Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

Trump Finds New Weapon for His War on Journalism — Leak Indictments Aimed at Smearing Reporters

The Intercept
July 15, 2018
Last month, James Wolfe was indicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with four reporters while he worked for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. His indictment, and the media coverage of it, focused to a lopsided extent on just one of the reporters: ...  (Read more)

Paul Manafort Has Inadvertently Helped America by Showing the Absurdities of Its Bail System

The Intercept
June 9, 2018
American citizens don’t have a lot they can thank Paul Manafort for. Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, is suspected of colluding with Russia and enriching himself through years of influence-peddling that involved a multitude ...  (Read more)

Reality Winner Has Been in Jail for a Year. Her Prosecution Is Unfair and Unprecedented.

The Intercept
June 3, 2018
This is a tale of two defendants and two systems of justice.

Christmas was coming, and Paul Manafort wanted to spend the holiday with his extended family in the Hamptons, where he owns a four-acre estate that has 10 bedrooms, a pool, a tennis court, a basketball court, a putting ...  (Read more)

Donald Trump Has Liberated Koreans From the Illusion That America Is Helping Them

The Intercept
May 25, 2018
It’s strange to say, but there is an upside to the goat rodeo way in which President Donald Trump has cancelled, for the moment, his North Korea summit. No president has done a better job of making clear that the United States is an impediment to peace ...  (Read more)

James Comey told Obama His Use of Phrase “Mass Incarceration” Was Insulting to Law Enforcement

The Intercept
April 18, 2018
In his new book, James Comey portrays himself as a law enforcement saint who desires only the best for us, and the best is manifestly not President Donald Trump. But if you read “A Higher Loyalty” with more than its anti-Trump morsels in mind, a less benevolent ...  (Read more)

A Radical Lesson from the Invasion of Iraq: War Moments Should Honor the Sacrifice of Civilians

The Intercept
April 9, 2018
War monuments are vexing. The forever war that began on 9/11 has caused enough bloodshed to inspire an entirely new generation of memorials. Some have already been built or authorized, even though the fighting is not close to ending. We don’t need more war ...  (Read more)

Trump’s Military Parade Is Ridiculous — but He’s Not the First Politician to Use Soldiers as Props

The Intercept
February 7, 2018
Oh no, there he goes again.

That’s the reaction, generally speaking, to the news that Donald Trump wants the Pentagon to arrange a glitzy military parade. Trump is breaking yet another piece of china in the shop of American democracy, glamorizing the armed forces in the ...  (Read more)

It’s Time to Wage War Against War Movies That Glorify Outdated Models of Masculinity

The Intercept
January 27, 2018
The Hollywood Reporter published a surprising story earlier this month about film studios turning away from movies about sex. A biopic about Hugh Hefner is stalled, gone for the moment is a James Franco film about a 15-year-old Russian prostitute, and a ...  (Read more)