Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 68

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions | Glenn Greenwald

A new PBS Frontline report examines a profound failure of justice that should be causing serious social unrest

(updated below - Update II)

PBS' Frontline program on Tuesday night broadcast a new one-hour report on one of the greatest and most shameful failings of the Obama administration: the lack of even a single arrest or prosecution of any senior Wall Street banker for the systemic fraud that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis: a crisis from which millions of people around the world are...

US military says Martin Luther King would be proud of its weapons | Glenn Greenwald

A repellent piece of propaganda appropriates the words and images of this nonviolence advocate to glorify US militarism

Yesterday, I highlighted the extraordinary anti-war speech Martin Luther King gave in 1967, in which he said, among other things, that the US government is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" and the leading exponent of "the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long." The speech was devoted to arguing that America's...

MLK's vehement condemnations of US militarism are more relevant than ever | Glenn Greenwald

His vital April 4, 1967 speech is a direct repudiation of the sophistry now used to defend US violence and aggression

The civil right achievements of Martin Luther King are quite justly the focus of the annual birthday commemoration of his legacy. But it is remarkable, as I've noted before on this holiday, how completely his vehement anti-war advocacy is ignored when commemorating his life (just as his economic views are). By King's own description, his work against US violence and militarism,...

Brookings' Bruce Riedel urges intensified US support for Saudi despots | Glenn Greenwald

Every now and then, leading mavens of the Foreign Policy Community have an uncharacteristic outburst of candor

When it comes to the US "foreign policy community", few if any people are more representative of it than Bruce Riedel. A 30-year CIA officer and adviser to the last four US presidents, he is now a senior fellow at the wing of the Brookings Institution funded by entertainment mogul Haim Saban (whom the New York Times described as "a tireless cheerleader for Israel" and who described hi...

Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse | Glenn Greenwald

Imposing real consequences on these federal prosecutors in the Aaron Swartz case is vital for both justice and reform

Whenever an avoidable tragedy occurs, it's common for there to be an intense spate of anger in its immediate aftermath which quickly dissipates as people move on to the next outrage. That's a key dynamic that enables people in positions of authority to evade consequences for their bad acts. But as more facts emerge regarding the conduct of the federal prosecutors in the case of...

Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse

Imposing real consequences on these federal prosecutors in the Aaron Swartz case is vital for both justice and reform

Whenever an avoidable tragedy occurs, it's common for there to be an intense spate of anger in its immediate aftermath which quickly dissipates as people move on to the next outrage. That's a key dynamic that enables people in positions of authority to evade consequences for their bad acts. But as more facts emerge regarding the conduct of the federal prosecutors in the case of...

The bombing of Mali highlights all the lessons of western intervention | Glenn Greenwald

The west African nation becomes the eighth country in the last four years alone where Muslims are killed by the west

As French war planes bomb Mali, there is one simple statistic that provides the key context: this west African nation of 15 million people is the eighth country in which western powers - over the last four years alone - have bombed and killed Muslims - after Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and the Phillipines (that does not count the numerous lethal tyrannies...

The inspiring heroism of Aaron Swartz | Glenn Greenwald

The internet freedom activist committed suicide on Friday at age 26, but his life was driven by courage and passion

(updated below)

Aaron Swartz, the computer programmer and internet freedom activist, committed suicide on Friday in New York at the age of 26. As the incredibly moving remembrances from his friends such as Cory Doctorow and Larry Lessig attest, he was unquestionably brilliant but also - like most everyone - a complex human being plagued by demons and flaws. For many reasons, I don...

The US - alongside Saudi Arabia - fights for freedom and democracy in the Middle East | Glenn Greenwald

The ability to persuade people that the US opposes tyranny is a testament to the potency of propaganda

The most significant problem in political discourse is not that people embrace destructive beliefs after issues are rationally debated. It's that the potency of propaganda, by design, often precludes such debates from taking place. Consider how often one hears the claim that the US is committed to spreading democracy and opposing tyranny in the Middle East in light of this fact from a New Yor...

Why are Bob Woodward's WH sources - or Woodward himself - not on trial next to Bradley Manning? | Glenn Greenwald

The extremist prosecution of Manning, accused of "aiding and abetting al-Qaida", poses a real threat to US press freedom

There are numerous travesties defining the ongoing prosecution of accused whistleblower Bradley Manning, but none more dangerous than the accusation that by leaking classified information, he "aided and abetted the enemy" (al-Qaida) - a capital offense. Not even the government claims he intended to help al-Qaida. The theory is that, even though it was not his intent, the inf...