Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses the many Israeli officials who are downplaying the “Iranian threat” and speaking out against Prime Minister Netanyahu‘s extremism; the pro-Netanyahu Americans who heckled former PM Uhud Olmert during his insufficiently-hawkish speech in New York; Israeli criticism of Netanyahu as “messianic” and not serious about a Palestinian peace; and why the initial P5+1 talks with Iran are good for Obama’s reelection bid, gas prices, and...

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses his article “How Neocons Sank Iran Nuke Deal;” Obama’s conflict-averse, consensus building style of presidency; how Iran’s uranium swap deal with Brazil and Turkey was undermined by the US media, hardliners in government (but not Obama himself), and Israel; why Iran’s Green Movement is not a viable conduit for pro-US regime change, despite the fevered dreams of neoconservatives; and Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaint that the latest...

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses his snazzy new website; his article on the US Congress’s love-fest for Israel’s Prime Minister, “Cheering Netanyahu’s Intransigence;” how, with members of Congress competing for the role of top Israel cheerleader, all pressure to negotiate with the Palestinians is relieved; walking back long established understandings, like a reversion to 1967 borders and a shared Jerusalem capital; Likud Party member Danny Danon’s NY Times...

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses the lesson on blowback learned from US meddling in the Soviet war on Afghanistan, applied to the current war in Libya; arming unknown rebel groups for short-term policy goals, without considering the long-term consequences; the tough-guy posturing competitions among pundits and politicians that result in military solutions for every kind of problem; and why the Lockerbie bombing – often cited with a litany of other offenses...

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses the worsening conditions of accused Wiki-leaker Bradley Manning’s imprisonment; how prisoners in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere were abused and degraded into a state of “learned helplessness;” and why, considering that WikiLeaks helped spark the ME/NA protests and advance the (supposed) US mission of spreading democracy, Manning should be applauded instead of prosecuted.

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses how discredited mainstream journalists like Judith Miller keep getting TV appearances while the reporters who got it right about Iraq, don’t; how the muckraking press corps of yesteryear was replaced by a bevy of sycophantic stenographers; the punishment/reward system for journalists that makes very clear the kind of reporting required for promotions; the infamous pre-Gulf War April Glaspie memo that shows the US took no...

Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses the other factors besides the 'surge' that led to decreased violence in post-2007 Iraq, why it’s still important to fight the conventional surge narrative that elevated Gen. Petraeus’s career and influenced strategy in Afghanistan and how the rigid neoconservative ideology of Bush administration policymakers significantly delayed a truce with the Sunni Awakening groups.

Robert Parry, founder of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses the mainstream media's persecution of journalist Gary Webb for daring to investigate the CIA/contra 1980s drug trafficking connection, how the empowered right wing media and associated personal-attack groups have created a generation of self-censoring and timid journalists, alternative media that can contest conventional wisdom but can't compete with the MSM budget-wise and the recent hit pieces on classified documents leaker SPC. Bradley...

Robert Parry, founder of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses new evidence that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign struck a deal with Iran to extend the hostage crisis until after the election, quid pro quo arms deals between US-proxy Israel and Iran prior to the Iran Contra scandal, the heavy CIA influence in Reagan’s campaign and subsequent administration and why George H.W. Bush was much more 'in the loop' than he admits.

Robert Parry, founder of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses Ronald Reagan’s lip service to torture prohibition and support for atrocities in Central America, the hypocritical critiques of 'moral relativism' by amoral neocons, the inheritance of an entire generation of government-worshiping journalists, Islamic fundamentalist blowback from Reagan administration attempts to weaken the USSR and the quid-pro-quo deal that enabled Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons.

Robert Parry, author of Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, discusses the just-released tapes of Lyndon Johnson suspecting the 1968 Nixon campaign of treason, the history of Republican dirty tricks initiated or inspired by Nixon from 1968 to the present, the longevity of establishment political players like Henry Kissinger despite their repeated involvement in scandals, the background of the 1980 October surprise and the possible complicity of George H.W....

Robert Parry, founder of ConsortiumNews.com and author of Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, discusses advances in biometric surveillance technology, the use of DARPA computer algorithms in identifying militants from afar, how the military rules of engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan allow the spontaneous execution of suspected insurgents, the historical tendency of governments to use technology designed for foreign battlefields on lawful domestic opposition, the dangerous...