A poem by Myron (Mike) Swack. Introduction by b. traven. Mike and I were raised in a Jewish orphan home. Mike was a year younger than I. I volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps cadet program and was accepted in early 1943. Mike volunteered for the army shortly after me but he was only…
W.J. Astore Greg Grandin has a new book on Henry Kissinger and a new article at TomDispatch.com. Kissinger, writes Grandin, had an affinity (or perhaps an avidity) for power, especially air power, as a way of demonstrating his (and America’s) resolve. Notes Grandin: Henry Kissinger is, of course, not singularly responsible for the evolution of…
W.J. Astore The year was 1915. Europe, indeed much of the world, was embroiled in the devastating Great (or World) War. Under President Woodrow Wilson, the United States was proud to have stayed out of the war, the massive bloodletting of which seemed peculiarly European, an “Old World” form of militarized madness that most Americans…
W.J. Astore I recently received an update from the National Priorities Project reminding me of this startling fact: “The president announced last week that American troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond the planned withdrawal at the end of 2016. This is a devastating blow. We’ve already spent $716 billion and counting on the war in…
W.J. Astore I read the news today, oh boy. President Obama has decided to keep thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan until 2017, effectively kicking the war to the next president. According to the New York Times, “The Obama administration sees the choice to slow down the United States’ Afghan exit as the best of…
Nicolas J S Davies To listen to the Republican candidates’ debate, one would think that President Obama had slashed the U.S. military budget and left our country defenseless. Nothing could be farther off the mark. There are real weaknesses in Obama’s foreign policy, but a lack of funding for weapons and war is not one…
Michael Gallagher Pope Francis was praised in the New York Times as showing a “deft hand” in diplomacy during his recent American trip. A manifestation of his deft hand was his lamentable failure, especially in his address to the United Nations, to condemn the policy of nuclear deterrence: the idea that peace can be kept…
Peter Van Buren Editor’s Note: TCP is especially proud to offer an original article by Peter Van Buren, author of We Meant Well, a compelling account of U.S.-led rebuilding efforts in post-invasion Iraq. Van Buren, who worked closely with American troops in Iraq, knows the bloody nature of war, which makes him doubly aware of…
Daniel N. White Introduction: America’s self-declared war on drugs is in its fifth decade with victory nowhere in sight. In fact, the war has created its own violent dynamic, its own complex of deeply conflicted interests. In the USA, that would include the DEA, Homeland Security, the FBI, and most other law enforcement agencies;…
The Crash, Burn, Repeat of America’s Militarized Foreign Policy Tom Engelhardt (courtesy of TomDispatch.com) Let’s take a moment to consider failure and its options in Washington. The U.S. has been warring with the Islamic State (IS) for more than a year now. The centerpiece of that war has been an ongoing campaign of bombings and air…
The Contrary Perspective 