Militarization

(Tomdispatch.com ) – Every West Point class votes on an official motto. Most are then inscribed on their class rings. Hence, the pejorative West Point label “ring knocker.” (As legend has it, at military meetings a West Pointer “need only knock his large ring on the table and all Pointers present are obliged to rally […]

Militarization

Killing Me Softly with Militarism: The Decay of Democracy in America

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com) – When Americans think of militarism, they may imagine jackbooted soldiers goose-stepping through the streets as flag-waving crowds exult; or, like our president, they may think of enormous parades featuring troops and missiles and tanks, with warplanes soaring overhead. Or nationalist dictators wearing military uniforms encrusted with medals, ribbons, and badges like so many […]

Militarization

In Wars and Weapons We Trust: America’s Militarized Profession of Faith

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com ) – When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I looked to the heavens: to God and Christianity (as arbitrated by the Catholic Church) and to the soaring warbirds of the U.S. military, which I believed kept us safe. To my mind then, they were classic manifestations of American technological superiority over the […]

Militarization

“Infinity War?” After 17 fruitless years in Afghanistan & elsewhere the US Military needs to Rethink

Arnold R. Isaacs

Decades of military adventurism have come at a great cost

Militarization

Militarizing the US Border Frontier for Fun and Profit

contributors

Our Southern border is becoming “a remote deathscape where American necropolitics are pecked onto the bones of those we deem excludable.”

Militarization

America’s Forever Wars as Spectator Sport

contributors

By Andrew J. Bacevich | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – The purpose of all wars, is peace. So observed St. Augustine early in the first millennium A.D. Far be it from me to disagree with the esteemed Bishop of Hippo, but his crisply formulated aphorism just might require a bit of updating. I’m not a […]

Donald Trump

Voters & Congress need to Stop Warmongers like Bolton via War Powers Act

contributors

By Sarah van Gelder | (Yes! Magazine) | – – A widespread show of support at the local level could embolden lawmakers toward a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons. “Yes, John Bolton Really Is That Dangerous” read a headline from the New York Times. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he “can’t imagine a more reckless, […]

Donald Trump

Trumpism: Why having US Ambassadors in 1/3 of Countries & Spec Ops in 3/4s is Bad

contributors

Monica Duffy Toft | (The Conversation) | – – A strong legacy of U.S. leadership and engagement in global politics has been reduced today to what I call kinetic diplomacy – diplomacy by armed force. As of March 2018, the Trump administration has appointed only 70 of 188 U.S. ambassadors. At the same time, it […]

Militarization

American Crusade: The War on Terror and the Ruins of the Middle East

contributors

by James Carroll | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – America may be sinking ever deeper into the moral morass of the Trump era, but if you think the malevolence of this period began with him, think again. The moment I still dwell on, the moment I believe ignited the vast public disorder that is now […]