Zoë Carpenter - How the Trump Administration Could Change the American Landscape, Literally

In the red-rock country of southern Utah, not far from Bryce Canyon National Park, the state’s only strip coal mine occupies several hundred acres of private property. For over a decade Alton Coal Development, the company behind the Coal Hollow mine, has tried to expand its footprint onto an adjacent parcel of public land containing some 50 million tons of …

Sarah Lazare – Inside the West’s Cynical Plan to Keep Refugees out of Europe by Trapping Them in Libya

Western countries’ callous response to the greatest crisis of human displacement since World War II has reached new heights with the latest push to fashion—and arm—a Libyan state in part so that it can help trap refugees in that country and prevent them from reaching European shores. European heads of state have already unleashed a brutal crackdown on people fleeing …

American Religion Not as Exceptional As We Think

DURHAM, NC – For generations, the United States has been considered a religious outlier — its citizens more dedicated to their faith and houses of worship than the rest of the developed world. But new research from Duke University and University College London (UCL) suggests that American devotion to religion is waning, a decline mirrored across the Western world. The study …

Endgame: Putin Plans To Strike ISIS With Or Without The U.S.

On Sunday, we noted that Washington’s strategy in Syria has now officially unravelled. John Kerry, speaking from London following talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, essentially admitted over the weekend that Russia’s move to bolster the Assad regime at Latakia effectively means that the timing of Assad’s exit is now completely indeterminate. Here’s how we summed up the situation: Moscow, realizing …

Has Washington Gone Looney Tunes? – F. William Engdahl

Given a series of recent speeches by leading US officials and actions, the question must be frankly posed: Has Washington gone collectively looney tunes? Even as the governments of the EU are moving to buck US pressures and ease the sanctions, the Obama Administration seems intent on marching in the direction of a nuclear confrontation with Russia. As the ancient …