Mandy Smithberger: Creating a National Insecurity State
At $1.21 trillion, the actual national security budget is essentially twice the size of the announced Pentagon budget… Yet those calling for higher budgets continue to argue that the only way to keep America safe is to pour in yet more tax dollars at a moment when remarkably little is going into, for instance, domestic infrastructure.
Danny Sjursen: Watching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire
A New Generation of West Pointers Joins America’s Hopeless Wars
Rebecca Gordon: The True High Crimes and Misdemeanors of Donald J. Trump
Extorting political favors from foreign leaders is bad enough, but Donald J. Trump has done so much worse…
Andrew J. Bacevich: Reflections on “Peace” in Afghanistan
However great my distaste for President Trump, I support his administration’s efforts to extricate the United States from Afghanistan….Prolonging this folly any longer does not serve U.S. interests. Rule number one of statecraft ought to be: when you’re doing something really stupid, stop.
Jake Johnson: Undermining Trump-Bolton War Narrative, British General Says No Evidence of ‘Increased Threat’ From Iran
Intelligence and military officials in Europe as well as in the United States said that over the past year, most aggressive moves have originated not in Tehran, but in Washington.
W.J. Astore: Dreaming Big About the U.S. Military
As the U.S. military enjoys enormous budgets ($718 billion this year, rising possibly to $750 billion for 2020), Americans are told not to dream big. There might just be a connection here.
H. Patricia Hynes: Hands off Venezuela
The arc of U.S. militarism across the 20th century and into the 21st is neither moral nor does it bend toward justice. Hope and US Aid at the Border: the … Continue reading
William J. Astore: The U.S. Military’s Lost Wars
Overfunded, Overhyped, and Always Over There. One of the finest military memoirs of any generation is Defeat Into Victory, British Field Marshal Sir William Slim’s perceptive account of World War II’s torturous Burma … Continue reading
Tom Engelhardt: Is Donald Trump an Asteroid?
Honestly, This Could Get a Lot Uglier. Sixty-six million years ago, so the scientists tell us, an asteroid slammed into this planet. Landing on what’s now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, it gouged … Continue reading
Lawrence Wittner: The United States Is First in War, But Trailing in Crucial Aspects of Modern Civilization
Maintaining the U.S. status as “No. 1” in war and war preparations comes at a very high price. Maybe those delirious crowds chanting “USA, USA” have got something. When it comes … Continue reading
Mary Beaudoin: How the Empire Gets Away With Expanding (Some Observations)
“This is the secret of propaganda: those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of the propaganda, without ever noticing they are immersed … Continue reading
Marc Jampole: Bellicose Nation
The U.S. spends 40% of the world’s total military budget, and this huge expenditure is controlled by an inconsistent and bellicose ignoramus. Trump favors disruption over working together, and he … Continue reading
Vox Populi 