Norman Solomon

“When someone shows you who they are,” Maya Angelou said, “believe them the first time.” That should apply to foreign-policy elites who show you who they are, time after time. Officials running the Pentagon and State Department have been in overdrive for more than 250 days in support of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians … Continue reading “When US Officials Show You Who They Are, Believe Them”

Strange to think that, without Daniel Ellsberg, Watergate might never have happened, Richard Nixon might have remained president, and the war in Vietnam might have taken even longer to end. So many decades later, it’s easy to forget how, in June 1971, when Ellsberg released those secret government documents that came to be known as … Continue reading “How Daniel Ellsberg’s Moral Power Remains Alive”

Originally appeared at TomDispatch. Persisting in his support for an unpopular war, the Democrat in the White House has helped spark a rebellion close to home. Young people — least inclined to deference, most inclined to moral outrage — are leading public opposition to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. The campus upheaval is a clash … Continue reading “War Culture Hates the Ethical Passion of the Young”

When the Washington Post revealed Friday afternoon that “the Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel,” a lot of people cared. Readers of the story posted more than 10,000 comments on its webpage. A leading progressive site for breaking news, Common Dreams, … Continue reading “Latest Huge Transfer of 2,000-Pound Bombs From US to Israel Not Newsworthy to the New York Times“

Last week, Variety reported that “more than 1,000 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’ Oscar speech.” The angry letter is a tight script for a real-life drama of defending Israel as it continues to methodically kill civilians no less precious than the signers’ … Continue reading “Close-up of Death Culture: 1,000 in Entertainment Biz Proclaim Support for Gaza Slaughter”

If we condemn Hamas for its October 7 attacks in Israel, we’re not accused of anti-Arab bigotry. Nor should we be. Nothing could possibly justify the atrocities that Hamas committed against hundreds of civilians, who were the majority of the 1,200 people killed as a result of the attacks by Hamas forces. And nothing can … Continue reading “Apologists for Israel’s Mass Murder in Gaza Fall Back on ‘Antisemitism’ Claims”

Consider this strange: Seventy-eight years after the first and only nuclear weapons were used on Planet Earth, anyone with half a brain knows that a nuclear war would be an incomparable disaster for this planet and everyone living on it. So, remind me, why the endless nuclear pantomime? Why, as last year wound down, for … Continue reading “Full Speed Ahead on the Global Titanic”

Sometimes there’s a thin line between vile demagoguery and pure idiocy. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi straddled both during a Sunday appearance on CNN, when she smeared protesters who’ve been demanding a ceasefire to end Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian people in Gaza. “The former House speaker said, without offering evidence, that she believed some protesters are connected … Continue reading “Smearing Ceasefire Protesters, Pelosi Combines Devotion to Israel With Cold-War Mania”

Zen wisdom tells us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Yet it’s easy to fall into the illusion that when we see news about the Gaza war, we’re really seeing the war. We are not. What we do routinely see is reporting that’s as different from the actual war as … Continue reading “How the Gaza War Can Be Big News and Invisible at the Same Time”

In my childhood, we at least acknowledged the ominous existence of nuclear weapons, no matter how weirdly. I’m thinking about those times we kids spent at school “ducking and covering” under our desks, practicing for… yes, the atomic annihilation of New York City by the Soviet Union. Even at 12, I was certainly aware that … Continue reading “What Daniel Ellsberg Knew About Doomsday”