Poem by Michael Gallagher in memory of Hiroshima Day With a flash that seared and blinded, the blue August sky burst open above the bridge, a bridge, this time, over the Potomac. The Eumenides had never tired though their pursuit had taken the better part of a century. Humorless as these ladies were, they had…
Richard Silverstein Events in the Gulf are unfolding so quickly and ominously that it’s impossible to keep up. They could easily spiral out of control. You might go to sleep at night to a region at peace and wake up the next morning to countries aflame. In the midst of this swirl of events, it’s…
Intro by b. traven Bill Clinton, that paragon of marital fidelity, could not wait when he was president to rush to Richard Nixon’s funeral to pay his respect to the man who was drummed from the of Presidency for his alleged crimes and misdemeanors while in office. Clinton has now, in concert with his equally…
b. traven is TCP’s co-founder. He is a 93-year-old WW II veteran, who is now a wine grape farmer finding peace in tending to his vines. Traven received a graduate degree in Physiological Psychology from the University of Chicago after the War. He has been a union steel worker, a “soda jerk” when they still…
Peter Van Buren Peter is a 24 year veteran as a State Department diplomat and ended his service as leading an FOB ( forward operating base) during the Iraq war. The base was used to establish an American presence to spend millions on Iraqi community support. – Ed. In the longer view, the Iraq Wars…
Peter Van Buren Peter is a 24 year veteran as a State Department diplomat and ended his service as leading an FOB ( forward operating base) during the Iraq war. The base was used to establish an American presence to spend millions on Iraqi community support. – Ed. Going forward, Trump is unlikely to pull…
Peter Van Buren The last quarter century of Iraq Wars (from Desert Storm 1991 to the present) thrust the region into chaos while progressively erasing American dominance. Iran is picking up the pieces. As long as the U.S. insists on not opening diplomatic relations with Tehran, it will have no way short of war to…
In the final instalment of Richard Silverstein’s exploration of the massive changes going in the Middle East, he looks at just how effective Russia has been in filling the gap left by the United States. – Ed. Richard Silverstein The Russia factor It’s unclear how the Saudis believes he will force a much larger and…
Something unprecedented is going on in the Middle East. Not that war and chaos are anything new. But the seemingly new-found independence of some of the actors in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, but to some extent Israel is a disturbing development. With the Trump administration effectively asleep at the international relations wheels, a coup…
Greg Laxer On November 3, 2017, at his General Court-Martial at Fort Bragg, NC Army Sergeant Robert ‘Bowe’ Bergdahl was sentenced to reduction to lowest enlisted rank, forfeiture of $10,000 of the back pay he had previously been awarded, and a Dishonorable Discharge. He had opted for trial by a Military Judge (Colonel Jeffery Nance)…
The Contrary Perspective 