TomDispatch
banner
tomdispatch.bsky.social
TomDispatch
@tomdispatch.bsky.social
For those seeking a deeper understanding of our post-9/11 world & a clear sense of how our imperial globe actually works. https://tomdispatch.com/
Here's a truly creepy account of the recent New York Times interview with -- yes! -- Donald J. Trump, a distinctly hell on earth president. shorturl.fm/FESTF
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 11:05 PM
At the Nation, Michael Klare on why, instead of generating new wealth for the US and Venezuela, Trump’s drive to take its oil could result in unending conflict at great cost to both countries.
shorturl.fm/zNbEm
“Take the Oil”
Trump’s Venezuelan petroleum fantasies.
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Be depressed, very depressed (again)... Thanks to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as Apoorva Mandavilli of the Times reports, kids are going to generally be vaccinated against far fewer diseases. (What could possibly go wrong?).
shorturl.fm/C4pp8
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Dharna Noor and Oliver Milman of the Guardian on just what it might mean for Venezuelan oil production to be ramped up -- a literal hell on earth when it comes to climate change.
shorturl.fm/OUu1S
Trump taking ‘drill, baby, drill’ plan to Venezuela ‘terrible’ for climate, experts warn
‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 6:58 PM
What a grim Trumpian world -- Greenland, why not (as Miranda Bryant of the Guardian reminds us)?
shorturl.fm/GW9aE
Marco Rubio says he will meet Danish officials to discuss Greenland next week
Remarks by US secretary of state come after Greenland and Denmark request urgent meeting over Trump threats
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 6:01 PM
A rare piece I wrote not for TomDispatch but for the Nation Magazine is now up at its site. Do check it out.
shorturl.fm/hdvw5
D as in Donald and Decline
Living (dying?) with Donald Trump.
shorturl.fm
January 9, 2026 at 5:01 PM
From TomDispatch this morning: Are we at the edge of a new nuclear arms race on our endangered planet? -- Michael Klare, "Plunging Into the Abyss, Will the U.S. and Russia Abandon All Nuclear Restraints?"
tomdispatch.com/plunging-int...
Plunging Into the Abyss
For most of us, Friday, February 6, 2026, is likely to feel no different than Thursday, February 5th. It will be a work or school day for many of us. It might involve shopping for
tomdispatch.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:13 PM
A group of New York Times journalists put together a grim view of how Donald T is working to -- politely put -- "reshape U.S. energy and climate policy" -- less politely: destroy the planet as a habitable place for us. shorturl.fm/EBRbQ
shorturl.fm
January 8, 2026 at 8:31 PM
From TomDispatch this morning: Are we at the edge of a new nuclear arms race on our endangered planet? -- Michael Klare, "Plunging Into the Abyss, Will the U.S. and Russia Abandon All Nuclear Restraints?"

tomdispatch.com/plunging-int...
January 8, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Peter Kornbluh and William M. LeoGrande at the Nation Magazine on the truly naked version of imperialism that Trump and crew just put before the world. shorturl.fm/Y7YVu
Trump’s Naked Imperialism
The return of US gunboat and dollar diplomacy threatens the future of Latin America and beyond.
shorturl.fm
January 7, 2026 at 10:31 PM
An early review by Jean-Thomas Nicole of Alfred McCoy's superb new book Cold War on Five Continents. Do check it out and then get your hands on the book, which is a must-read, I think! (Of course, I edited it, so why wouldn't I?) shorturl.fm/0lZmE
The Global Shadow War Behind the Cold War
Book Review of Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and EspionageBy Alfred W. McCoy/ Haymarket BooksReviewed by: Jean-Thomas NicoleThe Reviewer — Jean-Thomas Nicole is a Policy Advi...
shorturl.fm
January 7, 2026 at 9:48 PM
Be depressed, very depressed. As the Guardian reports, the U.S. just seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in... yes!... the North Atlantic! shorturl.fm/H55Bf
US seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker in Atlantic after two-week pursuit
US European Command says it boarded the Marinera over alleged sanctions violations, a move that risks confrontation with Moscow
shorturl.fm
January 7, 2026 at 8:44 PM
At his Bracing Views blog, retired Air Force Lt. Col. and historian Bill Astore catches the Trump moment and Venezuela perfectly! shorturl.fm/rwKRn
Gangster Capitalism
The Donroe Doctrine of Regional Dominance, Obedience, and Theft
shorturl.fm
January 7, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Juan Cole at his Informed Comment website on what the U.S. invasion of Iraq in the Bush era can tell us about the ongoing nightmare in Venezuela. shorturl.fm/jOn9Z
Top 5 Mistakes Bush made in Iraq that Trump is making in Venezuela
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - 1. Violation of the UN Charter and the International laws of war The Trump administration attacked Venezuela and abducted dictator Nicolas Maduro without the slightest j...
shorturl.fm
January 6, 2026 at 10:45 PM
The Guardian's Tiago Rogero on how Trump's actions in Venezuela represent something unprecedented: as the first direct US military attack on a South American (as opposed to Central American or Caribbean) country. shorturl.fm/r9Amm
‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US
Most of the Americas have suffered from interference from their powerful northern neighbour – and are usually the worse off for it
shorturl.fm
January 6, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Here's a must-read column by retired Air Force Lt. Col. and historian Bill Astore in which he reverses the present U.S.-Venezuelan situation, which puts the madness of it all in grim context. shorturl.fm/RXaFp
Venezuela Attacks U.S.
President Trump and First Lady Captured; Will Face Trial and Justice in Venezuela
shorturl.fm
January 6, 2026 at 8:32 PM
From TomDispatch this morning: Women as the enemy in Donald Trump's second term as president -- Karen Greenberg, "Trump's War on Women, Bodies, Roles, and Futures at Risk" tomdispatch.com/trumps-war-o...
Trump’s War on Women
“Quiet, Piggy.” The president was intent on silencing Catherine Lucey. The Bloomberg reporter had provoked him with a question about the release of the Epstein files. His insult caught the public’s at...
tomdispatch.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Robert Reich at his substack on Trump making the world safe for tyrants. shorturl.fm/geUj7
Thug World
A new world order?
shorturl.fm
January 6, 2026 at 6:21 PM
From TomDispatch this morning: Women as the enemy in Donald Trump's second term as president -- Karen Greenberg, "Trump's War on Women, Bodies, Roles, and Futures at Risk" tomdispatch.com/trumps-war-o...
Trump’s War on Women
“Quiet, Piggy.” The president was intent on silencing Catherine Lucey. The Bloomberg reporter had provoked him with a question about the release of the Epstein files. His insult caught the public’s at...
tomdispatch.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:59 PM
From TomDispatch last evening: If you need a definition of “suicidal” at both a national and a planetary level, Donald Trump's energy plans obviously should be it -- Tom Engelhardt, "What Planet Are We On? How Did I End Up Living in Donald Trump's Suicidal America?" tomdispatch.com/what-planet-...
What Planet Are We On?
As 2026 begins, what a strange planet we find ourselves on. The two great empires of my youth, the Soviet Union (now Russia) and my own country, are clearly experiencing some version of imperial decli...
tomdispatch.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:55 PM
As Jake Johnson reports at Common Dreams, in the age of Trump, it pays (and that's the exact word for it) to be a billionaire. shorturl.fm/9GSiv
US Billionaire Wealth Surges to $8.1 Trillion as Affordability Crisis Hammers Working Class | Common Dreams
"Billionaires are raking in staggering profits off the backs of ordinary workers," said Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies.
shorturl.fm
January 5, 2026 at 9:24 PM
From TomDispatch last evening: If you need a definition of “suicidal” at a national and a planetary level, Trump's energy plans obviously should be it -- Engelhardt, "What Planet Are We On? How Did I End Up Living in Donald Trump's Suicidal America?" tomdispatch.com/what-planet-...
What Planet Are We On?
As 2026 begins, what a strange planet we find ourselves on. The two great empires of my youth, the Soviet Union (now Russia) and my own country, are clearly experiencing some version of imperial decli...
tomdispatch.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian on the year to come for Trump (an election defeat in Congress, let's hope) and for Benjamin Netanyahu who might before October lose his office completely. shorturl.fm/Vv300
From Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu, let 2026 be a year of reckoning | Jonathan Freedland
These malign figures will do anything to avoid paying for the harm they have done, but accountability must eventually come to both, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
shorturl.fm
January 5, 2026 at 7:16 PM
From TomDispatch last evening: If you need a definition of “suicidal” at a national and a planetary level, Trump's energy plans obviously should be it -- Engelhardt, "What Planet Are We On? How Did I End Up Living in Donald Trump's Suicidal America?" tomdispatch.com/what-planet-...
What Planet Are We On?
As 2026 begins, what a strange planet we find ourselves on. The two great empires of my youth, the Soviet Union (now Russia) and my own country, are clearly experiencing some version of imperial decli...
tomdispatch.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:36 PM
The latest from @borowitzreport.bsky.social on the news nightmare at CBS's 60 Minutes.
Bari Weiss Declares CBS Will Have Zero Tolerance for News
“Someone tried to slip some news into this past Sunday’s episode of ‘60 Minutes,’” Weiss said. “Fortunately, I was able to catch it in time.”
www.borowitzreport.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:56 PM