Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace, is the author of the new book, Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection. Her previous books include: Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control; Don’t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart, and (with Jodie Evans) Stop the Next War Now (Inner Ocean Action Guide). Follow her on Twitter: @medeabenjamin
Articles by this author
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Views Wednesday, July 19, 2017 The Torture-Friendly Trump Administration It should come as no surprise to anyone that Donald Trump is pro-torture. He said on the campaign trail he’d approve waterboarding “in a heartbeat,” plus “ a hell of a lot worse.” He added : “Only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work.” There are certainly a lot of stupid people then, because... Read more |
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Views Friday, June 23, 2017 Why Does Donald Trump Insist on More Military Spending? If you think we spend too much on our military as it is (more that the next eight countries combined), you might be shocked to hear President Trump has asked for an increase in military spending by 10%, or $54 billion . Where is all this money going to come from? What will it be used for? Since... Read more |
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Views Monday, June 12, 2017 Draft Bernie? Democratic Party Takeover? Strategic Concerns Paramount at People's Summit Even if you attended the 4,000-strong Peoples Summit in Chicago on June 9-11 organized by folks from the Bernie Sanders campaign and National Nurses United (NNU), you might have missed the most significant moment of the gathering. It was a seemingly offhand comment made by NNU Executive Director... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, May 31, 2017 Free Fallin': On the Perils and Promise of Possibly Impeaching Trump I would love to see Donald Trump impeached—for anything. Emoluments. Corruption. Conflicting business interests. Profiting at public expense. Obstructing the Russia investigation. Leaking classified information. Waging wars without congressional approval. Groping. Whatever it takes. It’s a colossal... Read more |
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Views Monday, May 22, 2017 Why Were the Saudi Streets So Quiet? With the world’s media focused on President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, it’s curious that the streets of Riyadh were so empty . Unlike most of Trump’s public appearances, there was not a protester in sight. While Mexicans pour out on the streets to protest Trump’s anti-immigrant policies,... Read more |
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Views Friday, May 19, 2017 Trump’s Saudi Trip Should Not Be to Clinch Arms Deal But to End Yemen War President Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia is designed to highlight his "art of deal" by clinching a massive $100 billion arms deal. But instead of using his presidency to be a salesman for the arms industry, Trump should be a statesmen for the suffering Yemenis. He should use his visit to press for a... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, May 17, 2017 10 Reasons Trump Should Not Strengthen U.S.-Saudi Ties Donald Trump has selected Saudi Arabia as the destination for his first trip abroad, strengthening U.S. ties to a regime that is fueling the very extremism, intolerance and violence that the US government purports to eradicate. Here’s 10 reasons why the United States should not be closely allied... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, April 26, 2017 Women Beware: Saudia Arabia Charged with Shaping Global Standards for Women's Equality It’s hard to sink to a greater depth of hypocrisy than voting Saudi Arabia onto a UN Commission charged with promoting women’s equality and empowerment. And yet, on April 23rd, that is precisely what the UN Economic and Social Council did. Of the 54 countries on the Council, 47 of them agreed to... Read more |
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Views Friday, April 14, 2017 The 'Mother of All Bombs' is Big, Deadly – and Won't Lead to Peace “I’m really very good at war. I love war, in a certain way,” bragged candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Iowa. This is the same Donald Trump who avoided the Vietnam draft by claiming a bone spur in his foot, a medical problem that never kept him off the tennis courts or golf courses, and... Read more |
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Views Thursday, April 06, 2017 Use Latest Tragedy in Syria to End the War, Not Escalate It Four years ago, massive citizen opposition and mobilization stopped a possible U.S. military attack on the Assad government of Syria that many predicted would have made the terrible conflict even worse. Once again, we need to stop an escalation of that dreadful war and instead use this tragedy as... Read more |