Section: Institute for Policy Studies (USA)
How Russia’s War in Ukraine Threatens the Planet
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in the deaths so far of more than 8,700 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 500 children. It has caused a massive drop in the country’s economic output, with GDP declining by 29.1 percent. And it has had widespread consequences for the environment: inside Ukraine, in surrounding...
Could We Actually End the CEO Defense Contractor Gravy Train?
Could corporate CEOs anywhere in the universe have a deal much sweeter than U.S. defense contractor chiefs? The CEO at CybeCys, Inc., a Texas-based defense contractor, might quibble with that question. He isn’t feeling all that much sweetness these days. Last month, federal prosecutors announced a deal that will have this CEO and CybeCys...
REPORT: The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare
The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare Lindsay Koshgarian | Alliyah Lusuegro | Ashik Siddique Introduction: Our country’s economy faces a dire threat from so-called “fiscal conservatives,” including the present GOP House majority, who have resorted to dangerous brinkmanship to force deep cuts in the federal...
Phyllis Bennis on Democracy Now Discussing the War in Ukraine and Israel’s Recent Attacks on Gaza
Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at IPS, spoke to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! on May 9, 2023 about the United States’ role in Ukraine’s counter-offensive, and Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza. The Biden’s administration recently announced a new $1.2 billion military aid package for...
The Trouble With Taiwan
Taiwan is a country, but not many other states recognize it as such. Only 13 countries maintain diplomatic relations with the island nation. These are small or poor or both, like Haiti, Paraguay, and Tuvalu. Honduras switched its diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing just one month ago. Taiwan doesn’t have a seat at the United...
The U.S. Government’s Greatest Enemy
If you take a poll of American pundits and policymakers about the greatest threat facing the U.S. government, they’d probably put China at the top of the list. Maybe a handful would opt for Russia. A few holdouts from the War on Terrorism era might point to Islamic extremism. But the greatest threat to the U.S. government is actually Junior...
The U.S. Still Spends More on Its Military Than Over 144 Nations Combined
World military spending has reached a new record high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, according to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). That’s up 3.7% since the previous year, including the steepest increase among European nations since the end of the Cold War over 30 years ago. The United States...
REPORT: Sending Arms or Twisting Arms: The U.S. Role in the Ukraine War
Sending Arms or Twisting Arms: The U.S. Role in the Ukraine War John Feffer Summary: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has backed the government in Kyiv with military hardware and economic assistance. The Biden administration has also done its best to constrain Russia’s ability to wage war...
Colombia Adopts an Unprecedented Energy Policy—but Needs Help to Pull It Off
Gustavo Petro doesn’t just want to transform his own country; he wants to change the world. The new leader of Colombia, who took office last August, is targeting what he calls his nation’s “economy of death.” That means pivoting away from oil, natural gas, coal, and narcotics toward more sustainable economic activities. Given that oil...
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The prospect of a nuclear holocaust has always been terrifying. But in the last years of the Cold War and the three decades that followed its end, the existential challenge of nuclear weapons became less of a clear and present danger. Sure, in the post-1991 era, nuclear war could still happen by mistake. It could break out between two actively...
