by Adam Johnson | Apr 16, 2026 | Article, Iran, Israel, Military, Opinion, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, War
Over the weekend, some progressive pundits declared victory as influential liberal zionist organization J Street appeared to announce a major break with the pro-Israel consensus in the Democratic Party. The organization said on Twitter/X it is “calling for the U.S. to end unconditional financial military subsidies to Israel and to move towards a relationship where we treat Israel like any other ally.”
“’No More Exceptions’: J Street Backs Phasing Out All U.S. Aid to Israel by 2028,” reads a Haaretz headline. “However you feel about J Street, anyone who is still saying that they are indistinguishable from AIPAC is either unintelligent or a bad faith actor,” wrote pollster Adam Carlson. “Democrats [are] coalescing around ending military aid to Israel,” boasted Executive Vice President of Center for International Policy Matt Duss.
At first glance, this move may seem like a major shift left for the liberal think tank and the broader Democratic Party consensus around Israel. But upon closer inspection, it’s clear this talking point is mostly a sieve, a PR tactic that provides a pseudo-break from Israel but does little to alter the material reality of apartheid and genocide, all while buying time for a Democratic leadership increasingly at odds with their base—71% of whom now support cutting off military aid to Israel.
This narrative that J Street and leading Democrats more broadly are all getting behind “cutting military aid,” while strictly accurate under certain interpretations of the word “aid,” is deeply misleading. The effort is explicitly aligned with a broader right-wing program to move from direct funding of the military to “co-development and co-production of weapons,” and is designed to provide zionist
by Sam Carliner | Apr 15, 2026 | Article, Iran, Military, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, War
by Sam Carliner | Apr 13, 2026 | Donald Trump, GI resistance, Iran, Iraq War, Militarism, Military, News, protest, Resistance, Vietnam War, War
As President Donald Trump increasingly uses the U.S. military to carry out his agenda through brute force, organizations that provide counseling services for U.S. servicemembers are reporting growing numbers of calls. These calls have further spiked in response to Trump’s war on Iran, one of the most unpopular in U.S. history. The United States has carried out the war through intense attacks…
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by Jake Johnson | Apr 3, 2026 | Article, Economy, Economy and Inequality, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 03, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
President Donald Trump’s White House released a budget proposal on Friday that pairs an unprecedented, debt-exploding $1.5 trillion in military spending with tens of billions of dollars in cuts to domestic agencies and education, healthcare, climate, and housing programs.
Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2027, which must be approved by Congress, includes $73 billion in total cuts to nondefense spending while boosting military outlays by 42%—or nearly $500 billion—compared to current levels.
Programs cut or eliminated in the proposed budget—under the guise of slashing “woke programs” and “ending the Green New Scam”—include the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice program, Community Services Block Grants, electric vehicle charging subsidies, renewable energy initiatives at the Interior Department, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing.
The budget proposal also calls for cuts to the already-depleted Internal Revenue Service, without offering specific figures.
One budget expert noted that, if enacted, the White House’s requested cuts would bring nondefense discretionary spending to “its lowest level in the modern era.”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote in response to Trump’s request that “to pay for his endless wars, he wants the biggest increase to military spending in 70 years.”
“How does he pay for it? Cuts to ‘education, health, housing, and more,’” Casar added. “Hell no.”
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement that “the Trump-Vought budget proposal is a moral obscenity,” referring to Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
“The $500 billion annual increase in proposed Pentagon spending—if it were instead deployed humanely—would be enough to solve or meaningfully address the nation’s great problems, from healthcare to daycare,
by Maximillian Alvarez | Mar 27, 2026 | Military, Military Industrial Complex, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, video
Earth’s Greatest Enemy, the new blockbuster documentary by independent journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin, is an expansive and terrifying investigation into the existential threat that US empire in general—and the US military specifically—poses to humanity and to our planet. In this panel discussion, recorded after a live screening of Earth’s Greatest Enemy on Jan. 29 at the TRNN studio in Baltimore, Maryland, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for The Guardian, speak with Abby Martin about how US militarism and imperialism are destroying the planet—and what can be done to stop them.
Guests:
Abby Martin is an independent journalist, filmmaker, and host of The Empire Files. She is the director of the 2019 documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom and the 2026 documentary Earth’s Greatest Enemy.
Dharna Noor is a fossil fuels and climate reporter at The Guardian.
Credits:
Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome everyone to the Real News Network podcast. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. I’m the editor-in-chief here at The Real News, and it’s so great to have you all with us. Earth’s greatest enemy is the title of a new blockbuster documentary by legendary independent journalist and filmmaker, Abby Martin. It is an expansive, engrossing, and frankly, terrifying investigation into the existential threat that US Empire in general and the US military specifically poses to humanity and to our planet. Recently, right here in the real news studio in downtown Baltimore, we had the honor of hosting the Baltimore premiere of this vital documentary, and
by Sharon Zhang | Mar 26, 2026 | Donald Trump, Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran, Israel, Military, News, Pentagon, Propaganda
The appearance of triumph and U.S. might has been of paramount importance to President Donald Trump and his administration amid their war on Iran, with much of their pro-war propaganda centered around a vision of the U.S. military as infallible. But the U.S. has suffered major losses in the war thus far, the extent of which were reportedly revealed in a New York Times article on Wednesday.
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