Category: Uncategorized

A year and a half into the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be finding himself back in the same dilemma he was confronted with at the beginning of his presidency, only magnified by the disaster of war. In April 2019, Zelensky won a surprising landslide victory, taking 73% of the run-off vote. He won, … Continue reading “Volodymyr Zelensky, Between a Rock and a Hard Place”

Here’s something strange about our all-too-nuclearized planet: in my youth during the 1950s and early 1960s, the possibility of an obliterating nuclear war played a significant role in our everyday nightmares. We schoolkids then regularly engaged in “duck and cover” drills, diving under our desks to protect ourselves from a possible nuclear attack on New … Continue reading “Contemplating the Unimaginable Costs of a Nuclear War”

The Biden administration seems determined to pursue highly confrontational policies toward both Moscow and Beijing.  The United States, through its leadership of NATO, is pursuing a full-blown proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.  Indeed, that initiative appears to be only part of a larger plan to fatally weaken Russia as a major power. Washington’s confrontation … Continue reading “Washington’s Strategic Overextension”

Veterans have and continue to play, an important role in instigating social and political change in this country. One such group of veterans is the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, or VVAW: a movement of military veteran activist who, while struggling to heal from the psychological, emotional, and moral injuries of war, demanded through protests … Continue reading “This Nation Owes a Debt to the Vietnam Veterans Against the War”

In the early weeks of the war, a peace was still possible that would have seen Ukraine lose few lives and little to no land. Even the Donbas would have remained in Ukraine with autonomy under a still possible Minsk agreement. Only Crimea would have remained lost. A year and a half later, Ukraine’s daily … Continue reading “A Rough Diplomatic Week for Ukraine”

In defiance of international norms and rules, U.S. officials are laying claim to the large oceanic area in the central Pacific Ocean that is home to the compact states. Now that they are renewing the economic provisions of the compacts of free association with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, U.S. … Continue reading “US Flouts International Law With Pacific Military Claims”

Reprinted from The Libertarian Institute: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg likely surprised both factions in the ongoing debate about NATO expansion and its role in triggering the Russia-Ukraine War. He also undermined (perhaps fatally) the official cover story about the reasons for the Ukraine war. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, Western officials and their allies … Continue reading “One Western Official Finally Comes Clean About NATO Expansion”

Two others were wounded.

There are two things that go off script and are not allowed to be said. Every official statement or mainstream media article that mentions the war in Ukraine must call it an unprovoked war. You are not allowed to say that NATO expansion east, potentially to Ukraine and right up to Russia’s borders, was a … Continue reading “NATO Keeps Saying Things NATO Doesn’t Let You Say”

In September 2007, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and historian William Astore emailed me out of the blue. He’d been reading TomDispatch articles on this country’s Global War on Terror, especially the invasion of, and never-ending conflict in, Iraq. And as a former military man, something struck him: the staggering rows of medals and ribbons … Continue reading “Imagining a Progressive Pentagon”