Departments

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militarism

  • 5/1/2022

    Democracy's Enemies are Abroad, but Also at Home

    by Jim Sleeper

    If neoconservative warnings of a coming global struggle between Russia and "the West" are right, the west must consider what changes it is willing to make to allow for a victory without planetery catastrophe. 

  • SOURCE: Religion Dispatches
    4/4/2022

    Honoring Dr. King's Other, More Challenging Dream, 55 Years Later

    King's famous Riverside Church speech on April 4, 1967 marked the leader's decisive opposition to the war in Vietnam and reflected his moral clarity and willingness to take unpopular positions in the pursuit of justice by calling out racism, capitalism and militarism as three intertwined evils. 

  • SOURCE: Foreign Policy
    3/20/2022

    Why is the News Media so Hawkish?

    by Mark Hannah

    Editorial choices made by influential news organizations can push policy in the direction of more aggressive intervention. A media scholar asks why those organizations have consistently chosen to boost the voices of advocates for war.

  • SOURCE: War on The Rocks
    3/22/2022

    Beware the Imperative in Foreign Policymaking

    by Michael J. Mazarr

    When foreign policy decisions are presented as imperative – that some action must be taken –  consideration for the consequences is often neglected. 

  • 3/20/2022

    On the Illogic of War

    by Don Fraser

    The logic of war rejects dissent and the moderating influence of political concerns in the pursuit of destruction, and liberal democracies aren't exempt. 

  • SOURCE: The Conversation
    3/14/2022

    Why Do Leaders Start Wars Assuming Victory?

    by Gregory A. Daddis

    For millenia, leaders have been seduced by the promise that war unifies fractious politics, elevates leaders, and offers a final solution to conflict, despite the historical wrongness of these lessons. 

  • SOURCE: Substack
    2/3/2022

    The Lazy Bear's Guide to Anti-Imperialism

    by Gabriel Rosenberg

    Too much of the chatter about American military intervention skips over the core problem: the massive flow of resources into the military and weapons programs creates a preference for war.

  • SOURCE: New York Review of Books
    2/3/2022

    Who's Afraid of Isolationism?

    by Stephen Wertheim

    It's past time for "isolationism" to stop being a dirty word in discussing America's relationship to the world. The use of the term as a pejorative has justified too many ill-considered military interventions.

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    1/23/2022

    A Very Long War: From Vietnam to Afghanistan

    by Andrew Bacevich

    The interpretive frameworks – from the "domino theory" to the war on terror –  guiding the political decision to wage war are usually rendered incoherent by facts on the ground in combat. This cluelessness survived the end of the cold war intact and suggests a longer campaign of American empire. 

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    12/12/2021

    Going Nuclear on Military Spending

    by William Astore

    "Why, despite decades of disastrous wars, do Pentagon budgets continue to grow, year after year, like ever-expanding nuclear mushroom clouds?"

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    12/9/2021

    Are We Forever Captives of the Forever Wars?

    by Karen J. Greenberg

    The Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress after 9/11 has been expanded from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan to justify action in at least 19 countries. Repealing it is the first step to freeing Americans from the Pentagon's Forever Wars. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    12/1/2021

    Has the Myth of the "Good War" Done America Harm?

    Remembrance of the second world war obscures the ambivalence many Americans felt about the conflict and the frequent divergence of military strategy and propaganda from the noble ideals of freedom and democracy. Elizabeth Samet's book asks if the myth of the good war has encouraged war since.

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    11/16/2021

    The Pentagon as Penta-God

    by William Astore

    "Paraphrasing Joe Biden, show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you worship. In that context, there can’t be the slightest doubt: America worships its Pentagod and the weapons and wars that feed it."