Peaceable, Liberal, Salty & Deep
Vice President Mike Pence walked right up to the “demarcation line” between North and South Korea, looked around, and then went back to Seoul to issue this stirring invitation to … Continue Reading Where’s the Diplomacy? V.P. Mike Pence Stands on Border of North Korea and Talks Tough
American journalists may be the “enemies of the American people,” according to President Trump, but that didn’t stop a whole lot of them from supporting Trump’s order launching 59 Tomahawk … Continue Reading Journalists, Democrats Rally Round the Flag of War (and a Flagging President)
The ongoing war in Syria is a vast catastrophe; what began as a peaceable resistance movement against the Assad regime, one among many in the “Arab Spring” of 2011, has devolved … Continue Reading Syria: War Still Not the Answer
Must politicians and journalists succumb to the language of war? Or the flip side: Must we put words like “peace” on weapons of war? I’m thinking of the U.S. nuclear missiles called … Continue Reading Let’s Stop Saying “Nuclear Option”
Good reporting from the NY Times today on the increasing activity of the United States’ armed forces in wars in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. Civilian casualties are on the rise and … Continue Reading Bad News: Under Trump, U.S. War Escalates in Middle East & Africa
First published February 17, 2017 in The Capital Times If there is any consolation to be found in the election of President Trump, it is the opportunity to make anti-war … Continue Reading It’s a Really Good Time for an Anti-War Movement
Talks are underway this week at the United Nations in New York on a possible global treaty to officially ban all nuclear weapons. More than 120 nations are participating, but … Continue Reading Why it’s Realistic to Ban Nuclear Weapons and Why U.S. Should Lead
How’s this for a grand generalization? The United States is not great at providing health care and really good at waging war. And by “good” I do not mean effectively. … Continue Reading “War is the Health of the State”–But Not People
Surely it’s time to refute the great American myth our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. so believe in: an armed citizenry and war abroad will protect us from criminal and terrorist violence. There is … Continue Reading In Guns We Trust, Again and Again
Since the building of really big walls for the good of the nation is now a popular idea among some Americans, especially Republican presidential candidates and a former Republican presidential candidate, … Continue Reading Let’s just build a wall around Wisconsin
Arguing against military retaliation/intervention is not appeasement or surrender; it is an attempt to limit violence everywhere . . .
“These are people who had been working hard for months, non-stop for the past week. They had not gone home, they had not seen their families, they had just been … Continue Reading “Killing Blindly in the Endless War” by Kathy Kelly
The Obama administration is apparently considering an increased role for U.S. ground troops in Syria and Iraq to combat ISIS. Here’s the Washington Post: “The changes would represent a significant … Continue Reading U.S. considering use of ground troops in Syria & Iraq. Iraq says, “No, Thanks.”
What do the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia have in common? All three nations have, based on credible reports, intentionally dropped bombs on working medical facilities in Afghanistan, Syria … Continue Reading Folly of war: Intentionally bombing hospitals
Though Secretary of State John Kerry is, according to the NY Times, pushing for a “no-fly zone” in Syria to protect Syrian civilians from the various groups and nations now … Continue Reading Sec. of State Kerry and others wrongly urging no-fly zone in Syria
There is a school of thought, let’s call it the “War of Numbers School”, which holds that the killing and oppression that takes place in war, even the killing of innocent … Continue Reading Keeping Score: The War of Numbers in Afghanistan
When the American novelist/essayist Marilynne Robinson sat down with President Obama for a chat on matters literary, religious and political, President Obama asked her to — “Tell me a little … Continue Reading The Novelist & the President: what a true democracy is
As Russia steps up the bombing and slaughter in Syria, now including firing cruise missiles from a thousand miles away, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has calculated that 4,219 … Continue Reading More than 4,000 people killed in Syria in September
