Norman Solomon

The Fourth of July — the ultimate patriotic holiday — is approaching again. Politicians orate, American Flags proliferate and, even more than usual, many windows on the world are tinted red, white and blue. But an important question remains unasked: Why are patriotism and war so intertwined in U.S. media and politics? The highest accolades … Continue reading “The Patriotism of Killing and Being Killed”

On the first day of March 2022, visitors to The New York Times homepage saw a headline across the top of their screens in huge capital letters: ROCKET BARRAGE KILLS CIVILIANS It was the kind of breaking-news banner headline that could have referred to countless US missile attacks and other military assaults during the previous … Continue reading “US Media Blind to American War Carnage”

When Daniel Ellsberg died on Friday, the world lost a transcendent whistleblower with a powerful ethos of compassion and resolve. Ellsberg’s renown for openly challenging the mentalities of militarism began on June 23, 1971, when he appeared on CBS Evening News ten days after news broke about the Pentagon Papers that he’d provided to journalists. … Continue reading “Daniel Ellsberg Has Passed Away. He Left Us a Message.”

Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush landed in a twin-engine Navy jet on an aircraft carrier, strode across the deck in a bulky flight suit and proceeded to give a televised victory speech under a huge red-white-and-blue banner announcing "Mission Accomplished." For Bush, the optics on May 1, 2003 could hardly have been more … Continue reading “Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished,’ 20 Years Later”

In just a few words – "those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future" – George Orwell summed up why narratives about history can be crucial. And so, ever since the final helicopter liftoff from the U.S. Embassy’s roof in Saigon on April 30, 1975, the … Continue reading “Daniel Ellsberg Has Foiled Those Who Want Him Confined to the Past”

The announcement by Vladimir Putin over the weekend that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus marked a further escalation of potentially cataclysmic tensions over the war in neighboring Ukraine. As the Associated Press reported, "Putin said the move was triggered by Britain’s decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing … Continue reading “We Don’t Have To Choose Between Nuclear Madmen”

Vast quantities of lies from top US government officials led up to the Iraq invasion. Now, marking its 20th anniversary, the same media outlets that eagerly boosted those lies are offering retrospectives. Don’t expect them to shed light on the most difficult truths, including their own complicity in pushing for war. What propelled the United … Continue reading “The Urbanity of Evil: 20 Years After the Invasion of Iraq”

This week, when the New York Times featured an opinion piece by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, it harmonized with a crescendo of other recent pleas from prominent American supporters of Israel. Bloomberg warned that Israel’s new governing coalition is trying to give parliament the power to "overrule the nation’s Supreme Court and run roughshod over individual … Continue reading “Israel’s Liberal Supporters Are Taking Their Denial to a New Level”

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, media coverage of the war hasn’t included even the slightest mention of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Yet the war has boosted the chances that ICBMs will set off a global holocaust. Four hundred of them – always on hair-trigger alert – are fully armed with nuclear warheads … Continue reading “War in Ukraine and ICBMs: The Untold Story of How They Could Blow Up the World”

This is an emergency. Right now, we’re closer to a cataclysmic nuclear war than at any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. One assessment after another has said the current situation is even more dangerous. Yet few members of Congress are advocating for any steps that the U.S. government could take to … Continue reading “Don’t Just Worry About Nuclear War — Do Something To Help Prevent It”