War

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – During World War I, soldiers all along the Western front held a series of informal truces in December 1914 to commemorate Christmas. It was early in the war, and opposition had not yet hardened into implacable enmity. The military command, caught by surprise, could not impose complete battlefield discipline. An […]

Donald Trump

How we gave up our Health, Environment and Diplomacy for Wars, Walls and Plutocracy

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, MA (Special to Informed Comment) -Budgets are moral documents (or immoral, depending on priorities). So also is tax policy. Consider Trump’s proposed $1.3 trillion discretionary budget for 2021. In snapshot, the Pentagon gets 55% and every other need of 331 million people–from health, education, agriculture, transportation, environmental protection to housing–is left with 45%. As […]

War

Yemen still on the brink following coronavirus risks and fragile ceasefire

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – As Yemen’s catastrophic war enters its sixth year, the Saudi-led coalition offered a desperately needed ceasefire on Friday, which the current coronavirus pandemic has made more vital than ever. The move came after the UN Secretary General on March 25 called for an end to hostilities in all regional […]

Children

The Children of Syria: Millions of Young Lives Blighted by a Decade-Long War

Human Rights Watch

By Philippa H Stewart (Senior Media Officer) and Bill Van Esveld (Associate Director, MENA, Children’s Rights Division) | – ( Human Rights Watch) – The war in Syria has been taking its toll on children for nine years – their lives forever marked by the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of children are now fighting to […]

Donald Trump

Ending the Myth That Trump Is Ending Mideast Wars

OtherWords

By Khury Petersen-Smith | Trump has sent more new troops to the Middle East than he’s bringing home from Afghanistan. (Otherwords.org ) – There was this moment during the State of the Union Address that I can’t stop thinking about. When President Trump spoke to army wife Amy Wiliams during his speech and told her […]

Pentagon

If America is going to Fight Forever Wars, Should we Bring back the Draft?

Tomdispatch

By Nan Levinson | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Bizarrely enough, the spate of phone calls from recruiters began a couple of years ago. The first ones came from the Army, next the Marines, and then other branches of the military. I’m decades past enlistment age. I’ve been publicly antiwar for most of that time and come […]

Bashar al-Assad

Are Syria’s Social Media Meme Wars the Face of Modern Warfare?

Omar Ahmed

( Middle East Monitor) – Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks it up, disseminating propaganda or spreading misinformation and fake news to the sharing of graphic content and the ugly brutality of […]

Donald Trump

Trump Spending $1.2 Trillion a year on War, with Nothing to Show for It

Tomdispatch

By Mandy Smithberger | – Hold on to your helmets! It’s true the White House is reporting that its proposed new Pentagon budget is only $740.5 billion, a relatively small increase from the previous year’s staggering number. In reality, however, when you also include war and security costs buried in the budgets of other agencies, […]

Bashar al-Assad

With a Million Fresh Refugees and a 9-Year Civil War, Can Impoverished Syrians Survive?

Stasa Salacanin

( Middle East Monitor ) – A devastating civil war and international sanctions have destroyed Syria’s economy, leaving it with a GDP that is a third of what it was in 2010. The monetary crisis and depreciation of the currency is the latest chapter of the country’s economic meltdown. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, […]