Eric Draitser

Eric Draitser is a political analyst and host of CounterPunch Radio.  You can follow and support his work at CounterPunch and patreon.com/ericdraitser.

Obama’s Legacy In Latin America: Militarization, Right-Wing Coups, & The Rule Of Wall St.

With just hours left for the Obama administration, independent geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser reviews the president’s legacy of destabilizing, militarizing, and exploiting Latin America.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Magnets for sale decorate a tourist shop, one showing an image of U.S. President Barack Obama smelling a cigar, at a market in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 16, 2015. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)

“Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world” - William Shakespeare, from “Hamlet” NEW YORK ---  (Opinion) It seems we have arrived at the witching hour of Obama’s presidency, when corporate media ghouls continue to breathe out the infectious contagion of liberal lies and

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Obama’s Legacy In Africa: Terrorism, Civil War & Military Expansion

Independent geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser examines the effect of the Obama administration on Africa. What he finds is less hope and change, and more chaos and death.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
A man walks away after leaning his bicycle against a mural of President Barack Obama at the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi, Kenya ahead of the visit of Obama. (AP/Ben Curtis)

NEW YORK --- (Opinion) The corporate media is predictably churning out nauseating retrospectives of Obama’s presidency, gently soothing Americans to sleep with fairy tales about the progressive accomplishments of President Hope and Change. But amid the selective memory and doublethink which passes for sophisticated punditry within the controlled

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Trump Is Anti-Environment, But So Was Obama

While the incoming Trump administration shows a callous disregard for the environment, liberals have conveniently forgotten that some of the most disastrous environmental and public health crises in U.S. history have occurred on President Obama’s watch.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
President Barack Obama arriving at the TransCanada Stillwater Pipe Yard in Cushing, Okla. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

NEW YORK --- (Analysis) It's rather easy, and undoubtedly necessary, to lambast President-elect Donald Trump and his team of corporate parasites who will soon head nearly every key agency in the U.S. government. Of note are the pro-fracking, anti-environmental protections positions of everyone from the nominee for secretary of state, ExxonMobil

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South Sudan: US Empire Stirs Violent Brew Of Blood & Oil As China Threatens Western Hegemony

The entire history of South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, is one of greed, blood and death. Sadly, this is all too common in Africa, where the U.S.-NATO Empire must always have the last laugh.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
A group of children at the U.N. protection of Civilians site in Juba, South Sudan, play with a toy gun. President Barack Obama has issued waivers that continue U.S. military assistance for South Sudan and six other nations where child soldiers have been used.

N EW YORK --- (Analysis) The ongoing civil war in South Sudan has left at least 50,000 dead and nearly 3 million displaced. While incidents of rape, torture, and bloodshed ebb and flow with the tides of war, the conflict, and especially its political context, remains little understood in the mainstream media. Indeed, the war in South Sudan

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Stop Trump! Stop Clinton! Stop The Madness (And Let Me Off)!

Were it only the fact that a corporate imperialist sociopath and a raving pseudo-fascist gasbag are competing to become the Murderer-in-Chief, one could simply retreat to the friendly confines of the Hobson’s Choice Inn.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton are introduced during the presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.

That’s the real issue this time,” he said. “Beating Nixon.  It’s hard to even guess how much damage those bastards will do if they get in for another four years.” The argument was familiar, I had even made it myself, here and there, but I was beginning to sense something very depressing about it.  How many more of these goddamn elections are we

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Hillary Clinton And The Russian Specter: Propaganda Politics At Its Worst

No, America, it’s not Russia…it’s us.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
$400 Million to Clinton Campaign

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don’t think I do, sir, no. General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians.

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Ajamu Baraka, “Uncle Tom,” And The Pathology Of White Liberal Racism

Ajamu Baraka is not vilified for calling Obama an Uncle Tom. He is vilified for refusing not to.

Eric Draitser
By Eric Draitser
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka discuss the 'Green New Deal' via press conference.

“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to

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