militarism 
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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.
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4/24/2022
Why I Can't Wave a Ukrainian Flag – A Dissenting Teach-In on Russia's Invasion
by Daniel Herman
"If Americans who fly Ukrainian flags actually want to help Ukrainians, they would be well advised to support diplomatic negotiations rather than limitless flows of weaponry."
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SOURCE: TomDispatch
4/12/2022
A Tax Day Confessional from a Failed Tax Protester
by Rebecca Gordon
Reflections on the history of tax-based civil disobedience.
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SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
4/12/2022
The Ukraine Temptation – Can Biden Resist a New Cold War?
by Stephen Wertheim
A bid to restore global military primacy is no more merited today than it was before the invasion.
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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.
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4/3/2022
Who Speaks for the World when Great Powers Flex Their Muscle?
by Lawrence Wittner
"Are the people of the world condemned to live forever under the heels of the great powers? Or is it still possible to take another step along the road to a peaceful, humane planet?"
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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.
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3/27/2022
Can Joe Biden Resist War Pressure and Lead Toward Peace?
by Martin Halpern
It will take political courage and wisdom for Biden to resist a policy course toward war by diplomatic engagement with Russia.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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SOURCE: Jacobin
2/24/2022
The US Military is an Obstacle to Climate Action
by Michael Franczak
The Kyoto protocols are inherently undermined by negotiated pledges that preserve the ability of the Pentagon to burn fossil fuels around the globe.
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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.
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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.
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SOURCE: MSNBC
2/2/2022
Jonathan Katz Talks "Gangsters of Capitalism" with Chris Hayes
Jonathan Katz discusses his new biography of Smedley Butler, the Marine officer who pivoted from leading the fight for American empire to blowing the whistle on an alleged coup against FDR in 1934.
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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.
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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?"
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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.
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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.
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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."
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