Farrah Hassen: End the Collective Punishment of Afghans
With innocent Afghans impoverished and starving, the U.S. must return money that’s rightfully theirs.
Stephen R. Shalom and Dan La Botz: Ukraine and the Peace Movement
It is urgent to end the war in Ukraine. But to achieve this goal, “Russia Out Now” is a better slogan than “Diplomacy Now.”
Khury Petersen-Smith: Binary thinking on Russia’s war on Ukraine is a losing strategy
We need a progressive politics that shows solidarity with all victims of military violence — while resisting the militarism of our own government.
Edison Jennings: The Cats of Rome
The cats of Rome sleep, feed, and breed
among the tumbled travertine, and slip,
tails high, across the flag draped avenues.
Ali A. Olomi: The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next
The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. A key to understanding what is happening now – and what might take place next – is looking at the past and how the Taliban came to prominence.
Aviva Chomsky: Migration Is Not the Crisis
What Washington Could Really Do in Central America
William Astore: Tough Truths Are Desperately Needed About America’s Lost Wars
Americans may already be lying themselves out of what little remains of their democracy.
Tracey L. Rogers: Palestinian Lives Matter | We Must Reject Crimes Against Humanity
Just as Black Lives Matter, so do Palestinian Lives Matter. We cannot campaign for racial healing and justice on stolen land in our own country while simultaneously backing a campaign to occupy and displace people abroad.
Patrick Gathara: Colonial Powers Have Long Demanded the ‘Right to Self-Defense’ Against the People They Have Colonized
Colonial occupiers have long claimed a “right” to defend themselves from the resistance of native communities, including by committing mass murder.
William Astore: Back to the Future at the Pentagon
‘It hardly occurs to us to question how the Pentagon’s mad military scenarios about near-peer wars could indeed end in nuclear annihilation.’
John Feffer: How Biden Looks at the World
The Biden administration’s approach of “multilateral restoration” has many virtues compared to the last four years of MAGA. But it has considerable shortcomings as well.
Alfred McCoy: Washington’s Delusion of Endless World Dominion
China and the U.S. Struggle over Eurasia, the Epicenter of World Power
Rebecca Gordon: It’s Almost Twenty Years Since 9/11
Perhaps the horrors of 2020—the fires and hurricanes, Trump’s vicious attacks on democracy, the death, sickness, and economic dislocation caused by Covid-19—can force a real conversation about national security in 2021. Maybe this time we can finally ask whether trying to prop up a dying empire actually makes us—or indeed the world—any safer.
Vox Populi 