The divestment campaigns launched last spring by students protesting Israel’s mass slaughter in Gaza brought the issue of the militarization of American higher education back into the spotlight. Of course, financial ties between the Pentagon and American universities are nothing new. As Stuart Leslie has pointed out in his seminal book on the topic, The … Continue reading “The Pentagon Goes to School”
Tom Engelhardt
An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author
of The
End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold
War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters.
He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the
Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley.
Visit his Web site.
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War Doesn’t End When It ‘Ends’
Originally appeared at TomDispatch. We normally think of wartime and peacetime as two distinct and separate realities. When wars end, they end. Period. Unfortunately, when it comes to modern wars, that’s been anything but the case, as TomDispatch regular Andrea Mazzarino makes clear in a striking fashion today. She focuses on the devastating weaponry left … Continue reading “War Doesn’t End When It ‘Ends’”
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and the Armageddon Agenda
Originally appeared at TomDispatch. The next president of the United States, whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, will face many contentious domestic issues that have long divided this country, including abortion rights, immigration, racial discord, and economic inequality. In the foreign policy realm, she or he will face vexing decisions over Ukraine, Israel/Gaza, and China/Taiwan. … Continue reading “Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and the Armageddon Agenda”
Cashing in on Nukes
The Pentagon is in the midst of a massive $2 trillion multiyear plan to build a new generation of nuclear-armed missiles, bombers, and submarines. A large chunk of that funding will go to major nuclear weapons contractors like Bechtel, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. And they will do everything in their power to keep … Continue reading “Cashing in on Nukes”
Osama Bin Laden’s Enduring Triumph
Here’s a strange thing to even begin to grasp. In all these years, at least in Washington, the heartland of American power, it hasn’t been understood, not even faintly. In — yes! — all these years, including significant parts of the last century and this one, this country has continually poured ever more money into … Continue reading “Osama Bin Laden’s Enduring Triumph”
Assessing the Flames of Protest
Reprinted from TomDispatch. From Gaza to the West Bank to the Israeli-Lebanese borderlands, it’s been a genuine nightmare. The devastation in Gaza remains surreal and almost impossible to take in. Housing, hospitals, schools, religious institutions, you name it – they’re all now a “maze of rubble” while the fighting just goes on (and on and … Continue reading “Assessing the Flames of Protest”
A Cancer on the West Bank
Reprinted from TomDispatch. For obvious reasons, the devastation of Gaza has gotten so much of the attention recently, but life, post-October 7th, has also been a nightmare on the West Bank. Among other things, the grotesquely right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, as the Associated Press reported recently, approved the seizure of … Continue reading “A Cancer on the West Bank”
Early Signs of the Failure of American Global Power
Originally appeared at TomDispatch. In his years in power, Joe Biden and his top foreign policy officials have come up with a distinctly more aggressive and militarized approach to a rising China and, in particular, its claims to areas of the South China Sea or the island of Taiwan. As an old Cold Warrior who … Continue reading “Early Signs of the Failure of American Global Power”
Another American War in the Middle East?
Originally appeared at TomDispatch. Though I was never in the U.S. military, my life experience has been American wars, wars, wars, and more wars. I was born during World War II. I was in grade school when the Korean War took place. I still have a faint memory of a photo of a gleaming American … Continue reading “Another American War in the Middle East?”
The Art of the Submarine
Walk through any art museum and you’re likely to see a mix of the classical and contemporary, impressionist and surrealist, refined and raw, beautiful, eerie, and provocative. Looking at art allows me at least a few moments of relief from the “that’s just the way it is” attitude of our hyper-consumerist, hyper-militarized, hyper-nihilist nation. I … Continue reading “The Art of the Submarine”