WHO

Obama Offers Gulf Nations ‘Ironclad’ Security Cooperation
The President culminated his much-maligned and boycotted “Arab Summit” at Camp David with a public declaration of open-ended “security cooperation” with the Gulf States. The summit was meant allay Arab fears over a denouement with Iran and Obama’s contentious nuclear deal. But William Hartung of Foreign Policy pointed out that this is just the latest example of a president shilling for the defense industry.

Jeb Bush Fully Walks Back: ‘I Would Not Have Gone Into Iraq’
The Next Bush In Line is retreating from the line of fire. After a barrage of criticism from within the GOP, Brother Jeb has left the foxhole and retreated from the frontlines of the foolhardy battle to save his brother’s legacy. Although he did say he prefers to toe the company line (or family line, as the case may be). But that defense doesn’t really fly in post-Iraq America.

Israel Hawks to Pope Francis: Stay Out of Politics
Pope Francis keeps on upping the ante in his bid to make the Catholic Church relevant again. After continually picking fights with capitalists, climate deniers and, earlier this week, with global arms sellers, the Vatican announced a move to officially recognize the State of Palestine. The predictable response by hawkish defenders of Israel in Congress is also, quite frankly, incredibly hypocritical since they are a motley collection of religiously motivated politicians. Glass houses, people.

B.B. King: 1925–2015
A little bit of America died with B.B. King. The master Memphis bluesman and his beloved guitar Lucille blazed a path from the deep musical roots planted along the shores of the Mississippi River across the landscape of the 20th Century. And he passed on that uniquely American musical tradition to the likes of his close friend Eric Clapton and to generations of blues, R & B and rock and roll musicians.

WHAT

The Dark Side of Development
A new study by the Oakland Institute highlights a terrible set of unintended consequences stemming from international “aid investments” in Ethiopia. The aid is being used to resettle as many as 1.5 million people and replace their homes with industrialized farming, to open up the nation to corporate investment and to produce “beneficial trickle-down effects.” Additionally, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists collected stories from 21 countries showing that World Bank-funded projects have displaced an estimated 3.4 million people over the last decade and “financed governments and companies accused of human rights violations such as rape, murder, and torture.”

WHY