Common Dreams

Apparently, no one knows what's happened to the thousands of AK-47s - and millions of rounds of ammunition - transferred from Bosnian wartime stockpiles to Iraq since 2004

The Take Back America conference, an annual event held in Washington DC this year from June 12-14, is supposed to be a venue for prominent progressives to gather and debate the major issues of our day. By Medea Benjamin

Last week, after considering the Haditha Massacre, I wondered in print about the value of blame. "What," I asked, "could be gained by blaming soldiers or insurgents or even the president of the United States for this crime in Iraq?" By Steven Laffoley

The new allegations that US marines killed at least fifteen Iraqi civilians is increasing the fear among Americans that we have "lost" Iraq. By Mark LeVine

The alleged massacre of 24 Iraqis by U.S. troops bent on vengeance has shaken the country and rattled Marine veterans. By Tim Harper

Elected officials can no longer avoid talking about global warming — but how many of them grasp the urgent need for action? Here's how to tell the difference between those who 'get it' and those who don't. By Bill McKibben

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a brilliant new article about the biggest political story in the history of the United States: An American politician illegitimately took the office of president by outright theft and fraud. By Thom Hartmann

The recent vote in Congress to criminalize undocumented immigrants was just the latest in a centuries-long series of government actions that have blocked people of color from gaining economic security. By Betsy Leondar-Wright

Railing against Bolivia's oil and gas nationalization, the media's "free trade" ideologues value markets over democracy. By Mark Engler

Guns have come to be seen in Iraq as a need second only to food. By Brian Conley and Isam Rashid

For a country so enamoured of biotechnology and a recognized leader in genetically modified crops research, China is experiencing an organic farming boom. By Antoaneta Bezlova

The former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief shut out two senior agency officials from a decision to indefinitely postpone action on Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s "morning-after" contraceptive, the officials said in legal depositions released this week. By Lisa Richwine

As policy makers from around the world gather here to attend a major United Nations conference on fisheries, a prominent environmental group has renewed its demand for a global effort to stem so-called pirate fishing and a worldwide moratorium on high seas fishing by commercial companies using botto

"I told you so, I told you a bomb would go off," the French banker says excitedly. The French are an excitable people, especially when bombs go off. By Stewart Nusbaumer

Dusty Helmand province thrusts north from an ill-patrolled Paki stan border into the heart of Afghanistan's bandit country. By Elizabeth Sullivan

It's not just the way he's doing his job. Americans apparently don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either. By Steven Thomma

Al Gore appeared last weekend on 'Saturday Night Live.' In the show's alternate reality, here's the speech he gave. By Al Gore

The National Security Agency has created ''the largest database ever'' with the phone records of millions of Americans provided to the NSA by AT&T, Verizon and Bell South for a price. By Jesse Jackson

Attention, chickens: You may soon be coming home to roost. By Danny Schechter

This week, the House is expected to vote on something termed, in perfect Orwellian prose, the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006." It will be the first real battle in the coming War of Internet Democracy. By Robert B. Reich

The United States has stopped providing medical supplies to Palestinian hospitals as part of Washington's sanctions against Hamas. By Tim Butcher

In the red-hot debate over immigration, myth too often takes the place of truth. It is time to step back, take a deep breath and reflect before we react. By Jesse Jackson

Every day, world leaders think of new ways to punish the Palestinians for electing Hamas. But the people who suffer most are children like my daughter, Lina. By Fareed Taamallah

His speech in Atlanta is interrupted three times. In a Q&A, a former CIA analyst calls him a liar.

The US-led invasion in Iraq interrupted the Middle East's gradual movement toward liberalization

The press is playing up $3 a gallon gasoline, record oil company profits, and the $400 million retirement package for Exxon's former CEO. But these stories are trivial compared to the oil story they have ignored all along.

In Manhattan, 18 women of granny age, full of wit and wisdom, have just won a court case and sent their protest story around the world. I'll take my optimism where I can.

Peace groups like True Majority smartly have seized on the moment to mobilize Young's listeners. Never before has any album moved so quickly from concept to completion to pre-release controversy, to the ears of millions of listeners. By John Stauber

Every presidential election since 1980 has had a Bush or a Clinton on a major party ticket. And the pundits say we're likely to see a Clinton atop the next Democratic ticket. By Jeff Cohen

May 1, a day of worker celebration, began in the United States around the struggle for the eight-hour day. Now it is honored across the world, but largely ignored in the United States. By Jesse Jackson