W.J. Astore Francis Bacon is famous for the aphorism, “Knowledge is power.” Yet the reverse aphorism is not true. The United States is the most powerful nation in the world, yet its knowledge base is notably weak in spite of all that power. Of course, many factors contribute to this weakness. Our public educational systems…
Henry Pelifian Trust in war is the constant refrain from elected politicians of both major political parties. The enemies are everywhere: Iran cannot be trusted in the Nuclear Agreement so we should bomb them now before they cheat. Russia is always a threat even with the demise of the USSR so let’s get tough on…
By The Contrary Perspective David Bromwich has an insightful post at TomDispatch.com on neoconservatives and their pursuit of regime change via war in the Middle East. Describing them as a “political cult,” Bromwich notes that neocons not only create their own reality but they also aim to keep Americans ignorant of basic facts — facts…
Jack Werner In a recent piece in Foreign Policy, “No One Talks About Liberating Mosul Anymore,” Michael Knights wrote about the necessity of training better Iraqi forces and unleashing U.S. airpower in Iraq to fight the so-called Islamic State (IS). “It’s time to let the U.S. military get creative with partners on the ground —…
W.J. Astore I write a lot about the U.S. military, partly because I served in it for 20 years, partly because I’ve been reading about it since I could read, and partly because I have a lot of affection for colleagues, young and old, who still serve. My articles tend to be critical because there’s…
Nile Stanton In a thought-provoking article by Dominic Johnson, Richard Wrangham, and Stephen Rosen of Harvard, the authors observe that “Human decision-making has been shown to violate rational choice theory in a variety of contexts….” “[S]ome of the most intriguing and important examples concern how people perceive and react to risk. Most notably, people appear…
Daniel N. White Testament of Youth, based on Vera Brittain’s autobiography of the same title, was showing at the arthouse multiplex where I decided to spend the day in the HVAC out of the allergens. For all my complaints about Austin, at least it is a large enough market to have…
W.J. Astore My dad was in the Army in World War II. He was a dental technician in an armored headquarters group and never went overseas. But many of his friends did go overseas and saw combat. What follows are some excerpts from letters sent to my dad. Bill Zerby was attached to the 781…
W.J. Astore August 6, 1945. Hiroshima. A Japanese city roughly the size of Houston. Incinerated by the first atomic bomb. Three days later, Nagasaki. Japanese surrender followed. It seemed the bombs had been worth it, saving countless American (and Japanese) lives, seeing that a major invasion of the Japanese home islands was no longer needed.…
W.J. Astore Any optimism that the Iran nuclear deal might slow the momentum of weapons sales to the Middle East has already been strangled in the cradle. Consider the following news item, courtesy of FP: Foreign Policy: While U.S. Defense Department officials make promises to partner with Middle East allies nervous about the Iranian missile…
The Contrary Perspective 