War

By David Bromwich ( Tomdispatch.com ) – A new war, a new alibi. When we think about our latest war — the one that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just six months after our Afghan War ended so catastrophically — there is a hidden benefit. As long as American minds are on Ukraine, […]

Afghanistan

How War Divides Us: All the Ways our 21st Century Wars have Polarized Americans

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Blame Donald Trump and all too many of his followers, but don’t just blame him or them. Yes, he was indeed responsible for the nightmare of January 6, 2021, and, in his own fashion, for the incitement of right-wing militia (terror!) groups like the Proud Boys. (“Stand back and stand by!”) […]

Colonialism

The Netherlands Waged a Bloody 4-Year War to keep Indonesia Colonized after 1945; Finally it is Apologizing

Anne-Ruth Wertheim

( Jacobin NL) On Monday 29 May 2023 I stood with my granddaughter and my son-in-law in front of the Proclamation Monument in Jakarta, with the two more than life-size bronze statues of the Indonesians Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who on 17 August 1945 proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia. In between them […]

Arms Sales

America’s Perpetual Wars you Aren’t Supposed to Notice

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend […]

Food Security

Russia’s Agricultural Warfare: Bomb and Blockade Strategy Imperils World’s Hungry

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Saudi Arabia is pissed off at Russia. It’s not as if the Gulf state has released any angry statements to the press. Rather, Riyadh has made clear its displeasure in an indirect way. It has offered to host a “peace summit” next week that Ukraine will organize. Brazil, […]

Climate Change

The Other Threat of Massive Climate Change: Nuclear War

The Conversation

By Mark Maslin, UCL | – Christopher Nolan’s biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer has revived morbid curiosity in the destructive power of nuclear weapons. There are now an estimated 12,512 nuclear warheads. A war in which even a fraction of these bombs were detonated would create blast waves and fires capable of killing millions of […]

Afghanistan

The Forever War’s Forever Legacy: Shutting down Gitmo is Hardly the Last Step

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – There can be little question that the grim prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which still shows no sign of closing anytime soon, is a key legacy — in the worst sense imaginable — of America’s post-9/11 forever wars. I’ve been covering the subject for decades now and that shameful legacy has […]

Corporations

The Profiteers of Armageddon: Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Nuclear-Industrial Complex

William D. Hartung

( Tomdispatch.com) – Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you’re undoubtedly aware that award-winning director Christopher Nolan has released a new film about Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for leading the group of scientists who created that deadly weapon as part of America’s World […]

Displaced and Refugees

That other War: Struggle and Suffering in Sudan

Tomdispatch

By Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox It’s been devastating, even if no one’s paying attention. Three months of fighting in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Force (RSF) has left at least 3,000 people dead and wounded at least 6,000 more. Over two million people have been displaced […]