Jared Kushner, You’re Fired!

Jared Kushner, You’re Fired!

Here we are a little more than a year into the Trump presidency and his administration’s body count is already, as The Donald might put it, “unbelievable, perhaps record-setting.” Among the casualties are Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; my former boss at Goldman Sachs, economic policy chief Gary Cohn; National Security Advisor Michael Flynn; FBI…

Ghana is Getting Nothing for Being the Pentagon’s Puppet in West Africa

Ghana is Getting Nothing for Being the Pentagon’s Puppet in West Africa

Ghana recently ratified a military agreement with the US. The deal essentially turns the West African country into an American military garrison because it allows the Pentagon full transit and basing rights for its troops and contractors, protects them with immunity from local prosecution for any suspected crimes that they commit on Ghanaian soil, and…

How the Federal Reserve Helps US Spy on Foreign Governments

How the Federal Reserve Helps US Spy on Foreign Governments

The Federal Reserve’s little-known role housing the assets of other central banks comes with a unique benefit to the United States: It serves as a source of foreign intelligence for Washington. Senior officials from the U.S. Treasury and other government departments have turned to these otherwise confidential accounts several times a year to analyze the…

The Age of Unintended Consequences

The Age of Unintended Consequences

You want to see “blowback” in action? That’s easy enough. All you need is a vague sense of how Google Search works. Then type into it phrases like “warmest years,” “rising sea levels,” “melting ice,” “lengthening wildfire season,” or “future climate refugees,” and you’ll find yourself immersed in the grimmest of blowback universes. It’s a…

In Case of War With Russia or China It’s Lights Out for US Satellites

In Case of War With Russia or China It’s Lights Out for US Satellites

“Foreign countries—particularly China and Russia—will continue to expand their space-based reconnaissance, communications, and navigation systems in terms of the numbers of satellites, the breadth of their capability, and the applications for use,” director of national intelligence Dan Coats said in his written testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 6. “Both Russia and…