Portside

The United States military has a staggering 883 military bases in 183 countries, Russia has 8, China 1. There is no country with a military footprint that replicates that of the United States. The bases create instability rather than peace.

Trump will gradually disappear from the stage. But other names will remain intact: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon...

The lessons of history? Who needs them? Certainly not Washington's present cast of characters, a crew in flight from history, the past, or knowledge of more or less any sort.

It looks as if a 21st century version of the Cold War (with dangerous new twists) has begun and hardly anyone has noticed. Even while the disastrous U.S. wars against terror still rage, the Pentagon has committed itself and the nation to a new three-front “long war” against China and Russia.

“You’re going to see more actions in Africa, not less,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham after the briefing. “You’re going to see more aggression by the United States toward our enemies, not less; you’re going to have decisions being made not in the White House but out in the field.”

Honduran environmental activist’Berta Cáceres' killing a year ago bears the hallmarks of an operation designed by military intelligence. E’xtrajudicial killings by the security forces and widespread impunity are among the most serious human rights violations in Honduras, according to the US state department. Nevertheless, the US is the main provider of military and police support to Honduras, and last year approved $18m of aid.

“For Panamanians, nothing justifies the death of a civilian,” said one of the commissioners tasked with uncovering the truth behind the invasion. Panamanians marked the 27th anniversary Dec. 20, 2016 of the 1989 U.S. invasion of the Central American country as the exact number of victims remains unknown more than a quarter of a century after the events.

If you're like most people in the United States, you have a vague awareness that the U.S. military keeps lots of troops permanently stationed on foreign bases around the world. Have you ever really investigated to find out how many, where exactly, at what cost, to what purpose, and in terms of what relationship with the host nations?A wonderfully researched new book, six years in the works, answers these questions in a manner you'll find engaging.

“Northerners and Southerners agreed on little” in the years after the Civil War, historians Boyd Cothran and Ari Kelman write, “except that the Army should pacify Western tribes.” Reconstruction -- Washington’s effort to set the terms for the South’s readmission to the Union and establish postwar political equality -- was being bitterly opposed by defeated white separatists. “Many Americans found rare common ground on the subject of Manifest Destiny.”

More than 2,000 Air Force veterans and reservists are set to receive over $47.5 million for exposure to the harmful chemical. Ending years of wait, the government agreed Thursday to provide millions of dollars in disability benefits to as many as 2,100 Air Force reservists and active-duty forces exposed to Agent Orange residue on airplanes used in the Vietnam War.