William J. Astore: Only Cold-War Fools Hit Replay on Doomsday
It’s finally time for this country to succeed in something again—something noble, something other than the perpetuation of murderous war and the horrific production of genocidal weaponry.
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.
William Astore: A Ten-Point Plan to Make Joe Biden a Peace-Time President
“What could be more exceptional, more laudable, than seeking a lasting global peace?”
William J. Astore: Warrior Cops When the Wars Come Home
America’s forever wars in distant lands have now come home.
W.J. Astore: Anti-war Pragmatists and Pro-war Fantasists
What if peace is really based on pragmatism, and war on fantasy?
William J. Astore: In Wars and Weapons We Trust
We believe in wars. We may no longer believe in formal declarations of war (not since December 1941 has Congress made one in our name), but that sure hasn’t stopped us from waging them.
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.
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
William J. Astore: The Slow-Motion Collapse of the American Empire
Jump into your time machine and let me transport you back to another age. It’s May 2001 and the Atlantic Monthly has just arrived in the mail. I’m tantalized by … Continue reading
William J. Astore: The U.S. Military Suffers from Affluenza
Showering the Pentagon with Money and Praise The word “affluenza” is much in vogue. Lately, it’s been linked to a Texas teenager, Ethan Couch, who in 2013 killed four people … Continue reading
Vox Populi 
William J. Astore: The American Military Uncontained
Chaos Spread, Casualties Inflicted, Missions Unaccomplished: It’s 1990. I’m a young captain in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve just witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, something I never thought … Continue reading →