Happy news, rare in the realm of human rights in Saudi Arabia, occurred on Wednesday when it was learned that Loujain al-Hathloul, held in a Saudi prison for more than three years on what human rights observers agree were ridiculous,… Read More ›
foreign policy
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Becomes International Law
Today most of the world is celebrating a new international treaty, now in force, that bans all nuclear weapons. So far, 52 nations have ratified the treaty, and 50 nations ratifying is what is needed to become law. The United… Read More ›
John Bolton’s Wars (a poem)
If Rudy* is a “hand grenade”*Why did Bolton* send his aideTo disarm the whole charadeWhile Bolton lounges in the shade? Well, that is how his wars are made:From the safety of Bolton’s brain. Note: *Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of NYC… Read More ›
Rumple Oxbridge: “The More War Sonnet for Afghanistan”
By Rumple Oxbridge, liberal lyricist Trump has a plan to fix Afghanistan: more war will do what war has not before. It is a plan not hard to understand his “war cabinet” advises–War fails? Try more. Eventually this war… Read More ›
Rumple Oxbridge: “Trump’s ‘major, major’ getting tough with the Koreas”
By Rumple Oxbridge, radical rhymer The president says diplomacy is “very difficult” so we may have a “major, major conflict” [war] (lots of majors, lots of gore) with Koreans of the North. As for Koreans of the South, Trump… Read More ›
In Guns We Trust, Again and Again
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 a sort of mass mental incongruity going on, a splitting… Read More ›
Who’s afraid of the GOP?
To coin a phrase, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself and the Republican Party. Or at least those Republicans for whom foreign terrorists and Syrian refugees (and even Muslim-Americans in general) are now the scariest things on… Read More ›
After Paris terrorist attack, it’s either war or “appeasement” many say
Arguing against military retaliation/intervention is not appeasement or surrender; it is an attempt to limit violence everywhere . . .
“Killing Blindly in the Endless War” by Kathy Kelly
“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 working in the hospital to help people… and now they… Read More ›
More perpetual war: Afghanistan again
Speaking of perpetual war, the NY Times is reporting that the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which, despite a major withdrawal of troops, was never entirely over, has erupted again as the U.S. launched airstrikes and deployed Special Forces troops after the… Read More ›
U.S. Bombing of Syria Begins (and so do civilian casualties)
Claiming that the United States already has the legal authority under both U.S. and U.N. law, President Obama notified Congress that he has ordered more airstrikes in Iraq and, for the first time, dropped bombs and fired missiles into Syria… Read More ›
The Pacific 