killed him.
Benghazi: Cover-up By Both Parties?
Reading Time: 9 minutes The debate over who was responsible for the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, rages on. But the partisan noise appears to be obscuring a much more interesting possibility. Not to mention more troubling.
JFK in His Own Words: A Selective Sampler from Speeches by John F. Kennedy
Reading Time: 13 minutes Excerpts of some JFK speeches you may not have heard, showing his wit and his perception.
Dancing in Jaffa
Reading Time: 1 minute Who wouldn’t like, for once, to hear a story of Israelis and Palestinians getting along? Here’s a moving program to help children in this troubled land to bridge the perennial hostility gap—literally, by touching. Put the cynicism aside for a moment and revel in this beautiful documentary trailer.
Clearing the Bushes (On At Least One Thing)
Reading Time: 2 minutes For years, Bay of Pigs aficionados have debated whether one of the ships used in the ill-fated operation was named after Barbara Bush. Here’s a document that (perhaps) answers that question.
The Post-Election Project: The Establishment Pillories Susan Rice
Reading Time: 6 minutes A campaign to make sure Susan Rice does not become the next Secretary of State tells us a lot about how things really work—in foreign policy, in the establishment, and in the media. ### NEWS FLASH ###, December 13: Susan Rice withdraws name from consideration—this article provides relevant background.