Month: October 2018

The casualties figures for October were lower than in September.

No sooner had I predicted that the Trump administration would be “unlikely” to continue support for the Saudi invasion of Yemen after the Khashoggi affair. Then, lo and behold, so it was. That’s my job, now isn’t it? Giving my readers some idea of what is actually happening in the world – as opposed to, … Continue reading “The Fall of the House of Saud?”

Imagine that back in the day, the U.S. government had contracted postal services out to a private company rather than setting up its own “public” agency. Today the US Postal Corp. would have officers, directors, and employees who were not on the government payroll. They would be paid from the money raised by selling its … Continue reading “Let’s Stop the Merchants of Death”

The results of last weekend’s elections in the German state of Hesse have been getting quite a run in mainstream media. The sharp losses suffered by both parties in the Grand Coalition, the Socialists (SPD) and Merkel’s center-right CDU, finally delivered the decisive push that spells the end the reign of the iron lady in … Continue reading “Germany’s Left and Right Change Sides on the Issues of War and Peace”

A few months back, I wrote a note to one of my senators to complain about America’s endless wars and received a signed reply via email. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that it was a canned response, but no less telling for that. My senator began by praising American troops as “tough, … Continue reading “Endless War and the Lack of a Progressive Critique of the Pentagon”

Round One In 1964, a little discussed action was prepared by the Kennedy administration and carried out after his death by the Johnson administration. It represented the first steps in Kennedy’s plan to transform Latin America’s militaries from forces that defend against external threats, as they were intended, into forces that ensure "internal security" by … Continue reading “Brazil: Our Work Here Is Done”

There it is. Three quarters of a trillion dollars in a single annual military budget. Congress even passed it before the start of the fiscal year, to boot. Listening to the first episode of "Net Assessment", a podcast by the folks at War on the Rocks, I heard that they were going to dissect an … Continue reading “When Dollars and Cents Trump Any Kind of Sense”

A holy shrine was bombed in northeast Iraq as millions gathered in Karbala to observe Arbaeen.

Another mass grave was discovered near Mosul.

We aren’t miracle workers. We’re just soldiers after all – kids barely out of their teens and officers in their mid-20s do most of the fighting. Still, policymakers in Washington, and citizens on Main Street both seem convinced that the mere presence of a few hundred or thousand American troops can alter societies, vanquish the … Continue reading “The Limits of Power – The Myth of the Magical American Soldier”