War

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Why has the United States already become so heavily invested in the Russia-Ukraine war? And why has it so regularly gotten involved, in some fashion, in so many other wars on this planet since it invaded Afghanistan in 2001? Those with long memories might echo the conclusion reached more than a […]

Dissent

Defections are crucial to ending Putin’s war — Russian soldiers looking for a way out need support

Waging Nonviolence

By David Cortright | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Putin’s greatest vulnerability may be his dependence on the willingness of Russian soldiers to do his dirty work. Although many in Russia have been conditioned to accept Kremlin propaganda, others have doubts about the war, including some of the troops who have been sent to fight […]

Pentagon

Bodies beyond Bucha: The Civilian Deaths You Haven’t Heard About

Nick Turse

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Madogaz Musa Abdullah still remembers the phone call. But what came next was a blur. He drove for hours, deep into the Libyan desert, speeding toward the border with Algeria. His mind buckled, his thoughts reeled, and more than three years later, he’s still not certain how he made that six-hour […]

Climate Crisis

Stop the Wars. Save the Planet

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – This report “is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” Such was the response of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres to the February 28, 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) documenting the present and future impact of the […]

Climate Crisis

Are We Approaching the most Dangerous Point in Human History?

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Face it, we’re living in a world that, while anything but exceptional, is increasingly the exception to every rule. Only the other day, 93-year-old Noam Chomsky had something to say about that. Mind you, he’s seen a bit of our world since, in 1939, he wrote his first article for his […]

History

The Ukraine Invasion and the Weight of the Crimean War: “We hate most those we harm the most”

Hugh J. Curran

Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – There are some fascinating similarities between the Crimean War of the 1850s and the Ukraine War of 2022. According to Norman Rich, author of “The Crimean War” its main purpose was the containment of an expanding Russia as European powers had become fearful of Russia’s extension of power […]

Peace

How to End the War in Ukraine: A Solution Beyond Sanctions

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – As the war in Ukraine heads for its third month amid a rising toll of death and destruction, Washington and its European allies are scrambling, so far unsuccessfully, to end that devastating, globally disruptive conflict. Spurred by troubling images of executed Ukrainian civilians scattered in the streets of Bucha and ruined […]

nationalism

The Rise of Russian Grievance Culture

The Conversation

By Gregory Carleton, Tufts University | – The range of anti-Russian measures taken by countries around the world since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is virtually unprecedented and hearkens back to the darkest days of the Cold War. They’ve assumed many forms but broadly include economic sanctions, military support for Ukraine and boycotts […]

Arms Sales

The New Gold Rush: How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis

William D. Hartung

By William D. Hartung and Julia Gledhill | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought immense suffering to the people of that land, while sparking calls for increased military spending in both the United States and Europe. Though that war may prove to be a tragedy for the world, one […]